31.08.2014

Young Coders Win the Audience Award

The Festival of Code organized by Young rewired State, which this year was held on August 3 in Plymouth UK, was a very successful achievement for the team from Kosovo. This festival encompasses a number of brilliant ideas by children all around the world who know the coding language. For the first time Kosovo participated in this festival and managed to achieve good results.

Kosovo’s team includes 10 children who created an application called 101city, an application with three modules, which will provide information for the water shortage schedule, waste collection schedule and also filing complaints in case of irregularities, and the third module which includes a list of sites that can be visited as historical monuments, museums, schedule performances in cinema, theater and recreational activities that are available in our country.

For their hard work during the 4 month training period and their work during the last week of the competition, the children were awarded with 10 tablets which were sponsored by EYE-Enhancing Youth Employment project funded by SDC Swiss Development Cooperation. The jury of the festival awarded the children with “Special Mention Award” by which the children will be awarded with 10 Raspberry Pi, and certificates will be distributed for their first participation in the festival. However, the awards did not stop here.

This year for the first time , the festival decided that these ideas be shared with the general public and through the website of the Young Rewired State to vote for their favorite idea. From the four posted ideas, the Kosovo’s team application was the most voted and also won the audience award under the category Should Exist of the 5 categories altogether (Should Exist, Best Design, Best Example of Coding, Code a Better Country, Best in Show). The participation in this festival was a great success not only for our children but also for the Kosovo Association of Information and Communication Technology (STIKK), which now after this success will continue to engage with Young Coders project for the upcoming years.

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18.08.2014

Prishtina’s Mayor Shpend Ahmeti Visits “Young Coders”

On August 13th 2014, the mayor of the municipality of Prishtina Mr. Shpend Ahmeti visited “Young Coders” at the premises of ICK. “Young Coders” is a group of 10 children from Kosovo who after a four month period of training, which was initiated from the Kosovo Association of Information and Communication Technology- STIKK in cooperation with ICK, participated in the international competition of “Festival of Code” which was organized by Young Rewired State in England, from July 29th until August the 3rd this year.

Our 10 young coders worked for four consecutive days to develop a web application called 101city which they identified as crucial to facilitate the lives of our citizens and the tourists who choose to visit our country. The effort of this tireless working group toward making the application was awarded with a special prize “Special Mention Award” which was awarded to the competitive team from the jury of the Festival of Code.

During the visit, Mayor Ahmeti had the opportunity to see the children present their ideas one more time and then emphasized that the municipality that he runs will continue to support this group and other programs from primary schools, now that the “smart cities” are ahead and the technology is an essential part for the future.

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05.08.2014

Kosovo children awarded with Special Mention Award from judges at the FoC

The “Special Mention Award” by the judges was awarded to the Kosovo Young Coders team for the development of their web application 101city which intends to make the daily lives of Kosovo citizens more easier and manageable.

After a four month period of training, which was initiated from the Kosovo Association of Information and Communication Technology- STIKK, on 29.07.2014, ten children from Kosovo began their work with the purpose of getting ready to participate at the international competition of “Festival of Code” which is being organized for the sixth time now by the Young Rewired State in England.

The Kosovo children worked for four consecutive days to develop an application which they identified as crucial to facilitate the lives of our citizens and the tourists who visit our country. On Tuesday 29.07.2014, at the premises of the Innovation Centre of Kosovo-ICK, a partner to this project, the 10 children were divided into three groups, and presented their ideas in front of the guests. The main idea was to create an application with three modules, which will provide information for the water shortage schedule, waste collection schedule and also filing complaints in case of irregularities, and the third module which includes a list of sites that can be visited as historical monuments, museums, schedule performances in cinema, theater and recreational activities that are available in our country. The application was named 101City.

Throughout the week the children worked intensively under the supervision of their trainer Driton Haxhiu and their other mentors Doruntina Sadiku, Fitore Salihu and Enkela Osmani. The member companies, individual members and other project partners of the Kosovo Association of Information and Communication Technology-STIKK supported this event and also shared their experiences and gave advice during the children’s working phase.

After submitting the idea, the news came that the children from Kosovo’s team will be competing in the final with 20 other ideas. On Sunday August 3, 2014 at 13:00 Kosovo was presented with its new representatives through a video footage at the “Festival of Code” which this year was held in Plymouth, Great Britain.

At the end of the day the children were awarded with 10 tablets, through sponsor EYE-Empowering Youth Employment project funded by SDC Swiss Development Cooperation. However, the real surprise came when the jury awarded the children with the prize “Special Mention Award” by which the children will be awarded with 10 Raspberry Pi, and certificates will be distributed for their first participation in the festival. This event was also supported by Ipko Foundation, Frutomania, City Bakery and Pizza Proper.

Watch the video: YOUNG CODERS KOSOVO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-E-INAxP-8

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01.08.2014

Media Coverage of “Young Coders” project

For the first time young coders from Kosovo are competing at the “Festival of Code” which is part of Young Rewired State (YRS), an independent global network of young people aged 18 and under who have programming skills.

Starting from July 29 until August 3, 10 children aged 9-15 from Kosovo, will compete with their peers around the globe. “Young Coders” project, which represents Kosovo for the first time in this competition, was initiated by Kosovo Association of Information and Communication Technology (STIKK) in cooperation with the Innovation Centre Kosovo (ICK). Such an event, especially in Kosovo needs great attention so that in the future this project can be further developed, and what a better way to do this than to share it through the media. Many international and local Medias have shared the news that Kosovo is now part of the “Festival of Code” and also introducing the team members to the whole world.

The following links have shared the news of the “Young Coders” project:

The Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jul/31/children-code-young-rewired-state-festival-of-code-plymouth
Young Rewired State: https://youngrewiredstate.org/blog/2014/07/yrs-kosovo?utm_content=bufferc0ecb&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
Innovation Centre Kosovo: http://ickosovo.com/news/festival-codes-begins/
Prishtina Magazine: http://prmagazine.info/programeret-e-rinj-nga-kosova-garojne-ne-festival-of-code/
Kosovari Media: http://www.kosovarimedia.com/index.php/aktual/lajme/35241-programer%C3%ABt-e-rinj-nga-kosova-garojn%C3%AB-n%C3%AB-festival-of-code.html
Kosovalive360: http://www.kosovalive360.com/ekipi-nga-kosova-kthehet-me-cmim-special-nga-festival-of-code.html

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