From App to Submission: Your Step-by-Step Guide to Writing a Presidential AI Challenge Entry

So you've built an amazing app prototype using Hampshire County AI's AI Challenge Helper. Now comes the part that might feel a little overwhelming: writing your submission for the Presidential AI Challenge.

Here's the good news: you don't have to write it alone, and you don't have to write it from scratch. We're going to walk you through a process where AI helps you turn everything you've learned about building your app into a polished, honest submission that reflects your real work.

Even better? It takes about 30 minutes, and you can do it right in Poe.

Why This Matters

The Presidential AI Challenge judges want to understand your thinking. They want to know:

• What problem were you actually trying to solve?

• What did you learn along the way?

• How did you use AI thoughtfully and responsibly?

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Your submission should tell that story—the real story of what you built and why. Not a perfect, polished story. Your actual story. The challenges you faced. The ideas that changed. The moments when something clicked.

AI can help you organize and articulate that story. But you have to make sure it's true.

The Process (In Plain English)

We're going to use Claude to help you write your submission. Here's what happens:

1. Load your app into the conversation (by remixing it in Poe)

2. Call Claude by name and ask it to help you write your submission based on the official requirements

3. Let Claude ask you questions about your actual process

4. Read through the draft Claude generates and delete anything that doesn't match your real experience

5. Polish and submit

That's it. Let's do it.

Step 1: Open Your App in Poe and Remix It

First, navigate to your app in Poe. You built it using the AI Challenge Helper, so you should be able to find it in your Poe chat history or by searching for it.

Once you've opened your app, look for the "Remix" button. It's typically located near the top of the app display. When you click Remix, the HTML code for your entire app will load into a new Poe chat as context. This is how Claude will be able to see what you actually built.

Pro tip: The Remix button opens a fresh conversation with the App Creator bot. That's fine—we're about to add Claude to the mix.

Step 2: Call Claude and Share the Submission Requirements

Now you're in a Poe chat with your app code loaded. Here's where the magic happens.

In the same chat, type a message that includes:

1. A call to @claude-haiku-4.5 (this tags Claude directly)

2. A link to the submission requirements (so Claude can see what the judges are looking for)

3. A clear request for Claude to help you write your submission

4. 
   

Here's a sample prompt you can copy and paste directly into your Poe chat. Feel free to adjust it based on your app:

Copy & Paste This Prompt:

@claude-haiku-4.5 I need help writing my Presidential AI Challenge submission for my app. Here are the official requirements: https://orise.orau.gov/ai-challenge/complete-the-challenge/requirements.html

I've just remixed my app, so you can see the code above. I built this app to solve a real problem in my community. Can you ask me questions about what I built, why I built it, what challenges I faced, and what I learned? Then I'd like you to help me write a 500+ word narrative that honestly reflects my work and thinking.

I want the submission to be true to my actual experience—not overstated or made up. So please ask me specific questions about my process, and I'll answer them. Then we can write something real together.

Important: When you paste this, make sure you're typing in the message box where it says something like "Message App Creator..." (you'll see this at the bottom of the Poe chat). Just replace that text with your prompt that includes @claude-haiku-4.5.

Step 3: Answer Claude's Questions (Honestly!)

Claude will read the submission requirements and your app code, then ask you specific questions about:

• The actual problem you were solving

• Who this app helps

• What challenges you ran into while building it

• How you used AI in your solution

• What you learned

Here's the important part: Answer these questions truthfully. If you struggled with something, say so. If you didn't consciously decide to include a feature (like dark mode or a mobile responsive design), don't claim you did. If you tested your app and found something didn't work quite right, mention it.

The judges are looking for real thinking, not perfection. They want to see that you grappled with real problems and learned something meaningful.

Step 4: Review Claude's Draft (And Edit Ruthlessly)

Once you've answered Claude's questions, Claude will generate a draft submission narrative based on your answers. This is great—it gives you a starting point. But do not just copy and paste it.

Read through it carefully and delete anything that isn't true to your experience. Some specific things to watch for:

Example: The sample submission we shared earlier mentions "Dark Mode Support for Accessibility" as a key challenge the team overcame. But if your team didn't consciously think about dark mode—if it was just something the AI included automatically—delete that section. Replace it with something you actually did think about.

Another example: If the draft says "We tested the app by generating multiple party plans for different themes," but you only tested one theme, change it to match what you actually did.

What to keep: The draft probably nails your actual story. Claude has read your app code and your answers, so it knows what you built. Keep the parts that feel right and true.

What to fix: Anything generic, anything inflated, anything that doesn't match your real process. If Claude's draft is flowery but your actual process was simpler, make it simpler. If Claude missed something important, add it in.

Step 5: Keep Talking to Claude (Remember to @Mention!)

As you read through the draft, you'll probably think of edits. Maybe you want to expand one section. Maybe you want to clarify something. Maybe you realize you forgot to tell Claude about an important challenge you faced.

Here's the key: Keep @mentioning @claude-haiku-4.5 in each new message.

For example:

• "@claude-haiku-4.5 I want to expand the section about testing accuracy. We actually did test our app by planning a real party. Can you add more detail about that?"

• "@claude-haiku-4.5 I'm reading through the draft and I realize we didn't actually do market research. Can you remove that part?"

• "@claude-haiku-4.5 Can you make this section shorter? It feels too wordy compared to the rest."

Why mention Claude? Because by default, Poe will respond with the App Creator bot (since that's the bot in the original chat). By @mentioning Claude specifically, you're making sure you're talking to Claude about your submission, not accidentally asking the App Creator to generate new app code. To streamline this, you can make Claude the default bot for the chat - just click the conversation name at the top of the chat. This will open a settings window, including a setting for the default bot in the chat. Change the default bot from App-Creator to Claude-Haiku-4.5.

If you forget and the App Creator bot responds when you meant to talk to Claude, no worries—just send a new message that says something like:

"@claude-haiku-4.5 I meant to ask you this question, not the App Creator. Can you help me revise this section?"

Claude will jump back in and help.

Step 6: Add Your Links and Final Details

Once your narrative is polished, ensure it contains all the links from your conversation history:

Links already provided as context:

• A link to your app (the public web link Poe gave you when you built it)

• A link to the Poe Chat history for the AI_Challenge_Helper session

Any new links generated outside the chat:

• A link to a video or demo

Add any missing links right into your Word document or Google Doc as you're assembling your final PDF.

Step 7: The Certification of Originality

One last thing: The Presidential AI Challenge requires you to include a "Certification of Originality." This is just a statement that says:

• Your project is original work created by your team for this challenge

• You've identified and credited all AI tools you used (like Hampshire County AI's AI Challenge Helper Apps, Poe, Claude, FLUX for images, etc.)

• You've credited any research or images you used

• 
  

You can write this in a simple paragraph:

Example: "This project submission is original content created by [Team Name] specifically for the Presidential AI Challenge. We used Hampshire County AI's AI Challenge Helper to navigate a variety of Poe AI tools (@Claude-Sonnet-4.5 for planning and text generation, @FLUX-pro for images, @App-Creator for HTML, CSS, and Javascript) . We researched party planning best practices from [source], and generated our own original copy for all other content."

The Whole Timeline for the Presidential AI Challenge Submission

Here's what this looks like from start to finish:

15 minutes: Remix your app and call Claude with the requirements link

10 minutes: Answer Claude's questions about your actual process

5 minutes: Claude generates a draft narrative

15+ minutes: You read, edit, and refine (you can spend as much time here as you want)

5 minutes: Add links and the certification of originality

5 minutes: Convert to PDF and submit

Total: About 55 minutes, but only if you're being thorough. You can do it faster if you keep your edits minimal.

A Few Final Tips

Be specific: Instead of "We faced challenges," say "We struggled with making the interface work on mobile phones because we didn't realize kids use mainly tablets." Specifics are more interesting and more impressive.

Don't oversell: If your app solves 80% of the problem, say that. Judges respect honesty more than inflated claims.

Show your learning: The best submissions explain what you learned, not just what you built. "I learned that asking the right questions to AI is harder than I thought" is gold.

Trust your work: If you built something that helps your community, that's enough. You don't need to pretend it's something bigger than it is. The Presidential AI Challenge celebrates real work done by real kids and educators. That's the whole point.

Questions?

If you get stuck while using Poe or Claude, remember:

• You can always ask Claude directly: "@claude-haiku-4.5 How should I explain this part?"

• You can email us at info@hampshirecountyai.org if you need help

• Check out our User Guides for more Poe tips

You've got this. And remember: you're not just writing a submission. You're documenting how you took an idea and turned it into something that could actually help your community. That's worth celebrating.

Ready to get started? Go remix your app, call Claude, and let's write something true.