Congrats to the Heroku "Back to School" AI Challenge Winners!
TL;DR
Heroku announced the winners of its 'Back to School' AI Challenge, where students built AI apps to improve education. Winners created tools like study platforms and lesson planners, earning prizes and recognition.
Key Takeaways
- •Winners developed AI-powered applications for education, including study management and lesson planning tools.
- •Projects utilized Heroku's AI features like Model Context Protocol, Managed Inference, and pgvector for advanced functionality.
- •Participants gained valuable experience and prizes, with all eligible students receiving completion badges.
- •Heroku's sponsorship enabled students to build sophisticated apps without infrastructure complexities.
Tags
Thank you to everyone for being patient, the wait is over! We are excited to announce the winners of the Heroku "Back to School" AI Challenge.
Students who participated in this challenge built AI-powered applications that sought to make the back-to-school transition smoother, smarter, and more successful. Each submission showcased thoughtful applications of Heroku's AI features, demonstrating creative approaches to solving real educational problems. We appreciate the dedication and technical sophistication demonstrated by all participants.
We hope every participant is proud of what they accomplished and gained valuable experience working with Heroku AI features, regardless of whether they're taking home a prize today.
Without further ado, our winners.
Congratulations To…
Crazy Creative Winner
@prime_299792 delivered a comprehensive AI-powered study management platform that goes far beyond traditional study tools.
What sets Study-Mate apart is its implementation of MentorMind, an AI assistant that leverages a multi-agent architecture with intelligent orchestration between GPT-OSS, Nova Lite, and Claude agents.
Educator Empowerment Winner
@victor_lakra_e1910abe17fc built a practical solution addressing a time-consuming challenge that educators face daily: lesson planning. Teacher Assistant transforms the lesson planning process by enabling teachers to upload teaching materials and receive comprehensive, context-aware lesson plans in minutes.
The application leverages Heroku Managed Inference with Cohere embeddings and Claude Sonnet 4, combined with pgvector-enabled Postgres for semantic search capabilities.
Student Success Winner
@juliodiaz0209 created a powerful multi-agent learning platform that demonstrates the future of AI-powered education. StudyFlow AI coordinates seven specialized AI agents working seamlessly together to provide personalized learning experiences across multiple dimensions of student success.
The integration of Heroku's Model Context Protocol for real-time agent communication, pgvector for context storage, and Managed Inference creates a truly adaptive learning experience that adjusts to individual student needs.
Each winner will receive $1,000 USD, a DEV++ Membership, and an exclusive DEV badge. All eligible student participants will receive a completion badge for rising to the challenge!
Sponsor Shoutout
A huge thank you to Heroku for sponsoring this challenge and providing students with the opportunity to build with cutting-edge AI features. Heroku's AI PaaS platform featuring Model Context Protocol (MCP), Managed Inference and Agents, and pgvector for Postgres enabled participants to create sophisticated multi-agent applications without getting bogged down in infrastructure complexity!
What's next?
Stay tuned for upcoming DEV Challenges! Follow our challenges page to be the first to know when new opportunities launch:
#devchallenge Follow
We hope you had fun, felt challenged, and maybe added an impressive project to your professional profile.
See you next time!
Interested in being a volunteer judge for future challenges? Learn more here!