Microsoft held the 11th Annual Imagine Cup finals in St. Petersburg, Russia earlier in the week, and now the winners have been announced. The competition awards over $1M in prizes to students from 71 different countries, with top prizes of $50K.
Judges in the competition include Alexey Paijtnov, who created Tetris, and Adam Sessler.
Not all the prizes were given to game development. Other awards went to projects to teach autistic children, health and wellness software, and an device that quickly tests blood types in emergency situation.
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
