Innovation

EPA Challenges & Prizes

EPA challenges and prizes tap the ingenuity of people outside the agency, across the U.S. and the world. Some of the links below exit the site. Exit

	Description of challenge	Outcome
Nutrient Sensor Action Challenge	EPA and partners seek demonstrations of the effective use of low-cost sensors, innovative partnerships to pilot the sensors and data management, and show how collected data and information can be used in state and local decision-making.	Registration open. Winners announced Spring 2019.
Campus Rainworks Challenge	EPA is hosting the sixth annual Campus RainWorks Challenge, a green infrastructure design competition created to engage college and university students in reinventing our water infrastructure to address stormwater pollution.	Registration open September 1-30, 2017. Submissions due December 15, 2017. Winners announced Spring 2018.
Wildland Fire Sensors Challenge Exit	EPA and partners seek a prototype sensor system capable of measuring constituents of smoke during wildland fire events.	Application period closed November 22, 2017.
Advanced Septic Nitrogen Sensor Challenge Exit	EPA and partners seek to identify and spur development of technologies to monitor nitrogen concentration in effluent from wastewater treatment systems.	Applications closed March 17, 2017.
Arsenic Sensor Challenge Exit	In collaboration with the Bureau of Reclamation, EPA is seeking ideas for new or improved sensors, devices, or test kits to test for arsenic in water.	Applications closed March 13, 2017.
Regulations.gov Data Challenge	Use TopCoder Exitto receive an application that makes regulations of interest more discoverable and provide commenters with useful information.	Conducted in a live competition environment November 2016.
Transform Tox Testing Challenge Stage 2 Exit	EPA and the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) and NIH's National Toxicology Program (NTP) within the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) launched a challenge that will award up to $1 million to improve the relevance and predictivity of data generated from automated chemical screening technology used for toxicity testing.	Stage 2 opened September 27, 2016 and closed January 26, 2017.
Smart City Air Challenge Exit	EPA is challenging communities to deploy hundreds of air quality sensors and make the data public.	Winners announced.
Campus RainWorks Challenge 2012 - 2016	Challenging students to design innovative stormwater management projects on campus using green infrastructure.	2016 Registration: September 1–30, 2016 2015: Winners announced 2014: Winners announced. 2013: Winners announced. 2012: Winners announced.
2016 TRI University Challenge Exit 2016	EPA is issuing a challenge to the academic community. Find new, innovative, and creative ways to use Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data and related information to promote more informed decision-making and action on the part of communities, manufacturers, and government.	Application period closed March 27, 2016.
Visualize Your Water Exit 2016	In collaboration with U.S. Geological Survey, high school students in the Great Lakes and Chesapeake Bay States are challenged to use open government data sources to create compelling, innovative, and comprehensible visualizations.	Winners announced April 21, 2016.
Transform Tox Testing Stage 1 Exit 2016	EPA and the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) and NIH's National Toxicology Program (NTP) within the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) launched a challenge that will award up to $1 million to improve the relevance and predictivity of data generated from automated chemical screening technology used for toxicity testing.	Stage 1 closed April 8, 2016.
Nutrient Recycling Challenge Exit 2015	EPA is partnering with pork and dairy producers, USDA, and environmental and scientific experts to host a competition to find technologies that can recycle nutrients from livestock waste and create valuable products.	Submissions for Phase 1 closed January 15, 2016.
Nutrient Sensor Challenge - Phase 2 Exit 2015	Sensor-developer teams from Phase 1 to submit applications for final verification testing of nitrogen and phosphorus sensors.	Application period closed December 18, 2015.
Visualizing Nutrients Challenge Exit 2015	Use open government data sources to create compelling, innovative, and comprehensible visualizations.	Winners announced August 2015.
Nutrient Sensor Challenge - Phase 1 Exit 2014	Develop an affordable, reliable sensor for measuring nitrate and phosphate levels in water.	29 teams registered for beta testing, beginning in August 2015
2015 TRI University Challenge 2015	EPA is challenging university faculty and students to create innovative projects that improve the understanding and use of Toxics Release Inventory data.	Submission period closed March 27, 2015.
SunWise with SHADE Poster Contest 2012 - 2014	Submit original, creative posters illustrating ways to prevent skin cancer and raise sun safety awareness.	Submission period closed April 01, 2014.
"Climate Change in Focus" student video contest 2014	Create a video that describes how climate change affects you, your family, friends, and community.	Winners announced.
Algal Bloom Photo Contest 2014	Spot and document algal blooms in our waters, and submit your photos of algal blooms where you live, vacation, and recreate.
National Aquatic Resource Surveys Campus Research Challenge 2014	Encourage external, innovative research and information development to support enhanced water management at multiple scales.	Phase I winners announced.
EPA ToxCast Challenge Exit 2014	Identify a group of chemical properties and structural descriptors to quantitatively predict a chemical’s lowest effect level (LEL) for toxicity.	Winners have been announced. See a video. Exit
Challenging Nutrients Exit 2013	Submit innovative, next-generation ideas that could lead to a fundamental change in the way we manage or recover nutrients.	Three winners proposed various solutions including new modeling, real-time management, and paid incentives.
Real-Time Sensor to Monitor Sewer Overflows Exit 2013	Submit ideas for an efficient, low-cost and low-maintenance real-time sensor to monitor sewer overflows in urban areas.	The overall winner combined water-level sensors, ultrasonic sensors, and a cellphone radio for real-time updates.
TRI University Challenge 2013 - 2015	Find innovative uses of toxics release inventory (TRI) program data to promote more informed decision making and action by communities, manufacturers, and government.	Winners by year.
My Air, My Health Challenge Exit 2012	Create personal devices for testing and reporting both air quality and linked physiological data.	Conscious Clothing used a particulate matter air sensor and stretchy fabric strips to estimate pollution exposure.
Stand Alone Field Measurement of Atmospheric Benzene & Butadiene Exit 2012	Design sensitive, reproducible and rapid field-based monitoring systems that measured atmospheric benzene and 1,3 butadiene at low concentrations.	The winning solution combined imprinted polymers and carbon nanotubes.
Tracking Molecular Components of Electronics Exit 2012	Identify concepts that could enable the development of a "molecular bill of materials" for electronic products and components.	The overall winner used distributed information gathering. Three secondary winners used barcodes, radio frequency identification, and a system of standards and databases.
Recovering Bacillus Spores from Swabs Exit 2012	Submit protocols for efficient recovery of bacterial spores from pre-wetted surface sampling tools.	The winning process: remove spores from swabs with a solvent, concentrate on a membrane, and blot between two pieces of membrane.
Six Words for the Planet 2012	Participants can celebrate the environment by sharing flash fiction: six-word essays about what the environment means to them.	Recognition.
Detection and Analysis of Ambient Concentrations of Acrolein Exit 2011	Submit low-cost, rapid-analysis methods for atmospheric detection of trace quantities of acrolein.	No solution satisfied the requirements.
Apps for the Environment Challenge Exit 2011	Look at publicly available EPA data and come up with the most innovative way to use, show, or combine the data in an app.	Best Overall: Light Bulb Finder Best Student App: EarthFriend Popular Choice: CGSearch
Efficient Technologies/ Methodologies for Measuring the Reduction of Pollution from Nonpoint Sources Exit 2011	Develop or identify technologies and methodologies to measure the performance of management systems that would reduce nitrogen, phosphorous, and/or sediment pollution loads.	No solution satisfied the requirements.
It's My Environment Video Project Exit 2011	Participants share a video clip up to 10 seconds long of someone doing something for the environment, then reading and passing along a sign that says "It's My Environment."	Recognition.
State of the Environment Photo Project 2011-2013	Featured photos in this project showcase our lives and our planet from Earth Day 2011 through 2013.	Recognition.
Help Fight Environmental Crime 2010	Students who are members of Native American tribes submit artwork depicting what they think environmental damage looks like.	Recognition.
Game Day Recycling Challenge Exit 2010-2014	Colleges and universities promote waste reduction at their football games and track and report waste reductions.	Winners by year.Exit
National Radon Poster Contest Exit 2007-2015	Student leaders raise radon awareness among their family, school and community.	Winners by year. Exit
Rachel Carson Sense of Wonder Contest 2007-2013	Intergenerational teams submit their expressions of wonder about the environment through photos, essays, songs, poetry, mixed media and dance.	Winners by year.
Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge 1996-2014	The awards recognize innovative technologies that incorporate green chemistry into chemical design, manufacture and use and help advance the protection of human health and the environment.