Build your Presidential AI Challenge project with PartyRock

The Presidential AI Challenge is a nationwide initiative for educators and K-12 students to develop AI-powered solutions for real-world problems in their communities. With a January 20, 2026, deadline quickly approaching, now is the time to transform your idea into an impactful project. Whether you’re building a working prototype or crafting a detailed proposal, this guide breaks down exactly what you need to do to get your submission ready—specifically focusing on using PartyRock, the Amazon Web Services (AWS) no-code generative AI playground powered by Amazon Bedrock. While PartyRock is designed for users 18 years or older, it helps remove technical barriers so you can focus on solving problems that matter. Educators can leverage it for guided classroom learning experiences with their students.

Understanding the challenge

The Presidential AI Challenge welcomes participants across multiple categories designed for age-appropriate engagement. Elementary students in grades K-5 participate as classroom groups led by an educator. While middle school students and high school students can form teams of one to four members with adult supervision. Educators can also participate in teams of one to three full-time K-12 teachers. Once teams are formed, they must decide from one of the three distinct tracks—each designed to accommodate different skill levels and interests.

Amazon has stepped up as a major supporter of this initiative by providing specialized webinars, dedicated virtual office hours, and comprehensive support resources to help participants succeed in their projects. For additional technical assistance, please reach out through our streamlined intake process.

Registration is now open, with final submissions due January 20, 2026. For more information on how to participate, review the Guidebook for Participation or refer to the Requirements and Deliverables for submission specifics. Details on how submissions will be judged can be found in the Scoring Guide based on their track. Now that you understand the challenge structure, let’s break down your timeline to success.

Your path to submission

Weeks 1-2: Discover your problem and design your solution

The first week is all about observation and discovery. Look around your community and identify a real problem that needs solving. Talk to community members who are affected by this issue and understand their perspectives. The best projects start with genuine problems that impact real people. During the second week, assemble your team, decide your track based on your interests or skills. To register for the challenge, visit the Presidential AI Challenge registration page. Then outline your project plan with clear milestones that will keep you and your team on track over the coming weeks.

Week 3 and beyond: Create your solution

With PartyRock, users can create, share, and explore AI-powered apps without writing a single line of code. This web-based offering provides access to powerful foundation models (FMs) in a user-friendly interface. While the service currently requires users to be 18 years of age or older, PartyRock can be used by educators for guided classroom learning experiences with students of all ages.

Apps are built with widgets that you connect to create powerful workflows, making it ideal for Track II teams. User input widgets collect text, questions, or data from users. AI text generation widgets process information and generate responses and images based on your instructions. Chatbot widgets can be used to create conversational experiences. The real power emerges when you chain these widgets together, with output from one widget becoming input for another, creating workflows that solve real problems.

Whiskers is PartyRock’s built-in AI assistant that accelerates app development. When you click “Generate App” in PartyRock, Whiskers creates a complete application from scratch based on a simple description of what you need. The conversational approach lets educators quickly prototype ideas while students focus on learning prompt engineering and problem-solving rather than technical configuration. Find Whiskers in the side navigation panel to help you move from concept to working application.

Track I teams crafting proposals can still use PartyRock to explore and demonstrate their concepts visually before committing to a final written proposal. Build a simple working prototype that shows the core functionality of your idea, even if you’re ultimately submitting a written proposal rather than working code. This hands-on exploration helps you understand the feasibility of your solution and identify potential challenges early. You can use PartyRock’s image generation capabilities to create conceptual illustrations, background visuals, or decorative elements that enhance your proposal’s presentation.

Track III educators will find PartyRock invaluable for both teaching AI concepts and managing classroom processes. Create interactive learning experiences where students can experiment with prompt engineering in real time or build tools that automate routine classroom tasks like generating personalized feedback, creating quiz questions, or organizing student data. PartyRock’s conversational interface makes it an excellent teaching tool for demonstrating how AI responds to different instructions. Once you’ve chosen PartyRock as your development platform, these strategies will help you maximize its potential.

PartyRock guidance

The key to PartyRock success is writing clear prompts that tell the AI exactly what to do. For text generation widgets, be specific about the task. Instead of saying “summarize this,” try “Summarize the following text in simple language suitable for elementary students.” Include examples, when possible, to show the AI the format you want, specify the tone and style you need, and set constraints such as “Keep responses under 100 words” to ensure outputs meet your needs.

For chatbot widgets, define the chatbot’s role clearly from the start. You might write “You are a helpful assistant that answers questions about local recycling programs” to establish the scope. Provide context by including relevant information, set boundaries to keep the chatbot focused, and include example interactions in your prompt to guide the chatbot’s behavior and tone. When your AI responses aren’t quite right, add more specific instructions and examples if responses are too vague, add rules about what to always include or avoid if outputs are inconsistent, and strengthen the boundaries in your prompt if the AI goes off topic.

Start simple and then expand your app’s capabilities over time. Begin with one core feature that solves the main problem and get that working perfectly before adding complexity. Test early and often by sharing your PartyRock app with potential users as soon as you have a basic version, watching how they interact with it and using this feedback to improve your prompts and widget connections.

Handle edge cases by thinking about unusual inputs users might provide, such as very short or long responses, questions outside your app’s scope, and misspellings. Add instructions in your prompts to handle these situations gracefully. For chatbot widgets, remember that they retain previous messages in the conversation. Use this to create natural interactions but include the most important information in each prompt to ensure the AI always has what it needs.

For more detailed guidance on using PartyRock for educational projects, participants can reference two other PartyRock blog posts by the AWS team that provide step-by-step tutorials on creating educational AI applications and implementing effective prompt engineering techniques.

Last week: Making your app submission-ready

During the final week before the submission deadline, make sure to gather all required materials and your project is submission ready.

PartyRock makes sharing easy through a simple share button. Click “Share” to get a public link that anyone can use. Include this link in your submission so judges can experience your app firsthand. Create effective demos by taking screenshots showing the app interface and key features. Record a short video of two to three minutes demonstrating typical use cases. After all of this is done and your submission has been received, make sure to take some time as a team to reflect on the progress that has been made.

Get started today

The challenge represents a unique opportunity for young minds to engage with AI technology in a practical and impactful way, fostering the next generation of AI leaders while addressing pressing community needs. Visit the Presidential AI Challenge registration page and begin your journey today.

With PartyRock, you have a powerful, accessible tool to turn your ideas into reality. Focus on solving a real problem in your community and let PartyRock handle the technical complexity. Your project could make a genuine difference in someone’s life while preparing you for a future where AI literacy is increasingly important. The tools, support, and opportunity are all here waiting for you. Now it’s your turn to build something amazing that matters. For complete official rules, eligibility requirements, judging criteria, and submission guidelines, visit the Presidential AI Challenge website and official documentation.