Microsoft trumpets software 'Olympics'

Microsoft's competition to find the best student software designers around the world is now open, with $170,000 in prize money up for grabs in the fifth annual Imagine Cup.

But be warned: your only chance of stepping off with a top prize is through co-operation and teamwork, as the Imagine Cup is strictly for team players.

The international student competition is, in Microsoft's words, for "young technologists around the globe to explore their creativity by using technology to solve real-world problems". It is sponsored in the UK by BT, Capgemini and HP.

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Last year, more than 65,000 students from 100 countries participated, leading the competition to be dubbed the "software development Olympics".

The most high-profile challenge of the Imagine Cup is the Software Design Invitational. Other contests test students' abilities in embedded and web development, programming, IT administration and problem solving, as well as in digital arts such as short films, digital photography and interface design.

This year's theme for the Software Design Invitational is "imagine a world where technology enables a better education for all". The judges will be looking for software developers to use their imagination, and Microsoft's tools and technology, to create usable and innovative software applications based on this theme.

Teams must contain between two and four students, and will compete with the support of an academic mentor to create their solution. Entrants have just a few months to get their work together - the deadline for first-round submissions is 28 February. Contestants must submit sample code from the application they develop, along with a document explaining their idea.

Those who make it to the second stage will have to submit a graphical representation of their solution. Each short-listed team will be given two opportunities to deliver a detailed presentation to a panel of judges, with the top three teams then selected to present to the panel and a guest audience.

Each winning team will go on to represent its country on the international stage in the global final as part of an all-expenses-paid trip to Seoul, South Korea.

Prizes for winners of the Software Design Invitational will be a Microsoft Zune for third place, an Xbox 360 and Microsoft suite of games for second place. The first-place prize is a project development package, an HP Compaq nc2400 business laptop and the trip to the worldwide finals in Korea. Once in Korea, teams will compete for $25,000, $15,000 and $10,000, respectively, for the top three places.

Colin Barker writes for ZDNet UK