When I first started healthGAMERS we were in the process of creating a new online health game based on the food pyramid.  At that time, I was researching what was out there.  My conclusion: a call for better Food Pyramid games.  Someone at the USDA must have been reading because the latest news buzzing in the public health sector is the announcement of the USDA Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services (FNCS) Innovations for Healthy Kids Challenge.

According to their latest news release, the USDA is challenging the public to create new web-based learning applications, such as health games, to reach more tweens (kids ages 9-12).  The challenge is designed to highlight the Obama Administration’s commitment to combating childhood obesity and improving the national health of America’s youth.  They are providing open source federal datasets on Data.gov and MyPyramid.gov for those that wish to enter.  Access to this data is great in itself!

Contest details.

• Who can apply? Entrepreneurs, software developers, and students who are U.S. citizens and not current USDA or White House employees.
• Who is the target audience? Kids 9-12 years old, aka “tweens”
• What kind of technology is required? Platform information will be posted soon, but entries are to be fully developed web-based games.  All data in the games must from be the USDA Nutrition Dataset and/or the Source Code.
• When is the deadline? Submissions will be accepted in spring 2010.  Further details are to follow.
• What are the prizes? Four prizes will be awarded including Gold ($3,000), Silver ($2,000), Bronze ($1,000) and Popular Choice $2,ooo).
• How are winners decided? All entries will be judged by a panel of public and private sector nutrition and gaming experts based on the following criteria: potential impact on target audience (40%), quality/accuracy/content of messages (20%), creativity/originality (20%) and potential for further development/use (20%).

For further contest information see the USDA Innovations for Healthy Kids Challenge page or sign up for email updates.