In July, we announced the Alexa Skills Challenge: Tech for Good. The challenge invited developers to build Alexa skills that could have a positive impact on the environment, local communities, and the world. We vetted hundreds of submissions and after much deliberation, we’ve finally narrowed down the 10 finalists. We’re excited to share them with you.

Before doing so, we want to thank everyone and recognize important accomplishments we observed from you, the Alexa developer community. It’s incredible to see that in about three years’ time, the skills you are now creating are taking on new levels of technical depth and quality of execution. We were excited to see several trends emerge from a majority of the entries.

1. Technical Depth: We saw many more skills that were making use of new advanced features to create more natural interactions and deliver a better user experience. Many developers used features such as memory and persistence, Location APIs, home cards, entity resolution, and CanFulfillIntentRequest.
2. User Experience: The user experiences created delivered clear value for customers. Your skills removed friction, engaged customers through clear call-to-actions, and presented learnings for customers to act on or return to later.
3. Global Experiences: We saw many submissions going the extra step to deliver experiences to customers globally. Skills were often submitted for certification in India, the US, the UK, Australia, and Canada all at once. Building an experience for customers everywhere is a great way to expand the reach of your skill.

The review process wasn’t easy; we were amazed by the quality of the skills submitted. Each finalist will take home $5,000 and continue to compete for the $10,000 grand prize and the chance to direct a $20,000 donation to one of 11 non-profit organizations. Without further ado, here are the 10 finalists we selected and that will move on to the next round. Congratulations to each finalist! 

To try out one of the finalist skills, just ask, “Alexa, give me a tech for good skill."

Onesie Bazaar: Onesie Bazaar is a two-way marketplace to list and trade used baby clothes. Try out Onesie Bazaar.

EVIE Assistant: EVIE Assistant allows you to search for electric charging stations nearby using a city name. Try out EVIE Assistant.

Busy Hands: Busy Hands is a fun and interactive STEM experiment skill to try at home. Try out Busy Hands.

Transport Me: Transport Me allows you to search for nearby bike shares across multiple providers within a 1.25-mile radius. Try out Transport Me.

Safe and Well: Safe and Well allows anyone to check on the status of close relatives or friends they may know in impacted areas. The skill ties in directly with American Red Cross’ Safe and Well API. Try out Safe and Well.

Recycling Center: Recycling center allows customers to easily find local recycling centers for specific items they may want to discard such as batteries or lightbulbs. Try out Recycling Center.

World Mathematics League: This skill creates a World Mathematics League. Customers from around the world can participate in 15 minutes of daily math questions to contribute to their state’s or country’s score. Try out World Mathematics League.

Shower Buddy: Shower buddy is a simple but powerful skill that can help customers reduce water consumption by tracking the time they spend in the shower. Try out Shower Buddy.

Agent Do Good: Agent Do Good challenges you to complete a daily mission focused on doing good (e.g. hold the door open for someone, give up your seat for someone else, etc.). Once you accept a mission, complete it and report back. Try out Agent Do Good.

Volunteer Options: Volunteer options gives you an easy way to find volunteer opportunities nearby using your Zip Code. Try out Volunteer Options.

What’s Next for Our Finalists

From October 15 through November 4, we will evaluate customer engagement with each of the finalists’ skills, and our judging panel will evaluate each finalist's skill to determine the winner of the $10,000 grand prize. We’ll also evaluate a few additional skills that could potentially win a bonus prize. (As per the official rules: “a Bonus Prize may be awarded to a skill that is not a Finalist Prize winner.”)

Good Luck to the Finalists!

The challenge winners will be announced on or around November 13. Thank you to everyone who participated and worked hard to submit an entry to this challenge. We invite everyone to try each of the finalist skills and to build your own Alexa skill for good. Stay tuned for more information on future contests.