McCollum Announces Winners of 2026 Congressional App Challenge

WASHINGTON, D.C. - On Monday, Congresswoman Betty McCollum (MN-04) held a virtual event to congratulate Riddhi Singhvi of Stillwater Area High School for winning the 2026 Fourth Congressional District App Challenge. Singhvi's app, Bite Balance, was chosen by an independent judge from the Fourth Congressional District.

Bite Balance is a wellness application designed to improve user health by replacing calorie counting and manual food logging with simple, AI-driven insights. Bite Balance helps users understand how food, activity, and rest work together to support gut health and daily energy use. Users take a photo of their meals, which the app analyzes to assess nutrition quality, fiber, and food processing, generating a Gut Balance Index. This information is combined with real-time data from wearables devices, i.e. an Apple Watch, tracking activities, sleep, and stress levels. Producing a single, easy-to-read "Bite Balance" score. The app also provides three core insights: nutrition quality, energy balance, and recovery to guide users to healthier and more mindful choices. By eliminating tracking and focusing on long-term habits, Bite Balance aims to offer a science-based, user-friendly approach to wellness that empowers people to better understand their bodies and build sustainable health routines.

Congresswoman McCollum also congratulated second-place winner Ethan Finch of Stillwater Area High School for his app ArticuRace, and third-place winner Karthik Uppala of Math and Science Academy for his app EchoLens.

"It is a pleasure to congratulate Riddhi Singhvi as the winner of the 2026 Fourth Congressional District App Challenge, and recognize Ethan Finch and Karthik Uppala for their outstanding entries," said Congresswoman McCollum. Bite Balance is Riddhi's first solo entry to the MN-04 Congressional App Challenge. Riddhi and her brother, Coolsjes, a rising senior had previously entered second place during the 2024 Congressional App Challenge.

This year's judge was Metropolitan State University senior Calvin Yang, who is majoring in Computer Science. Yang's experience includes an internship at Trusted Semiconductor Solutions working on AI models and integrations. His relevant focus is on Algorithms and Data Structures; Organization of Programming Languages; Database Management Systems; and Machine Learning.

The Congressional App Challenge is a nationwide STEAM competition where students create an application or "app" for desktop/PC, web, tablet, mobile, or other devices. Fourth Congressional District middle and high school students are encouraged to enter next year's competition by submitting an app of their own creation by late October 2027.

Students and educators can find more information about the competition at mccollum.house.gov.

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