EPA Challenges & Prizes
EPA challenges and prizes tap the ingenuity of people outside the agency, across the U.S. and the world. Some of the links below exit the site. Exit
Description of challenge | Outcome | ||
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Arsenic Sensor Challenge Exit | In collaboration with the Bureau of Reclamation, EPA is seeking ideas for new or improved sensors, devices, or test kits to test for arsenic in water. | Submissions due March 13, 2017. | |
Regulations.gov Data Challenge | Use TopCoder Exitto receive an application that makes regulations of interest more discoverable and provide commenters with useful information. | Conducted in a live competition environment November 2016. | |
Transform Tox Testing Challenge Stage 2 Exit | EPA and the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) and NIH's National Toxicology Program (NTP) within the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) launched a challenge that will award up to $1 million to improve the relevance and predictivity of data generated from automated chemical screening technology used for toxicity testing. | Stage 2 opened September 27, 2016 and closes January 26, 2017. | |
Smart City Air Challenge Exit | EPA is challenging communities to deploy hundreds of air quality sensors and make the data public. | Submissions due October 28, 2016 | |
2012 - 2016 |
Challenging students to design innovative stormwater management projects on campus using green infrastructure. |
2016 Registration: September 1–30, 2016 2015: Winners announced 2014: Winners announced. 2013: Winners announced. 2012: Winners announced. |
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2016 TRI University Challenge Exit 2016 |
EPA is issuing a challenge to the academic community. Find new, innovative, and creative ways to use Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data and related information to promote more informed decision-making and action on the part of communities, manufacturers, and government. | Application period closed March 27, 2016. | |
2016 |
In collaboration with U.S. Geological Survey, high school students in the Great Lakes and Chesapeake Bay States are challenged to use open government data sources to create compelling, innovative, and comprehensible visualizations. | Winners announced April 21, 2016. | |
Transform Tox Testing Stage 1 Exit 2016 |
EPA and the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) and NIH's National Toxicology Program (NTP) within the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) launched a challenge that will award up to $1 million to improve the relevance and predictivity of data generated from automated chemical screening technology used for toxicity testing. | Stage 1 closed April 8, 2016. | |
Nutrient Recycling Challenge Exit 2015 |
EPA is partnering with pork and dairy producers, USDA, and environmental and scientific experts to host a competition to find technologies that can recycle nutrients from livestock waste and create valuable products. | Submissions for Phase 1 closed January 15, 2016. | |
Nutrient Sensor Challenge - Phase 2 Exit 2015 |
Sensor-developer teams from Phase 1 to submit applications for final verification testing of nitrogen and phosphorus sensors. | Application period closed December 18, 2015. | |
Visualizing Nutrients Challenge Exit 2015 |
Use open government data sources to create compelling, innovative, and comprehensible visualizations. | Winners announced August 2015. | |
Nutrient Sensor Challenge - Phase 1 Exit 2014 |
Develop an affordable, reliable sensor for measuring nitrate and phosphate levels in water. | 29 teams registered for beta testing, beginning in August 2015 | |
2015 |
EPA is challenging university faculty and students to create innovative projects that improve the understanding and use of Toxics Release Inventory data. | Submission period closed March 27, 2015. | |
SunWise with SHADE Poster Contest 2012 - 2014 |
Submit original, creative posters illustrating ways to prevent skin cancer and raise sun safety awareness. | Submission period closed April 01, 2014. | |
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"Climate Change in Focus" student video contest 2014 |
Create a video that describes how climate change affects you, your family, friends, and community. | Winners announced. |
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Algal Bloom Photo Contest 2014 |
Spot and document algal blooms in our waters, and submit your photos of algal blooms where you live, vacation, and recreate. | |
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National Aquatic Resource Surveys Campus Research Challenge 2014 |
Encourage external, innovative research and information development to support enhanced water management at multiple scales. | Phase I winners announced. |
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2014 |
Identify a group of chemical properties and structural descriptors to quantitatively predict a chemical’s lowest effect level (LEL) for toxicity. |
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2013 |
Submit innovative, next-generation ideas that could lead to a fundamental change in the way we manage or recover nutrients. |
Three winners proposed various solutions including new modeling, real-time management, and paid incentives. |
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Real-Time Sensor to Monitor Sewer Overflows Exit 2013 |
Submit ideas for an efficient, low-cost and low-maintenance real-time sensor to monitor sewer overflows in urban areas. |
The overall winner combined water-level sensors, ultrasonic sensors, and a cellphone radio for real-time updates. |
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2013 - 2015 |
Find innovative uses of toxics release inventory (TRI) program data to promote more informed decision making and action by communities, manufacturers, and government. |
Winners by year. | |
My Air, My Health Challenge Exit 2012 |
Create personal devices for testing and reporting both air quality and linked physiological data. |
Conscious Clothing used a particulate matter air sensor and stretchy fabric strips to estimate pollution exposure. |
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Stand Alone Field Measurement of Atmospheric Benzene & Butadiene Exit 2012 |
Design sensitive, reproducible and rapid field-based monitoring systems that measured atmospheric benzene and 1,3 butadiene at low concentrations. |
The winning solution combined imprinted polymers and carbon nanotubes. | |
Tracking Molecular Components of Electronics Exit 2012 |
Identify concepts that could enable the development of a "molecular bill of materials" for electronic products and components. |
The overall winner used distributed information gathering. Three secondary winners used barcodes, radio frequency identification, and a system of standards and databases. |
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Recovering Bacillus Spores from Swabs Exit 2012 |
Submit protocols for efficient recovery of bacterial spores from pre-wetted surface sampling tools. |
The winning process: remove spores from swabs with a solvent, concentrate on a membrane, and blot between two pieces of membrane. |
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2012 |
Participants can celebrate the environment by sharing flash fiction: six-word essays about what the environment means to them. | Recognition. |
Detection and Analysis of Ambient Concentrations of Acrolein Exit 2011 |
Submit low-cost, rapid-analysis methods for atmospheric detection of trace quantities of acrolein. |
No solution satisfied the requirements. | |
Apps for the Environment Challenge Exit 2011 |
Look at publicly available EPA data and come up with the most innovative way to use, show, or combine the data in an app. |
Best Overall: Best Student App: EarthFriend Popular Choice: CGSearch |
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Efficient Technologies/ Methodologies for Measuring the Reduction of Pollution from Nonpoint Sources Exit 2011 |
Develop or identify technologies and methodologies to measure the performance of management systems that would reduce nitrogen, phosphorous, and/or sediment pollution loads. |
No solution satisfied the requirements. | |
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It's My Environment Video Project Exit 2011 |
Participants share a video clip up to 10 seconds long of someone doing something for the environment, then reading and passing along a sign that says "It's My Environment." | Recognition. |
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State of the Environment Photo Project 2011-2013 |
Featured photos in this project showcase our lives and our planet from Earth Day 2011 through 2013. | Recognition. |
Help Fight Environmental Crime 2010 |
Students who are members of Native American tribes submit artwork depicting what they think environmental damage looks like. | Recognition. | |
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Game Day Recycling Challenge Exit 2010-2014 |
Colleges and universities promote waste reduction at their football games and track and report waste reductions. | Winners by year.Exit |
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National Radon Poster Contest Exit 2007-2015 |
Student leaders raise radon awareness among their family, school and community. | Winners by year. Exit |
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Rachel Carson Sense of Wonder Contest 2007-2013 |
Intergenerational teams submit their expressions of wonder about the environment through photos, essays, songs, poetry, mixed media and dance. | Winners by year. |
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Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge 1996-2014 |
The awards recognize innovative technologies that incorporate green chemistry into chemical design, manufacture and use and help advance the protection of human health and the environment. |