Last night, at the Game Developers Choice Awards, U.S. Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra addressed the attendees by video to deliver a message from First Lady Michelle Obama. The message announced the launch of the Apps for Healthy Kids challenge in support of Obama’s “Let’s Move!” campaign against childhood obesity.

The challenge: Incorporate recently released Federal nutrition data (the MyPyramid 1,000 food database) into Web or mobile-based games and tools to inspire kids and their parents to eat right and get active. “You know better than most the power of games to deeply engage our nation’s youth. Today I’m asking you to dedicate your creative energy and skills to address one of America’s biggest challenges and help make healthy living fun, exciting, and relevant for kids,” the First Lady said in her letter, which is currently posted in full on the Game Developers Conference Web site.

Of course, what’s  a challenge like this without a prize? The first set of prizes will be awarded for digital games that are the best motivators for kids to eat healthy and be active. The second set of prizes focuses more on apps targeted at parents attempting to make the right choices for their kids, whether cooking at home or picking up dinner. The total amount of the cash prizes is $40,000.

The USDA judges include Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, Inc.; Mark Pincus, CEO of Zynga Game Network, Inc.; Michael Levine, Executive Director of the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop; Mike Gallagher, President and CEO of the Entertainment Software Association. Winners will be honored at a White House event in Washington, D.C.

I can’t help but wonder if at least a little bit of this is misguided. Sure, it’s a pretty cool idea, and it’s nice to get game developers involved, but I don’t think it’s that people don’t know what to feed their children (well, in most cases). I think that a majority of the problem we’re attempting to solve can be helped through a better economy. If parents aren’t working 80-hour work weeks just to scrape by, they might be able to make meals with whole foods and less processing. If those foods weren’t so expensive, they might be able to use them in school lunches. I don’t think there’s an app for that, though.

For more information, visit:

www.LetsMove.gov.

www.AppsForHealthyKids.com