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Microsoft Announces Winners Of 2013 Imagine Cup
Earlier this week, students from around the world gathered in St. Petersburg Russia for Microsoft's 11th Annual Imagine Cup.Finals. This event brings together student teams to present unique inventions, apps, and games.
Over the past year, Microsoft has awarded over $1 million in prize money to students from 71 different countries. This week was the culmination of that hard work, and Microsoft has awarded first place prizes of $50,000 to the top teams in the Games, World Citizenship, and Innovation categories. Other categories include projects designed for Azure, Windows Phone, and Windows 8.
The top three prizes in the games category belong to Team Zeppelin Studio from Austria for Schein, Team Solvite Studio from Indonesia for Save the Hamsters, and Team Banzai Lightning from France for Seed.
Judges included Rev3 executive producer Adam Sessler and Tetris creator Alexey Pajitnov among many others.
For the full list of winners, please click ahead to page two.
Our Take
The Imagine Cup is a fantastic way for Microsoft to cultivate young developers and entrepreneurs. The competition requires not only theoretical planning, but also practical application.
The Imagine Cup is about much more than games, as evidenced by the winners of the World Citizenship category, who devised a way to quickly test blood types in emergency situation. Their project is extremely portable and uses PCs or portable devices (including phones and tables). Not only is this good PR for the Redmond company, but it's the kind of corporate citizenship that promotes innovation among youth.
Games
First Place, $50,000 prize: Team Zeppelin Studio, Austria – Schein
Second Place, $10,000 prize: Team Solite Studio, Indonesia – Save the Hamsters
Third Place, $5,000 prize: Team Banzai Lightning, France - Seed
Innovation
First Place, $50,000 prize: Team Colinked, United Kingdom - SoundSYNK
Second Place, $10,000 prize: Team DORA, Slovenia - DORA
Third Place, $5,000 prize: Team MYRA, Thailand - SkyPACS
World Citizenship
First Place, $50,000 prize: Team for a Better World, Portugal – For a Better World
Second Place, $10,000 prize: Team Omni-Hearing Solution, Taiwan – Omni-Hearing Solution
Third Place, $5,000 prize: Team Confufish Royale, Australia – Foodbank Local
Windows Azure Challenge
First Place, $10,000 Prize: Team Y-Nots, India – Zoik It!
Second Place, $5,000 Prize: Team nlife, Ukraine - onQuests
Third Place, $3,000 Prize: Team LetssGo, China – Get & Put
Windows Phone Challenge
First Place, $10,000 Prize: Team vSoft Studio, Singapore – Speak Reminder
Second Place, $5,000 Prize: Team WeRule, Poland – Modern Drug Test
Third Place, $3,000 Prize: Team Front, Poland - Cope
Windows 8 Apps Challenge
First Place, $10,000 Prize: Team TeamNameException, Italy - Ulixes
Second Place, $5,000 Prize: Team Wordsapp, Germany - Wordsapp
Third Place, $3,000 Prize: Team Clever Mind, Thailand – Vocable World
AFT Excellence Award: 5 teams will receive AFT (App Fast Track) review by the Windows Team in recognition of their outstanding Windows 8 App projects:
Banzai Lightning – France
Team Flying Ship – Brazil
Lumos – Korea
MASKed Ninjas – Egypt
TapBoarders – Poland
AppCampus Award
Team Flying Ship from Brazil won 50,000 euros in funding, airfare and accommodations for its app Callvenient. In recognition of their great project that could be the next big thing on Windows Phone, the team members will fly to Finland for a four-week AppCampus training event.
DreamSpark Learning Award
Team AuThink of Croatia won $5,000 for its project focused on helping autistic children and their parents, which showcases how software creates new ways of learning and teaching.
Facebook Creativity Award
Team AYNi from Ecuador and its volunteering social-network based project took home $25,000 in Facebook advertising credits.
KFC Russia Award
Team Sano from Canada won $10,000 for its health and wellness project. The team’s project will be showcased in KFC Russia’s flagship restaurant in Moscow.
Mail.Ru Group Connected Planet Award. Three teams met Mail.Ru Group’s challenge to develop a project that embraces online communication and entertainment in fun, useful and innovative ways. The following are the winners:
First Place, $10,000 Prize: Team Y-Nots, India – Zoik It!
Second Place, $5,000 Prize: Team TeamNameException, Italy - Ulixes
Third Place, $3,000 Prize: Team LetssGo, China – Get & Put
Samsung Digital Native Award
Team Firebird from Sri Lanka received this $10,000 award that honors the fresh thinking, digital savvy and global perspective of its project.
Women’s Empowerment Award. In partnership with UN Women, this award recognizes two student teams that created projects that best address issues impacting women globally. The following are the winners:
First Place, $12,000 Prize: Team Code 8, Uganda - Matibabu
Second Place, $8,000 Prize: Team Omni-Hearing Solution, Taiwan – Omni-Hearing Solution
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