Several cash prizes
First of all, the top three submissions in each of the four application categories (Eco/Being Green, Entertainment, Life Improvement, and Productivity) will receive the following cash prizes:
- Grand Prize: 30,000 USD in cash.
- 2nd Prize: 15,000 USD in cash.
- 3rd Prize: 5,000 USD in cash.
Additionally, above and beyond the category prizes, all application submissions – whether they are finalists or not – will be eligible to win special prizes that span across the four contest categories. These special prizes are based on the type of technology used to create the app, or other award criteria, as noted below:
- Best application for the Nokia N900: $50,000 (USD) in cash.
- Best cross-platform application using Qt: $50,000 (USD) in cash.
- Best mobile computing application: $50,000 (USD) in cash, plus the winner of this special prize will be included in a multi-million dollar global marketing campaign that will be used to help promote the winning app.
- Best locally relevant application with global potential: $15,000 (USD) in cash.
Additionally, the best locally relevant application in select countries will be eligible to receive cash prizes, too (amount varies by country). Please see the country pages for the select countries that are participating in this prize offer for more details.
Other valuable prizes
- Spotlight: The Grand Prize winner in each category will receive Spotlight Placement in Nokia’s Ovi Store to help promote the winning application to consumers using Nokia devices worldwide.
- User Experience Evaluation: The winners in all 4 application categories will receive a User Experience Evaluation of their work. This in-depth usability and design consultation by a professional UX specialist who evaluates the app according to mobile heuristics, the User Experience Evaluation Model, and applicable platform style guides. (value of 890 EUR)
- Forum Nokia Launchpad membership: The winners in all 4 applications categories will receive a one-year membership in Forum Nokia Launchpad, which is designed to accelerate mobile application development and elevate your business visibility in the mobile world. All Forum Nokia Launchpad members have access to exclusive resources and support. (Value of 400 EUR)
- Demo opportunities: Selected developers will get paid travel to and accommodation at a Nokia-specified event during 2010 to demonstrate their winning applications.
- The winning applications in all four applications categories will also be reviewed by Nokia for possible preload on future Nokia devices.
- Within the education subcategory of the Life Improvement category of the contest, the winning applications will have the opportunity to use Muppet characters from Sesame Street in their final app.
Judging
The top 25 submissions in each of the four application categories (Eco/Being Green, Entertainment, Life Improvement, and Productivity) will need to ensure that their applications have been thoroughly tested using one of two remote device access services – either Remote Device Access from Forum Nokia, or Forum Nokia Virtual Developer Lab powered by DeviceAnywhere.
Additionally, the top 25 submissions in each of the four application categories will need to submit their applications to publish to Ovi and be in the QA process for publishing to Nokia’s Ovi Store. Forum Nokia will pay the registration fee (50 Euro per submission) for all qualified submissions.
In order to be eligible for these prizes, the Calling All Innovators panel of judges will closely review all of the applications submitted, and choose finalists and winners according to the following criteria:
- Quality / Functionality: the application or service must be fully functional and run successfully on Nokia devices and platforms. For consideration of special prizes among the cross-platform submissions, the application must function on a minimum of two platforms. In the case of Qt applications, this would include: Symbian, Maemo, and/or desktop. Also, all Qt submissions must be based on Qt 4.6.2.
- Uniqueness, novelty value and innovativeness: display creativity in applications, use established technology in a unique way.
- Usability / Creativity: demonstrate superior user experience (UI, graphics, etc.) e.g. by leveraging the latest technologies.
- Commercial Viability / Market Potential: ability to fulfill consumers' needs, customer adoption. Within this criteria, please note that special consideration will be given to those applications submitted that are NOT already in Nokia’s Ovi Store as of the submission deadline.
