Rules: Windows 8 Online App-a-thon
Eligibility
Participants can take part in the App-a-thon as an individual or part of a team.To be eligible for prizes, entries must be submitted by:
- Individual participants who are legal resident of the 50 United States (including the District of Columbia), and are 18 years or older; or
- Teams which have at least one member who is legal resident of the 50 United States (including the District of Columbia), and are 18 years or older.
Categories
As a general overview, you are asked to create a Windows 8 Application prototype.
There is no limit to the number of entries you can submit but each entry must be substantially unique and different. We are not responsible for entries that we do not receive for any reason, or for entries that we receive but are not decipherable for any reason. We will automatically disqualify any incomplete or illegible entry.
There are three categories:
- Utility apps – Productivity, Tools, Government, Business, Security, Finance
- Lifestyle apps - Social, Photo, Music & Video, News & Weather, Health & Fitness, Food & Dining, Shopping, Travel
- Edutainment apps - Games, Education, Entertainment, Sports, Books & Reference
Prizes
The winning app of each category will receive $1000 value gift cards.
Judging Criteria
The winning entries would be chosen based on:- Public voting - 50%
- Judging Panel scoring - 50%
- Originality of Application Concept: Unique and inventive nature of the application. This includes factors such as whether the application presents information not available elsewhere, presents information in unique way, or allows information to be related in new ways.
- Quality of Execution / Functionality: This evaluates whether or not the application does as it claims and that components and features are functional. Applications do not need to be completed but the submitted product should have a sense of refinement (e.g. no broken links).
- User Experience: Design of the application in terms of usability. This includes factors such as usability (efficiency, learnability, memorability, and effectiveness), user behavior (user satisfaction, user activity, ability to retain user preferences, accessible), design (attention holding aesthetics, easy navigation, enticing content, appropriate layout), and environment (adequate performance, uses common libraries, maintainable, secure).
- Implementation of Windows 8 Design Principles: This evaluates how well the applications incorporate the design principles and unique features of Windows 8.
App-a-thon Rules include the following:
- your entry must be your own original work; and
- your entry cannot have been selected as a winner in any other contest; and
- you must have obtained any and all consents, approvals or licenses required for you to submit your entry; and
- your entry may not include any third party trademarks (logos, names) or copyrighted materials (music, images, video, recognizable people) unless you have obtained permission to use the materials. You may include Microsoft trademarks, logos, and designs, for which Microsoft grants you a limited license to use for the sole purposes of submitting an entry into this Contest; and
- your entry may NOT contain, as determined by Organizer and Sponsor, in our sole and absolute discretion, any content that:
- is sexually explicit, unnecessarily violent or derogatory of any ethnic, racial, gender, religious, professional or age group; profane or pornographic;
- promotes alcohol, illegal drugs, tobacco, firearms/weapons (or the use of any of the foregoing) or a particular political agenda;
- is obscene or offensive;
- defames, misrepresents or contains disparaging remarks about other people or companies;
- communicates messages or images inconsistent with the positive images and/or good will to which we wish to associate; and/or violates any law.