DVN Digital Skills Challenge 1

Content Creation Challenge

Create an engaging 2- 3 minute vertical explainer video on any topic of your choice.

The video should educate, explain, or simplify a subject for an audience that may know little or nothing about the topic.

Participants are encouraged to choose topics that are useful, interesting, surprising, or relevant to everyday life.

Technical requirements

The final video should:

• Be 2 - 3 minutes
• Be in vertical format
• Be suitable for TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts
• Have a clear beginning, middle and conclusion
• Include a narrated explanation or presenter
• Use relevant images/video footage
• Include text and captions
• Include motion graphics/animated elements
• Use appropriate sound effects
• Use background music where appropriate
• Have clean transitions
• Have good audio quality
• Be visually engaging
• Be understandable even to someone unfamiliar with the subject

Participants may use tools such as Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, CapCut, After Effects, Canva, AI tools, or any other appropriate software.

Participants should think about: Hook → Explanation → Visual demonstration → Key takeaway → Conclusion

Submission

1. Final video
2. Short description of the topic
3. List of major tools/software used
4. Brief explanation of how the video was produced
5. Links to any important source material where applicable

Judging criteria

Digital Marketing Challenge

Choose a real product or service that you are legally permitted to market and sell.

Develop and execute a digital marketing campaign using:

• Social media marketing
• Email marketing

The objective is to generate real customer interest and ultimately at least one genuine sale.

The participant should document the campaign from beginning to end.

Examples of products

Participants could market:

• Clothing
• Shoes
• Food
• Handmade products
• Electronics/accessories
• Digital products
• Photography services
• Graphic design services
• Web development
• Courses
• Events
• Beauty products
• Agricultural products
• Other legitimate products/services

They should preferably choose something they can actually sell or work with a business owner who gives them permission.

Campaign requirements

Submission

1. Campaign strategy
2. Product information
3. Marketing materials
4. Links/screenshots of published content
5. Email campaign evidence
6. Social media analytics
7. Lead/conversion data
8. Evidence of sale(s)
9. Final campaign report
10. Lessons learned

Judging criteria

Graphics and Animation Challenge

Create an original 30-second to 1 minute animated video about any topic of your choice.

The participant can use any legitimate animation technique, including:

• 2D animation
• 3D animation
• Motion graphics
• Character animation
• Stop-motion
• Whiteboard animation
• Kinetic typography
• Mixed media
• AI-assisted animation
• A combination of techniques

Example topics

• A funny everyday situation
• Financial literacy
• Technology
• Entrepreneurship
• Education
• Healthcare
• A fictional story
• Life in Uganda
• An inspirational message

Requirements

• Be 30 seconds to 1 minute
• Have a clear concept
• Have a beginning, development and conclusion
• Demonstrate animation/motion
• Have appropriate sound
• Use typography effectively where necessary
• Have good visual composition
• Be exported in high quality
• Be original

AI tools may be used, but AI should not replace the creative contribution of the participant.

Participants should disclose significant AI tools used.

Submission

1. Final 30-second animation
2. Concept description
3. Tools used
4. Brief production process
5. AI disclosure, if applicable
6. Optional behind-the-scenes/process recording

Judging criteria

Programming Challenge

Build a functional web-based POS system that can be accessed online.

Participants can use any appropriate technology stack.

For example:

• Laravel/PHP
• Django/Python
• Node.js
• React
• Vue
• Next.js
• MySQL/PostgreSQL
• Or another appropriate stack

Core POS functionality

1. Authentication & users

The system should have user accounts with appropriate roles.

For example:

• Administrator
  Full system access
• Cashier
  Create sales; View relevant transactions; Print receipts
• Manager
  View reports; Manage inventory; View sales performance

Participants can implement additional roles if appropriate.

2. Product management

The system should allow authorized users to:

• Add products
• Edit products
• Delete/deactivate products
• Assign categories
• Set buying cost
• Set selling price
• Set stock quantity
• Set minimum stock level
• Add product images
• Track product codes/SKUs

3. Inventory management

The system should automatically update inventory when products are sold.

It should support:

• Stock additions
• Stock reductions
• Stock adjustments
• Stock history
• Low-stock alerts
• Out-of-stock products
• Inventory valuation

Bonus:

• Suppliers
• Purchase orders
• Purchase invoices
• Stock receiving

4. Sales/POS interface

Create an efficient cashier interface.

The cashier should be able to:

1. Search products
2. Add products to cart
3. Change quantities
4. Remove items
5. Apply discounts
6. Calculate subtotal
7. Calculate total
8. Select payment method
9. Complete the sale
10. Generate a receipt

Payment methods could include:

• Cash
• Mobile Money
• Card
• Bank transfer

6. Sales management

Users should be able to:

• View sales
• Search transactions
• Filter by date
• Filter by cashier
• Filter by payment method
• View individual receipts
• Process permitted returns/refunds

7. Dashboard

Create a useful business dashboard.

It could show:

• Today's sales
• Weekly sales
• Monthly sales
• Number of transactions
• Total products
• Low-stock products
• Best-selling products
• Gross profit
• Sales by payment method

Include charts where appropriate.

8. Reports

The system should provide useful reports such as:

• Sales report
• Profit report
• Inventory report
• Best-selling products
• Low-stock report
• Sales by cashier
• Sales by payment method
• Daily/weekly/monthly sales

Reports should have date filtering and ideally be exportable to CSV/PDF.

Hosting requirement

The application must be hosted online.

Participants must submit:

• Live URL: https://example.com or hosted on a subdomain
• Test account: Username/email: ...
  Password: ...

The judges should be able to access the system and actually use it.

The participant should ensure the system remains accessible throughout the judging period.

Programming submission

1. Live system URL
2. Test login credentials
3. Source code repository
4. Database structure/schema
5. Short technical documentation
6. Screenshots
7. List of technologies used
8. List of implemented features
9. Setup/deployment instructions
10. Optional demonstration video

Programming judging criteria

Rules & Submission Guidelines

These challenges are designed to test your ability to apply your skills to real-world projects. The challenges have cash prizes, so make your submission professional and provide enough evidence for the judges to verify your work.

GENERAL RULES

1. Your submission must be your own work.
2. Do not copy another person's project or submit someone else's work as your own.
3. AI tools are allowed, but significant AI use must be disclosed.
4. Use only legally usable images, music, videos, code, fonts and other third-party materials.
5. Do not fabricate results, analytics, sales or other evidence.
6. Protect people's private information when submitting screenshots or other evidence.
7. Submit before the official deadline.
8. Judges may request a demonstration or additional evidence.
9. Unless stated otherwise, challenges are individual competitions.
10. DVN may showcase submitted work for community and promotional purposes while crediting the creator.

HOW TO SUBMIT

For video, text and image submission, upload to Google Drive/OneDrive/Dropbox/Mega and send the link to derick@dexwave.org or to WhatsApp +256750702393. Include Full name and for students, include institution name too

For the programming challenge, and other media posted to social media apps, share URL links to the above email and WhatsApp number.