Galactic Local Judge

From Global Champion to judge

In 2023, I was invited to serve as a Galactic Local Judge for the NASA International Space Apps Challenge — Bangladesh, marking a transition from competitor and global winner the previous year to evaluating the work of the next generation of innovators.

The Bangladesh edition of the 2023 challenge was organized by the Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS), with support from the BASIS Students’ Forum, and hosted at Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB). The local event began on October 6 as an intensive 36-hour hackathon, bringing together teams developing solutions to challenges connected to Earth, space, science, technology, and open data.

Evaluating innovation at the local stage

As a Galactic Local Judge, my role was to review and evaluate participant projects, weighing the strength of their ideas, technical implementation, creativity, relevance, and potential impact.

Local judging is an important part of the NASA Space Apps structure. Projects are first evaluated within their local events, where judges help identify the strongest submissions to progress toward the broader global judging process.

The appointment was particularly significant because just one year earlier I had taken part in the same global program with Team Diamonds, which became a 2022 Global Winner in the Most Inspirational category.

Moving from competitor to global champion to judge within the NASA Space Apps community represented a real progression in my involvement with international technology and innovation programs. My selection to the 2023 judging panel was reported by bdnews24.com, which documented the invitation to return to the challenge in a judging capacity.

Part of a global innovation community

The 2023 NASA International Space Apps Challenge was a genuinely global event. NASA reports that the 2023 edition brought together 57,999 registered participants, 8,715 teams, 402 local events, and participants from 152 countries and territories. Teams addressed more than 30 challenges written by NASA subject-matter experts using open data from NASA and its international space-agency partners.

Serving as a judge within that ecosystem let me contribute from a different position: not by building a solution myself, but by assessing how others turned complex challenges into practical, creative, and technically credible ideas.

Recognition and event

The Bangladesh event closed with an award ceremony attended by senior representatives from education, academia, technology, and international institutions.

According to bdnews24.com, attendees included Dr. Dipu Moni, then Minister of Education of Bangladesh; Professor Tanvir Hasan, Vice-Chancellor of Independent University, Bangladesh; and James Gardiner, Economic, Science and Technology Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Dhaka.

The experience remains significant because it was one of my earliest opportunities to formally evaluate the work of other technologists inside an internationally recognized innovation program.

For me, the 2023 NASA Space Apps Challenge marks a clear transition:

Participant → Global Champion → Galactic Local Judge

It began a broader move from building competitive technology projects to judging, mentoring, and supporting other innovators.

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Recognition record

• Role: Galactic Local Judge
• Program: NASA International Space Apps Challenge 2023
• Location: Bangladesh
• Venue: Independent University, Bangladesh
• Organizer in Bangladesh: Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS)
• Event format: 36-hour hackathon
• Local event began: October 6, 2023
• Field: Space · science · technology · innovation

References

• bdnews24.com — NASA Space Apps: from competitor to judge — reports the invitation to return to the challenge as a judge, and the award ceremony attendees.
• NASA — 2023 International Space Apps Challenge — the official programme page for the 2023 edition.
• NASA Science — 2023 Space Apps Challenge announces 10 global winners — source for the participation figures: 57,999 participants, 8,715 teams, 402 local events, 152 countries and territories.
• BASIS annual report — NASA Space Apps Challenge Bangladesh 2023 — documents BASIS as organizer of the Bangladesh edition and the event at Independent University, Bangladesh.