The Equal Pay App Challenge wants developers to use publicly available data and resources to create innovative, easy-to-use apps that educate users about the pay gap and provide tools to combat it. The apps should improve the accessibility of pay data broken down by gender, race and ethnicity, and provide coaching on early career pay, pay negotiation or career mentorship.

As does any contest, it has rules. One is that you keep your intellectual property rights but you do give the Department of Labor an "irrevocable, nonexclusive, royalty-free license"

There are prizes (what's a contest without prizes?), actually eight of them but they only tell us about one of them "scholarships to attend an eight-week immersive program on digital product innovation and entrepreneurship hosted by General Assembly, a campus for technology, design and entrepreneurship." Ok that one might not be hugely motivational but I'll bet the other prizes are better. Oh wait- it's the government-- forget the bet. But it's a good idea, so you do it and you win, let me know and I'll send you cookies and I won't require an "irrevocable, nonexclusive, royalty-free license."