What you need to know about Coolest Projects

The Coolest Projects online showcase is open to young people worldwide. Young creators can enter their projects to share them with the world in our online project gallery and join our extra special livestream event to celebrate what they have made with the global Coolest Projects community.

By taking part in Coolest Projects, young people can join an international community of young makers, represent their country, receive feedback on their projects, and get certificates to recognise their achievements.

Coolest Projects is completely free to take part in, and we welcome all digital technology projects, from young people’s very first projects to advanced builds. The projects also don’t have to be completed before they can be submitted.

Projects can be submitted to one of seven categories: Scratch, games, web, mobile apps, hardware, advanced programming, and AI (new for 2025).

• Young creators up to age 18 can take part individually or in teams of up to five friends
• Any young person anywhere in the world can take part in the online showcase, and there are in-person events in some countries for local creators, too (find out more below)
• Submissions for the online showcase are now open and close on 28 May 2025
• All creators, mentors, volunteers, teachers, parents, and supporters are invited to the special celebration livestream on 25 June 2025

We know Coolest Projects has a big impact on young people all over the world, and we can’t wait to see your creations for 2025. You can find out more about the incredible creativity and collaboration from mentors and makers worldwide in our 2024 impact report.

How to submit your project

Taking part in Coolest Projects is simple:

• Young people think of an idea for their project or choose something they’ve already made and are proud of
• Young people work with friends to create their project or make it on their own 
• Creators (with the help of mentors if needed) enter projects via the Coolest Projects website by 28 May
• Creators’ projects are shared with the world in the online showcase gallery
• Creators, mentors, and supporters explore the amazing projects in the online gallery and join the livestream on 25 June to celebrate young creators’ achievements with the Coolest Projects community worldwide

Mentors — entering more than one project? Sign up for a group code, and your young people can link their projects to your account.

1. Sign up or log in. If you don’t have one already, you’ll need to set up a Raspberry Pi account. Click on the ‘sign up’ link in the top right-hand corner of the website to create one, and provide your details. You’ll be emailed a verification code as part of the sign-up process. If you already have an account, you can just log in.

2. Create a group. Once signed in, you’ll be able to create a group. You’ll be asked questions about your group, including the group name and the country you’re based in, and be asked to agree to some privacy policies before continuing. You will then be able to view your group code and group submissions on your group dashboard. 

3. Share your group code with your young people. Your group dashboard should look like this, with your group code displayed. The group code is what your young people will need to link their submissions to your account. They’ll be asked to input their group code at the start of the project submission form.

Submit your coolest projects. Every young person who uses your group code will have their project linked to your account. You can review and edit their projects in your group dashboard and submit them from there. There is no limit to the number of young people who can submit entries using your group code.

For a more detailed run-through of how to use group codes, please see our ‘how-to’ video.

Coolest Projects in-person events in 2025

As well as the global online showcase, Coolest Projects in-person events are held for young people locally in certain countries. We encourage creators to take part in both the online showcase and their local in-person event. In 2025, creators can attend the following in-person events, run by the Raspberry Pi Foundation and partner organisations around the world:

• Coolest Projects Ireland, 1 March 2025 (run by the Foundation) — entry closes on Friday 14 February 
• Coolest Projects Belgium, 26 April 2025 (run by CoderDojo Belgium)
• Coolest Projects USA, 5 April 2025 (run by the Foundation) — entry closes on Friday 14 March 2025
• Coolest Projects UK, 17 May 2025 (run by the Foundation) — entry closes on Friday 2 May 2025 
• Coolest Projects India, 2025 date coming soon (run by the Foundation)
• Coolest Projects Ghana, 2025 date coming soon (run by Ghana Code Club)
• Coolest Projects Malaysia, 2025 date coming soon (run by Penang Science Cluster)
• Coolest Projects South Africa, 2025 date coming soon (run by CoderLevelUp)

More events are on the way, so sign up for the Coolest Projects newsletter to be sure you hear about any in-person events in your country. And if there isn’t an event near you, don’t worry, as the online showcase is open to any young person anywhere in the world.

Need help with your submission? 

Coolest Projects welcomes all digital tech projects, from beginner to advanced, and there are loads of great resources available to help you help the young people in your community to take part. If you’re searching for inspiration, take a look at the 2024 showcase gallery, where you can explore the incredible projects submitted by participants last year.

You’ll find everything you need to know about all seven Coolest Projects categories on our category pages, including our brand new AI category. Our projects site is also a great place for participants to begin — there are hundreds of free step-by-step project guides to help young people create their own projects, whether they’re experienced tech creators or just getting started.

We will also be running a series of online webinars for mentors and young people to help participants develop their creations for each Coolest Projects category. Sign up for the sessions here. All sessions will be recorded, so you can watch them back if you can’t join live.

Be sure to check out the Coolest Projects guidance page for resources to help you support young people throughout their Coolest Projects journey, including a mentor guide and session plans. 

There’s lots more exciting news to come, from the announcement of our VIP judges to details about this year’s swag, so sign up for updates to be the first to know. 

Whether your coders have already made something that they want to share, or they’re inspired to make something new, Coolest Projects is the place for them. We can’t wait to see what they create!

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I’ll never forget my first Coolest Projects

My first experience was in Dublin in 2016. I had been told Coolest Projects was impressive, but I was blown away by the creativity, innovation, and sheer effort that everyone had put in. Every bit as impressive as the technology was the sense of community, particularly among the young people. Girls and boys, with different backgrounds and levels of skill, travelled from all over the world to show off what they’d made and to be inspired by each other.

Igniting imaginations

Coolest Projects began in 2012, the work of CoderDojo volunteers Noel King and Ben Chapman. The first event was held in Dublin, and this city remains the location of the annual Coolest Projects International event. Since then, it has sparked off events all over the world, organised by the community and engaging thousands more young people.

This year, the baton passed to the Raspberry Pi Foundation. We’ve just completed our first season managing the Coolest Projects events and brand, including the first-ever UK event, which took place in April, and a US event that we held at Discovery Cube in Orange County on 23 September. We’ve had a lot of fun!

We’ve seen revolutionary ideas, including a robot guide dog for blind people and a bot detector that could disrupt the games industry. We’ve seen kids’ grit and determination in overcoming heinous obstacles such as their projects breaking in transit and having to rebuild everything from scratch on the morning of the event.

We’ve also seen hundreds of young people who are levelling up, being inspired to learn more, and bringing more ambitious and challenging projects to every new event.

Coolest Projects 2019

We want to expand Coolest Projects and provide a space for even more young people to showcase their digital makes. Today we’re announcing the dates for three Coolest Projects events that are taking place in 2019:

• Coolest Projects UK, Saturday 2 March, The Sharp Project, Manchester
• Coolest Projects USA, Saturday 23 March, Discovery Cube Orange County, California
• Coolest Projects International, Sunday 5 May, RDS, Dublin, Ireland

These are the events that we’ll be running directly, and there will also be community-led events happening in Milan, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Bulgaria.

Project registration for all three events we’re leading opens in January 2019, so you’ve got plenty of time to plan for your next big idea.

If you need some inspiration, there are plenty of places to start. You could check out our How to make a project worksheets worksheets, or get try out one of our online projects before you plan your own.

Head to coolestprojects.org to find out about the 2019 events and how you can get involved!

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Raspberry Fields forever

On 30 June and 1 July, our community of makers, vendors, speakers, volunteers, and drop-in activity leaders impressed over 1300 visitors who braved the heat to visit our festival of digital making at Cambridge Junction.

Our mini festival was both a thank you to our wonderful community and a demonstration of the sheer scale of support and ideas we offer to people looking to get involved in digital making for the first time.

Projects and talks galore

Our community of makers came out in force at Raspberry Fields, with shops, hands-on activities, installations, and show-and-tells demonstrating some of the coolest stuff you can do with a Raspberry Pi and with digital making in general.

Many visitors we spoke to couldn’t believe some of the incredible creations and projects our community members had brought along for them to learn about and play with.

Over the weekend, we had 29 talks on two stages, with our community speakers coming from all over the UK, as well as France, Germany, Korea, Japan, and Australia! Their talks covered a fascinating range of topics such as volunteering with our coding clubs, digital inclusion, drones, wildlife conservation, and so much more! If you missed any of the speakers, don’t worry: we will be uploading talks to our Youtube channel for everyone to see.

Spectacular live shows

We rounded off the two days with three smashing performances: on Saturday, the fantastic Neil Monteiro showed off some of the awesome things you can do with an Astro Pi at home. He was followed by the outstanding Ada.Ada.Ada., in which Ada Lovelace, kitted out in an epic tech-covered dress, taught people all about her programming legacy.

Sunday’s finale brought the mischief of Brainiac Live! to Raspberry Fields: the Brainiacs showed us just how much they laugh in the face of science, before providing us with the explosive finish every good festival needs!

Outstanding volunteers

A whopping 60 community members came and helped us out, many of whom had never volunteered at a Raspberry Pi event before! Our festival of digital making would not have happened without these lovely people willing to give up some of their precious weekend to ensure that everything went off without a hitch.

The volunteers were doing everything from greeting and registering guests as they arrived, handing out swag bags, and stamping bingo cards, to giving directions, helping out with activities, and managing our two stages. They were absolutely fantastic, and we hope to see them all again at future events!

Join our community today

Raspberry Fields was just a taster of what is going on around the world every day within the marvellous Raspberry Pi community at Raspberry Jams, Code Clubs, CoderDojos, Coolest Projects events, or at home, where people use our products and free resources to create their own projects. If our festival has made you curious, then dive in and join the amazing people that have made it possible!

Till next time!

The whole Raspberry Pi team is hugely grateful to all our community members who helped out in some way with Raspberry Fields, as well as to all the staff at Cambridge Junction, who were so open and friendly, and happy to let us taking over the whole venue for a weekend. We would like to say a massive thank you for making the event so much fun for everyone involved, and for being so welcoming to everyone who took part!

We look forward to seeing all of you at upcoming events!

All images courtesy of Connor Ballard-Pateman

The post Raspberry Fields 2018: ice cream, robots, and coding appeared first on Raspberry Pi Foundation.

Team up!

In the last challenge, we saw many teams formed as part of after-school coding clubs or as a collection of best friends at the kitchen table. However, for some this may not be a viable option. Maybe your friends live too far away, or your school doesn’t have a coding club. Maybe you don’t have the time to dedicate to meeting up every week, but you do have a whole Saturday free.

If this is the case, you may want to consider running your Pioneers team as part of an event, such as a makerspace day or Raspberry Jam. Over the course of this second cycle, we’ll be building the number of Pioneers Events. Keep your eyes peeled for details as they are released!

And the HackLab #Pioneers team are off! Hundreds of laughable ideas pouring forth! @__MisterC__ @Raspberry_Pi #makeyourideas pic.twitter.com/rN38GPNexe

— HackLab (@HackLabUK) March 11, 2017

Come together

Maker events provide the chance to meet other people who are into making things with technology. You’ll find people at events who are just getting started, as well as more expert types who are happy to give advice. This is true of Pioneers Events as well as Raspberry Jams.

Planning new #makeyourideas Pioneers projects @LeedsRaspJam Did someone mention a robot…? pic.twitter.com/BXmGq3sD7z

— Marie MIllward (@mariemillward) March 1, 2017

Raspberry Jams are the perfect place for Pioneers teams to meet and spend the day planning and experimenting with their build. If you’re taking part in Pioneers as part of an informal squad, you might find it helpful to come to your local Jam for input and support. Many Jams run on a monthly basis, so you’ll easily find enough time to complete the build over the space of two months. Make sure you carry on sharing your ideas via social media and email between meetings.

The kindness of strangers

If you are a regular at Raspberry Jams, or an organiser yourself, why not consider supporting some teenagers to take part in Pioneers and give them their first taste of making something using tech? We encourage our Pioneers to work together to discover and overcome problems as a team, and we urge all event organisers to minimise adult participation when overseeing a Pioneers build at an event. You can offer advice and answer some questions; just don’t take over.

Any 11 – 15 year old coders in #Hull we will happily support you to #MakeYourIdeas – Get in touch! https://t.co/ZExV4mWLJx

— HullRaspJam (@HullRaspJam) April 25, 2017

There are many other ways for you to help. Imagine the wonderful ideas you can inspire in teens by taking your own creations to a Raspberry Jam! Have you built a live-streaming bird box? Or modified your bike with a Pi Zero? Maybe you’ve built a Pi-powered go-kart or wired your shoes to light up as you walk?

Pioneers is a programme to inspire teens to try digital making, but we also want to create a community of like-minded teens. If we can connect our Pioneers with the wonderful wider community of makers, through networks such as makerspaces, Coder Dojos, and Raspberry Jams, then we will truly start to make something great.

Are you 12-15yo & like making stuff? Come to @cammakespace 4 the world's 1st @Raspberry_Pi #Pioneers Event! #FREE: https://t.co/UtVmJ9kPDM

— HackLab (@HackLabUK) April 20, 2017

Running your own Jam and Pioneers events

For more information on Pioneers, check out the Pioneers website.

For more information on Raspberry Jams, including event schedules and how to start your own, visit the Raspberry Jam website.

Oh, and keep your eyes on this week’s blogs from tomorrow because … well … just do.

The post Pioneers events: what’s your jam? appeared first on Raspberry Pi Foundation.

The show got off to a great start for us when Education Secretary Michael Gove called Raspberry Pi a “brilliant British tech business” in his opening keynote and highlighted the MOOC that we’ve helped create with OCR and Cambridge University Press. It was also surprising and gratifying to see Raspberry Pis on so many stands and in products around the show. Anyway, it’s Sunday so less writing and more pictures are in order:

The Raspberry Pi Foundation Education Team. From left: Dave Honess, Carrie Anne Philbin, Clive Beale and Ben Nuttall

Dave doing technical stuff that I don’t understand.

Carrie Anne doing her funky Sonic Pi thing. Or a rabbit puppet show.

Ben gets personal with a Raspberry Pi camera

Clive talks mainly with his hands

The graffiti at BETT is of a very high quality

No one would listen to me when I told them that the command to invert the picture was ‘rm -rf *’

Teaching the world how to be awesome. Go Team Pi!

Wearing the Pi with pride

Showing off our new animation ‘What is a Raspberry Pi?’

Finally, a big thanks to:

• everyone who came to talk to us and to watch the demos and seminars;
• OCR for hosting us;
• Dave, Ben and Carrie Anne, the RPF Education Team. Let’s do it again next year :)

The post Ooh, BETTy (look, it’s Sunday morning, it’s the best I can do) appeared first on Raspberry Pi Foundation.