BlackBerry Partners Fund™ Developer Challenge for BlackBerry® Developers

BlackBerry Partners Fund™ is proud to present the fourth annual BlackBerry Partners Fund Developer Challenge.  This year, developers of BlackBerry® smartphone and BlackBerry PlayBook™ tablet applications can enter their applications in a series of competitions to win US$3 million in prizes.  Winners will be selected on a regional basis across four global regions - North America, Latin America, Europe/Middle East/Africa and Asia Pacific.

This year's Challenge includes the following three competitions:

• Best Adobe Flash®/AIR app - Please see the announcement for the winners here.
• Most Innovative BlackBerry WebWorks™ app on the BlackBerry PlayBook and BlackBerry 6 - Please see the announcement for the winners here.
• Most Addictive social app using the  BBM™ Social Platform - Pleasesee the announcement for the winners here.

How to Enter

1. First, register here and be accepted by Research In Motion Limited as a BlackBerry App World developer.
2. Then, sign up for the challenge from the link found here.

Prizes

All winners of the 2011 BlackBerry Partners Fund Developer Challenge will be recognized at the 2011 BlackBerry Developer Conference (DEVCON), October 18 - 20 in San Francisco. Judges will evaluate all applications submitted based on their quality, innovation, creativity and compelling user experience.

This year's prizing is valued at $3 million, almost double the value of prizes awarded last year. The first 100 eligible applications submitted to each of the three competitions in the Challenge will receive prize packages. In addition, prizes will be awarded to applications selected as the first and second runners-up and winner in each competition in each region.

Each competition will have one (1) Grand Prize Winner, one (1) First Runner-Up, and one (1) Second Runner-Up for each region - for a total of twelve (12) prizes.

Grand Prize winners will receive:

• One (1) trip for two (2) including airfare and acommodations to their local 2011 DevCon conference
• Two (2) tickets to attend local 2011 DevCon conference
• One (1) Media press package
• One (1) App World carousel placement for a duration of three (3) weeks
• One (1) Elite level Alliance Membership
• One (1) BlackBerry PlayBook
• Three (3) BlackBerry Smartphones
• One (1) $1000 BlackBerry accessory gift certificate (any and all terms and conditions associated with a BlackBerry gift certificate apply)

Approximate retail value of each Competition Grand Prize Package is $32,497.

First Runner-Up recipients receive:

• Two (2) Local DevCon conference passes
• One (1) Media press package
• One (1) App World carousel placement for a duration of 2 weeks
• One (1) Select level Alliance Membership
• One (1) BlackBerry PlayBook
• Two (2) BlackBerry Smartphones
• One (1) $500 BlackBerry accessory gift certificate (any and all terms and conditions associated with a BlackBerry gift certificate apply)

Approximate retail value of each Competition First Runner-Up Prize Package is $17,497.

Second Runner-Up recipients will receive:

• Two (2) Local DevCon conference passes
• One (1) Media press package
• One (1) App World carousel placement for a duration of 1 week
• One (1) Associate level Alliance Membership
• One (1) BlackBerry PlayBook
• One (1) BlackBerry Smartphone
• 1 x $100 BlackBerry accessory gift certificate (any and all terms and conditions associate with a BlackBerry gift certificate apply)

Approximate retail value of each Competition Second Runner-Up Prize Package is $9,097.

Recognition Awards

New this year in addition to the Challenge, the BlackBerry Partners Fund will be honouring applications in six categories to receive a Recognition Award. The recipients, which will be recognized regionally, will be selected in the following categories:

• Best B2C application developed for a customer by an Agency or ISV
• Most useful enterprise application
• Best website conversion using the BlackBerry WebWorks platform
• Most creative implementation of Super App characteristics
• Top Performers - Most innovative use of Payment Service and/or Advertising Service
• Academic - Most compelling application created by student or faculty

Recognition Award recipients will receive:

• Two (2) Local DevCon conference passes
• One (1) Media press package
• One (1) App World carousel placement for a duration of 1 week
• One (1) BlackBerry PlayBook
• One (1) BlackBerry Smartphone

Approximate retail value of each Competition Recognition Award Prize Package is $7,997.

Incentive prize packages

There are a total of 100 Incentive prize packages available to be awarded to the first 100 eligible Submissions made to each competition, each consisting of:

• One (1) BlackBerry Smartphone

Approximate retail value of each Incentive Prize Package is $500.  All apps that are submitted and awarded an Incentive Prize will also be reviewed and may be considered by the RIM App World storefront team for placement on the App World carousel.  Any subsequent placement of an app on the App World Carousel would be at RIM's sole discretion, and would occur outside of the Competition and the Prizes awarded herein.  If selected, RIM will contact you to obtain consent to place your Application on the App World carousel.  Such placement would have an approximate retail value of $5000.

Timeline

Both newly developed and existing applications were eligible to compete in this year's BlackBerry Partners Fund Developer Challenge. 

• Best Flash/AIR Mobile App for BlackBerry PlayBook is now closed. 
• Most Innovative BlackBerry WebWorks app on the BlackBerry PlayBook and BlackBerry 6 is now closed.
• Most Addictive social app using the BBM Social Platform is now closed.
  

Judging

Submissions will be judged based on:

• Quality and use of development best practices
• Level of visual appeal
• User experience
• Creativity and innovation

All Submissions will be judged by 6:00 pm EST on September 30, 2011.  Final judging will be by a panel of judges designated by Research In Motion Limited and BlackBerry Partners Fund.

Contest Rules

Please read through the contest rules for the Best Adobe Flash®/AIR app competition here.  The contest rules for the Most Innovative BlackBerry WebWorks™ app competition can be read here.  The contest rules for the Most addicting social app using the BBM Social Platform can be read here.  Should there be an discrepancy between the information found on this page and the contest rules, the contest rules will govern.