About

NCWIT frames the program as building women’s leadership, technical, and entrepreneurial skills. Students join the free AiC Community, then complete an application of about an hour covering computing experience, activities, leadership, and plans; an educator endorsement is optional but encouraged. Volunteer academics and industry professionals review anonymously. Regional Affiliates in nearly 80 locations choose their own recipients, while NCWIT and Bank of America representatives choose National Winners using a rubric that weighs tenacity, uniqueness of story, and technical achievement.

The tier sets the weight. National Winners are about 1% of applicants, national honorable mentions bring total national recognition to roughly one in ten, and regional awards, including Rising Star, are chosen locally. The rubric rewards persistence and story as well as technical output, so the award reads as recognition of trajectory, not a competition result.

The NCWIT Aspirations in Computing High School Award is the right application for a student with real computing experience and a record of persistence who wants national recognition — and the National Winner distinction is the credential worth naming.