By Diana Lee

Recently, we profiled the six finalists competing for the top prize in the Amazon Alexa EdTech Skills Challenge, each hoping to transform education with their new Alexa skill. Now, the votes have been tallied, the judges have made their decisions, and the results are finally in!

For their cutting-edge use of voice technology, SayKid captures the Judge’s Choice award, worth $50,000 in AWS Promotional Credit, and VOGO Voice takes home the People’s Choice award, a prize of $25,000 in AWS Promotional Credit. All other finalists receive $10,000 in AWS Promotional Credit.

Launched by Amazon Web Services (AWS) and SXSW EDU in July 2019, the Challenge called on developers to create innovative Alexa skills to improve education. Edtech companies across the U.S. answered with exciting ways to leverage voice technology to strengthen student learning, boost accessibility and foster stronger home-school connections.

“I was pleasantly surprised by the big opportunities I saw and the encouraging level of early development that could have a real impact in education,” says Michael B. Horn, a leading education innovator and one of the competition’s judges. “It leaves me optimistic that the educational opportunities are more than I’d expected from this medium.”