Apps for Healthy Kids contest winners announced

Children and teens can train a cartoon creature in the computer game “Trainer,” the Grand Prize winner announced today in first lady Michelle Obama’s "Apps for Healthy Kids" competition to reduce child obesity.

"Trainer" was developed by students at the University of Southern California. Players visit a cartoon wizard to get instructions about calories and nutrition, and they gain points by doing physical activities in real life to improve their own fitness.

Today White House officials identified the 11 computer applications, tools and games that won a total of $60,000 in prizes. The contest is part of Obama’s “Let’s Move!” campaign to provide nutritional information and encourage healthy living with the help of digital devices and computer applications.

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Federal Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra led the awards ceremony. The 94 entries were judged by a panel of industry experts, including Apple Computer co-founder Steve Wozniak and Mike Gallagher, president of the Entertainment Software Association.

The 11 winning applications are:

• "Trainer" — by David Villatoro, John Banayan, Erik Nichols, Erin Reynolds, Tony Tseung, Rita Yeung, Ross Danielson, Adam Berkett and Joseph Kohn of the University of Southern California (Grand Prize winner).
• "Work it Off!" — by Nina Limardo and Pauline Lake of Trinity College, Hartford, Conn.
• "Tony’s Plate Calculator" — by John Blackwell and Ana Blackwell of Dayton, Ohio.
• "Food Hero" — by Children’s Hospital Boston.
• "Hungry Hiker Build-A-Meal" — by Ian Holtum, Gannon Kashiwa, Frances Kruger, Nancy Walsh, Bridget Coughlin, FableVision, Jeff Kennedy Associates, and the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.
• "Pick Chow" — by Karen Laszlo, Mike Carcaise and Lisa Lanzano of Boulder, Colo.
• "PapayaHead" — by Dean Jenkins, Larry Bethurun, John Baudrexl and Amy Wils of Olympia, Wash.
• "The Snack Neutralizer" — by Jeffrey Schwartz of Willow Springs, N.C.
• "Fitter Critters" — by John Ferrara, Brianna Lance, Andrew Karetas, James Chiponis and James Flannery of Philadelphia.
• "Smash Your Food" — by Frederic De Wulf and Marta De Wulf of Bellevue, Wash.
• "Food Buster" — by Aaron Coleman and Jesica Oratowski-Coleman of San Diego.