Announcing the winners of the Windows 8 App-a-thon (28 September)

About 4 weeks ago we welcomed over 40 developers at our offices in Zaventem for the fourth edition of the Windows 8 App-a-thon in Belgium (previous editions in March, July and August).  A full day of Windows 8 coding, spread out over 2 sessions (Day & Night), with some fun activities in between (cocktail bar at 4PM, playing games on handmade Windows 8 branded diceboxes , … ). Next to tips & tricks to kickstart your apps, we also introduced an Idea Fling in which we presented 3 ready-to-start app ideas (some of which were already showcased during the demofest!).

This did not go unnoticed to the press either: we welcomed a number of Belgian tech journalists and Kanaal Z shot this nice video report (featuring Katrien De Graeve and Luc Van de Velde). Note: the video is in Dutch.

The attendees could also take part in a contest in which their app would be presented to a Microsoft jury looking at the following criteria:

-Creativity of the app & service
-Technical architecture
-Implementation of the Windows design principles
-Windows Store potential

Today we’re happy to announce the winners! Congratulations go to …

1st prize Xbox 360 + Kinect	Team: Marc Gregoire & Francisco Almeida App: Live Mosaic Description: A curious game where the objective is to rearrange ... yourself. More info on http://www.nuonsoft.com/livemosaic/. In their own words: Marc: "It's an honor to have received the first prize with the September App-a-thon organized by Microsoft. It's definitely a push to finish the game and release it on the Windows Store."  Francisco: “I had a lot of fun in both Windows 8 App-a-thons we participated in. Receiving the first prize for the September 28th event is a great bonus! Live Mosaic was so well-received by the participants, we decided to finish implementing it and polish it up to Windows Store standards. The news that our app was elected among all the cool stuff that we saw just gives me an extra bit of motivation towards that goal.”
2nd prize Deluxe App’ero Bongo Box	Team: Robby Reynaerts, Peter Ghyselincks and Elise Daans (from 2IT) App: 2Brite Description: Using the Eventbrite API, our app is showing the nearby events (using the Geolocator), events by category and event by date. When singed in, the user can also see his/her attending events. (click for larger image) In their own words: “Thanks! It took us considerable effort, but our team is proud to receive this award for our first app. 2Brite's modern UI was our biggest challenge. Luckily, the surgical procedure in the App Clinic has had a beneficial effect :-).”
3rd prize Professional Sharp Knife Set	Name: Glenn Versweyveld App: Twunch Description: Get an overview of all the upcoming Twunches. (click for larger image) In his own words: "Finally I can explore the Piet Huysentruyt in me with this new knife set!! Also handy when some burglar comes in at night unwanted..."

Want to dive into Windows 8 apps too? Discover your new home: the Apps on Windows portal!

Join our next events:

30/10/2012: BUILD Keynote Live Stream Get together at Microsoft Belgium or join online