CONTEST: Google Cloud Developer Challenge 2013
The ASP PAD Committee is seriously committed to securing support for SaaS, HTML 5 and Cloud applications to the PAD Specification by end of November 2013. Acknowledging the needs of both publisher and supporting PAD Sites for inclusion of these categories of “Apps”, it is relatively easy to see the need to promote awareness of promoting developer contests that support these categories. Google is one such company.
The company has formally launched it’s annual Google Cloud Developer Challenge 2013 several weeks ago. The program was established to promote the creation of cloud-based third party apps from developers. Formal submission is scheduled to begin October 22, 2013 and continue through November 21st. Formal details are available here.
Participants are encouraged to review the Frequently Asked Questions that Google has posted here. https://www.google.com/events/gcdc2013/faq.html
Here is an extract from this FAQ:
The Google Cloud Developer Challenge is a contest designed to motivate and reward entrants who develop applications that are based on Google’s Cloud Platform that are original and relevant to the region in which they live.
Submissions have to use App Engine and must be formally submitted through Google’s submission engine domain available on AppSpot, www.appspot.com.
There are six competition regions:
- Sub Saharan Africa
- Middle East and North Africa
- India
- South East Asia
- Latin America
- United Staes. Europe and rest of world
Google has also established two entry categories, Enterprise which covers Small Business Solutions, Education, Not for Profit. The second category FUN includes Social, Personal Productivity, Games, and Entertainment.
This is the second year for The Google Apps Developer Challenge. Those who have particapated in last year’s competition will have intimate experience on knowing what the Google judges are looking for. But for new developers, it’s suggested that you look for last year’s winners. Developers entrants are limited to know more than 3 team members. Not surprisingly, certain countries are excluded from competition: Quebec, Cuba, Iran, Syria, North Korea, and Sudan.
The contest has two rounds. Ten apps in each category will be selected for the first round and proceed to the “semi=finals”. Winning teams who make it to the semi-finals will be eligible for Android Devices. To promote academic entrants, Google will be awarding a cash prize of $1000. Google is also encouraging women to participate, as all-women teams will be eligible for $2000. Winners from the Semi-Finals will be announced in early December in each category, each recieving $20,000. A university department that enters a winning application will be eligible for an additional $18,000. Each region will also be eligibl
The primary core requirements of the competition are the mandated use of the Google App Engine. Google also posted the following criteria that they will use in their judging, including
- Originality of Concept
- Relevance to Region
- Polish and Appeal
- Usability on multiple screen sizes
- Accessibility
- Indispensability: Is the application compelling and/or essential?
- Amount of user interactions on their app (comments, +1s, FB Likes etc)
- Google+ Sign-In / Integration (Not compulsory:Bonus Points)
- Creative use of Youtube and Google Maps APIs (Not compulsory:Bonus Points)
- Use of other Google platforms/APIs (Not compulsory:Bonus Points)
The contest site also provides additional resources for developers considering entering the contest. The obvious suggestion, for first time developers, is to use the Google Cloud Platform Starter Pack. Google offers $1000 of credit for the Google App Engine and another $1000 for the Google Compute Engine for applicants who provide a promo code and background details on what their developer teams plan to build.
