Young tech talents aged between 8 and 15 years old across the country are invited to take part in the Minecraft Hackathon, themed “Smart City”.

The competition is held by Microsoft Vietnam, Teky Steam Academy, and the Central Council of the Ho Chi Minh Vanguard Children’s Union to look for talented kids in creative programming.

It is a new and exciting playground for students that will inspire their love for science and thirst for creativity, said Nguyen Pham Duy Trang, Vice President of the Central Council of the HCM Vanguard Children’s Union. It is also an opportunity for them to show their ways to address today’s issues, such as traffic jams, pollution, and other environmental problems, she added.

It is the first programming contest ever held for kids nationwide which is based on Minecraft programming languages like Makecode-Minecraft, Tynker-Minecraft, and Python-Minecraft.

Both Vietnamese students and foreign children living in Viet Nam are eligible to compete in the event. It is expected to attract more than 5,000 students from 300 elementary and secondary schools all over the country.

Contestants are required to develop a smart city with houses, buildings, and streets in which information technology and artificial intelligence are applied to improve urban living standards and quality of public services and enhance the efficiency in use of power and natural resources.

From September 2018 to March 2019, the organiser will hold a series of events at schools to introduce Minecraft programming and answer inquiries about it.

All entries must be submitted to the competition’s official website at https://minecraft-hackathon.com/ from January 1 to March 31, 2019. Online voting will open from 1-14 April, 2019.

The five teams with the highest number of votes will go through to the final round in Ha Noi in late April 2019.

(Source: VNA)