Announcing the Code Your Art Out Finalists!

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Back in March, Frédéric (@fharper) introduced Code Your Art Out, a “wicked” coding competition, as described on the competition’s home page. Between March 1st and June 1st, any kind of web app could be submitted. Over the last week, the apps were judged on their interoperability with different technologies, creativity, and usability, and now I can announce the finalists! But before I do, just a reminder of what’s at stake for these finalists:

  • The first place application will win $10,000.
  • The second place application will win $5,000.
  • And to top both off, if the application was made for a non-profit organization, a $5,000 bonus is tacked on!

What did they have to do? The participants had to create any web solution and deploy it to either Windows Azure or IIS. Alternatively, they could port an existing web solution onto Windows Azure or IIS. That’s it. Everything else was left up to their creativity.

So with that, drum roll please…

On behalf of the Judges, we’d like to give a HUGE congratulations to the following finalists:

  • Epilogger created by a team of three hailing from Toronto, Ontario: @Cbrooker @MichaelNus and @rebheartsyou . Here’s a bit about their app:

    Rock out. We’ll remember for you. The event last night was awesome. Everyone was there! You rocked out, partied it up, celebrated, promoted, and networked. It’s the next day, week, or month and you want to see all the tweets, Facebook shares, check-ins, videos, stats, blog posts, and pics but, like so many, you just can’t find them all on the massive web or the content has disappeared with age! You just want to know what went down! Don’t you wish there was some way to get the whole story from all points of view? Epilogger is on the scene and we’ll remember for you! Epilogger is epilogue + blogger and is all about immortalizing all the hottest happenings in your city. We create a permanent time capsule of the event for you and your friends to enjoy for years to come. We’ll even arrange all your memories into a sweet scrapbook with analytics and content from everyone who took part whether they were at the event in person or in spirit!

  • Save the Rain created by Mark Laudon of Surrey, British Columbia. Here’s a bit about his application:

    Why Save the Rain? Rainwater harvesting is a way of saving the rainwater which would normally flow off a roof and down the drain, and using it as piped water to flush toilets and for the garden watering, yard wash down, vehicle and car washing, instead of using treated drinking (potable) water. In the case of the developing world, water use in agriculture consumes more than 75 percent of water. Demand for more food goes hand in hand with population increases. Water productivity will need to be raised to meet the demand for more food. Capturing and saving rainfall can help irrigate crops. The Save the Rain water productivity calculator utilizes open data sources to actually make a difference in the world. This creative app strives to deliver a tool for developing worlds and areas suffering from water shortage. This original app also provides an avenue to raise awareness of how high a value rain water can have in the production of crops/hunger resolution. The application is easy to use, and, requires no training. First type in an address, or use the map controls to zoom to a place (rooftop) anywhere on the planet. Secondly, start tracing the outline of the rooftop by clicking points at all corners of the rooftop. Then click the finished button. The app determines how much rain you receive in a year (https://www.worldclim.org) and calculates your rainfall savings potential.

The competition was very tough, and deciding the top two was not easy, but it was a unanimous decision that Epilogger and Save The Rain shall battle it out for 1st and 2nd place on June 24th in downtown Toronto. The URLs for these apps will be shared after the 24th as well a recount of the finale event!

Look out for them because they are impressive, easy to use, unique and all around wicked. Congratulations and thanks to all of the teams who submitted apps for the competition. Everyone did a great job and should be very proud!