Two Vietnamese app developers have won second prize at a programming contest held in Viet Nam and received a sponsorship package worth US$80,000 from Facebook for developing an app for children.

Dao Tran Bang (C) and Ly Thuy Vi (R), developers of the ‘Kid REC’ mobile app, receive the $80,000 sponsorship package from Facebook at Edtech Asia Hackathon 2016 in Ha Noi, April 10, 2016. (Photo: Tuoi Tre)

Edtech Asia Hackathon 2016 was a programming contest co-hosted by Topica and Edtech Asia with sponsorship from tech giants Facebook and Google that concluded in Ha Noi on Sunday.

Organized in Viet Nam for the first time, Edtech Asia Hackathon 2016 was a battle between 19 groups of technophiles with outstanding results in the field of education.

The contestants, who formed groups of two or four members, were allotted 48 hours to bring to life innovative and state-of-the-art education based technological products.

There are many examples of current functionalities that come from Hackathon contests, such as the “Like” button on Facebook and Facebook Messenger.

After two days of the main event on April 9 and 10, the first prize was awarded to team ACT with their product Muzikator, a piece of software which allows users to learn to sing at any time in any place.

The four developers of Muzikator Nguyen Quang Phuc, Doan Ngoc Bao, Pham Thanh Huy, and Pham The Hung were presented with a full scholarship from the Topica Founder Institute and Topica Native, a $3,000 Google Cloud Credit Award, and a fully sponsored trip worth $2,400 to Edtech Asia Summit in Bangkok, Thailand.

Meanwhile, the second-prize winners, Dao Tran Bang and Ly Thuy Vi from team Eazy, took home the FbStart Award from Facebook for the best mobile app with a value of $80,000.

The team’s prize-winning product, Kid REC, was a mobile app designed to help children from five to ten years old develop emotional expressions and communication skills.

The third prize went to team Powerify for their software called ‘Somia – Dream Without End’ that allowed users to learn English vocabularies in their sleep.

The software was credited as the most creative idea in the contest.

(Source: Tuoi Tre News)