$30,000 Contest Award! Are You An Innovator?

This contest is open to anyone with bold ideas and tremendous talent! Whether you’re new to mobile or an experienced coder, you could win up great prizes along with new opportunities to grow your business. It can also include applications for education, health care and more. Also sought are applications that guide individuals to make the right ethical choice and lead a sustainable lifestyle.

The contest challenges mobile and web application developers worldwide to submit entries in three categories:

Internet innovation – Calling on web developers to transform consumer-focused ideas into real applications on devices using technologies that include XHTML, CSS, Java Script, AJAX, widgets and other standards-based web technologies.

* Flash – Challenging creative developers and designers to build compelling applications that expand the capabilities and user benefits of Flash Lite on devices.

* Emerging Markets and Mobile Necessities – Urging developers to create innovative applications across mobile technology platforms – ranging from SMS through Series 40 and S60 device platforms. All applications will be considered, including those developed using Java, Python, or open source.

Emerging Markets – This includes applications designed to meet the needs and improve the daily lives of millions of people living in rural and semi-urban areas worldwide. It can include applications for education, health care and more.

Social responsibility – Applications that guide individuals to make the right ethical choice and lead a sustainable lifestyle.


The deadline to apply is

June 30, 2009!

Prizes include

• cash
  
  
• the opportunity to demo your winning application at a specified event this Fall
  
  
• "Spotlight" placement featuring your winning application at a newly announced store where consumers will find the best mobile applications and content for their devices.

Each contest category has been refined to provide you with additional guidance about the types of applications that the judges will be expecting to see.

All entries must be submitted by midnight (Eastern Standard Time) on 30 June 2009, so get started right away!

Here’s what you do to get started:

• Decide which category best fits your skills and interests, and then get the needed tools, documentation, and other support from our forum. It’s free to join, and when you become a member of the forum you can make the most of it's extensive development, testing, signing, go to market, and community resources.
  
  
• Create your application or widget -- or optimize your website -- for a specif mobile device.
  
  
• Submit your best work to the contest before the deadline at midnight (Eastern Standard Time) on 30 June 2009.

Full details about this competition can be found in the official rules.

The total cash and prizes for the 2009 contest are worth more than $250,000!

The top three submissions in each category will receive cash and prizes that include:

• Grand Prize winner: $30,000 USD in cash; "Spotlight" placement featuring the winning application for 4 weeks on the top page of a newly announced store, where consumers will find the best mobile applications and content for their devices; and paid travel to demo the winning application at a specified event in the Fall 2009.
  
  
• 2nd Place: $15,000 USD in cash; "Spotlight" placement featuring the winning application for 3 weeks on a relevant category page in a newly announced store, where consumers will find the best mobile applications and content for their devices.
  
  
• 3rd Place: $10,000 USD in cash; "Spotlight" placement featuring the winning application for 2 weeks on a relevant category page in a newly announced store, where consumers will find the best mobile applications and content for their devices.

The finalists of the contest will be announced on 17 August 2009.

State-Wide Equine Grant Program equine - of or relating to the horse By law, the funding for this particular grant program must go to support "equine research, education and promotion". Any group, individual, company or institution may apply for funding. Preference will be given to projects benefiting the largest number of people/horses. Grants to institutions and individuals will be related to equine research, education and industry enhancements and promotion.” Over $70,000 has been already awarded from funding from this grant program. The awards went to projects in nine communities and were presented at the state's Horse Fair. A detailed research application is available (as well as a shorter project application) via the website or you can contact the program directly by phone. Grant recipients include: Over $8,000 was received for equipment to help with volunteers for trail construction, reconstruction and maintenance at a national forest and nearby private property trails. "Hardening of the trails to withstand traffic without trail tread failure, muddiness or erosion is an increasingly important consideration,” according to one of the grant recipients. Equipment being funded includes packsaddles with gravel bags for use in wilderness areas, and a hydraulic gravel-hauling wagon for use in non-wilderness areas. A therapeutic horseback riding center received $8,000 toward its barn and paddock restoration project. One of the fairgrounds was given $7,800 to improve arena fencing and footing, re-establishing safety at the site for the many groups that use the public facility. During the severe flooding in the area during the summer of 2008, the grounds were used as a staging area for sand-bagging and other flood-fighting activities. Fencing around the area is used metal pipe, donated 20 years ago, and now rusted to ruin. Like many other projects supported, volunteers will remove old and install new fencing at the grounds. First steps for a new Riding Center are being funded with a $14,000 grant. The project is part of a 10-year master plan by the Advisory Committee, which requested help in creating a 7-acre turn out pasture to serve boarders and show participants, along with refurbishing access roads and ultimately a new indoor and outdoor arena and boarding facilities for 52 horses at the facility. The area has more than five miles of wooded and natural prairie trails. Another grant recipient received $7,200 to enhance and expand its 12-year-old ongoing training program for first response personnel who may serve at equestrian accident scenes. The objective is to develop basic familiarity in how to safely handle horses under crises conditions. One University staff member received $3,000 for the promotion of Natural Horsemanship Training Methods. “Natural Horsemanship is the term coined to describe a method of two-way communication between horse and human that is cooperative in nature. It differs from the more traditional, coercive-type horse training methods in that it offers options to the horse and encourages the horse to choose the desirable option rather than forcing the horse into a single, dictated action. A saddle club received $9,000 for their club’s arena and grounds project. Included in the grant is funding for road repair and a public address system and upgrades to arena and driveways at the site, which hosts 10 to 15 fun, pleasure and speed shows annually, as well as being used by many clubs. The PA system is a valuable aid in safely controlling equestrian and spectator traffic, according to Kennedy. Investigators from a university of Veterinary Medicine received $11,300 to study the effects of hyaluronic acid and triamcinolone alone and in combination on synovitis of equine stifle (which treatment option is best for painful, often debilitating osteoarthritis in a horse’s knee joint). In horses, osteoarthritis is more common and has greater economic impact than acute traumatic injuries or respiratory disease. It is a major source of debilitating pain, economic loss and decreased athleticism in the performance horse noting that 70% of the state's horses are used for recreation or showing.