A few weeks ago, I wrote a post, talking about the quality of Kenyan apps. I had a feeling that we have reached a point where Kenyan developers need to ask themselves whether they are doing the right things. That was a few days after attending Microsoft Imagine Cup competition. The apps that I saw at that competition were below par. And the point has been proven by Microsoft announcement of the Imagine Cup winners. Kenyan teams are nowhere to be seen, but other African countries have not done better either. From Africa, only Uganda and Egypt had something to smile about
Team Code 8 from Uganda walked away with the first place in the Women’s Empowerment Award – an award which, in partnership with UN Women, recognizes two student teams that created projects that best address issues impacting women globally. Team MASked Ninjas from Egypt received an AFT Excellence Award.
The winners of the 11th annual Imagine Cup Competitions are the following:
Innovation
- First Place, $50,000 prize: Team Colinked, United Kingdom, Project: SoundSYNK
- Second Place, $10,000 prize: Team DORA, Slovenia, Project: DORA
- Third Place, $5,000 prize: Team MYRA, Thailand, Project: SkyPACS
Games
- First Place, $50,000 prize: Team Zeppelin Studio, Austria, Project: Schein
- Second Place, $10,000 prize: Team Solite Studio, Indonesia, Project: Save the
Hamsters - Third Place, $5,000 prize: Team Banzai Lightning, France, Project: Seed
World Citizenship
- First Place, $50,000 prize: Team for a Better World, Portugal, Project: For a Better World
- Second Place, $10,000 prize: Team Omni-Hearing Solution, Taiwan, Project: Omni-Hearing Solution
- Third Place, $5,000 prize: Team Confufish Royale, Australia, Project: Foodbank Local
Imagine Cup Challenge winners:
This year, Imagine Cup offered three exclusively online Challenges to students, providing additional opportunities for learning, prototyping and creating apps using the newest Microsoft technologies. The top three teams in each category were awarded the opportunity to travel to Russia to compete at the finals. The Challenge winners are the following:
Windows Azure Challenge
- First Place, $10,000 Prize: Team Y-Nots, India, Project: Zoik It!
- Second Place, $5,000 Prize: Team nlife, Ukraine, Project: onQuests
- Third Place, $3,000 Prize: Team LetssGo, China, Project: Get & Put
Windows Phone Challenge
- First Place, $10,000 Prize: Team vSoft Studio, Singapore, Project: Speak Reminder
- Second Place, $5,000 Prize: Team WeRule, Poland, Project: Modern Drug Test
- Third Place, $3,000 Prize: Team front, Poland, Project: Cope
Windows 8 Apps Challenge
- First Place, $10,000 Prize: Team TeamNameException, Italy, Project: Ulixes
- Second Place, $5,000 Prize: Team Wordsapp, Germany, Project: Wordsapp
- Third Place, $3,000 Prize: Team Clever Mind, Thailand, Project: Vocable World
