Victorian government kicks off $100,000 app development contest

The Victorian government is offering up to $100,000 to software developers in a contest to create applications out of 90 data sets on the data.vic.gov.au website.

First prize winner in the competition will receive $35,000 but entries are only open to Victorian residents.

The contest will run for eight weeks until midday on 23 April 2010 and includes two categories for entries: Ideas and applications.

Any Victorian resident can submit an idea for an application they think would benefit Victorians. Ideas will be judged on their usefulness to Victorians, innovation, practicability and the overall appeal.

In the applications category, prizes will be awarded in four sub-categories: Open; youth; sustainability; and popular choice, which will be decided by public vote.

Applications will be judged on five criteria: Usefulness to Victorians; design and development; innovation; useability including accessibility; and the overall appeal.

According to the competition website developers can use only Victorian government data, mash it with other data sets or use no data sources.

In a statement, the state's information and communication technology minister, John Lenders, said the grand prize of $35,000 was the "largest prize pool awarded in this type of competition in the world".

"The judges will also award a second place prize of $15,000 and a third place of $10,000,” Lenders said.

“Those under 26 are also eligible to win $15,000 in prizes, with the top prize awarded $5,000 in cash and a $5,000 hi-tech pack featuring a Cisco Flip Video camcorder, Apple MacBook Pro, PlayStation 3, Apple iPhone 16GB and the second prize awarded a hi-tech pack.

“All entries will also be eligible for a $10,000 Popular Choice prize, which rewards the most popular applications as voted on by the Victorian public.”

The judging panel includes Lenders, Deloitte Digital director Peter Williams, Bjango developer Marc Edwards, Niche Media's Kate Kendall, and RRR's Byte into IT Georgia Webster.

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