Win or lose, notifications are being sent out to all participants of the 2026 Swift Student Challenge ahead of WWDC.

Every year, Apple hosts a competition called the Swift Student Challenge. The event lets up-and-coming student developers practice their craft and gives them a chance of winning a variety of prizes.

All challenge winners have now received a free one-year membership to the Apple Developer program, an opportunity to take the Swift certification exam, AirPods Max 2, and a personalized certificate from Apple.

Apple has also recognized 50 "Distinguished Winners." As a reward for their outstanding submissions, distinguished winners will be rewarded with a three-day visit to Apple Park in Cupertino.

And now we know just who won some of these prizes. Just as it announced it would on Monday, the iPhone maker has begun notifying winners of the 2026 Swift Student Challenge.

Who won the 2026 Swift Student Challenge, and what did they submit?

Apple has selected 350 different Swift Student Challenge submissions. Some of the winners were quick to share their accomplishments on social media.

Winners of the challenge received an email from Apple congratulating them and detailing the various prizes that they've won. There's a lot of variety among the projects that won the challenge, and quite a few participants described their submissions in detail.

One apparent Swift Student Challenge winner, known as Jiaxu Li, submitted an application called PodcastIntelligent. The app uses artificial intelligence to generate a podcast episode from a prompt. Per the App Store description, it can create "a debate, a story, a lesson, or a comedy segment."

Tablet screen showing colorful AI-themed podcast cards and a central episode titled Will AI Replace Programmers, with playback controls and a text box for creating a new podcast at the bottom

The PodcastIntelligent app creates podcast episodes with the help of AI. Image Credit: Jiaxu Li

Sayan Lakhoua, another winner of the 2026 Swift Student Challenge, submitted Allergyzz, an app "designed for kids and young people to help them better understand and learn more about allergies." It features an interactive story-driven experience, created to make allergy education more engaging and accessible.

Note that these are only two out of the 350 winners of the 2026 challenge. Each project has its redeeming qualities and unique attributes. Participants can check if they won by using the Swift Student Challenge webpage.

Overall, the 2026 Swift Student Challenge saw a multitude of different student submissions. Though some weren't impressive enough for Apple, many of them still demonstrate creative thought and novel ideas.

Apple's next big event is its annual Worldwide Developers' Conference or WWDC, scheduled to begin on June 8 with a keynote video.