During Alexa Live 2020, Amazon announced a new Alexa Skills Challenge with conversations. There’s over $101,000 USD in prizes for the competition. The deadline to submit is at 5pm EDT on September 14, 2020 (47 days away). You can submit and find the full details by visiting https://alexaconversations.devpost.com/. Here are some items to get started with. If you miss place this post, this will be sent to you in email after you sign-up for the challenge:

  1. Sign up for an Amazon Developer account. If you don’t have an Amazon Developer account yet, sign up for a free account. While you’re at the Amazon Developer portal, review the documentation for building with the Alexa Skills Kit.
  2. Review the requirements. Be sure you understand all the requirements before you get started. Remember: Alexa Conversations Skills must be published in the U.S. Skill Store and support English in order to be eligible. Global developers may submit for certification in the en_US locale. See Official Rules for full eligibility requirements.
  3. Utilize the knowledge base. Check out the Resources Tab, which contains featured tools, documentation and data resources that can help you get started with your solution.
  4. Check out your to-do list. This list of items can be found in the top right of the hackathon page and will help keep you on track with your project and make the most of the hackathon.
  5. Consider teamwork. Thinking about buddying up? Visit the Participants Tab to find and meet teammates. You can see who else is looking for a teammate, search for specific skills, and send them a message to connect.
  6. Mark your calendars. The Alexa team will send updates throughout the hackathon, but think about keeping milestone dates noted in your calendar. You can add the submission deadline right from the challenge homepage

Good luck if you choose to participate. I’m interested in seeing what you build. Let me know on my website at https://jasong.us/30QutWK.

Tip: Are you looking to get started using .NET? Check out my post at jasong.us/2CDXSv0.

Alexa Skills Challenge: Alexa Conversations