'tis the Season to Imagine

Well, it's that time of year again. Summer has started and the Imagine Cup World Finals is just around the corner. Here, all the finalists from each country's own Imagine Cup competition will come from all over the globe to (this year) New York City to see who is worthy of winning the Imagine Cup.

In case you don't know what the Imagine Cup is, it is a technology competition with five categories, each with its own rules and objectives, tied to a particular common theme: Software Design, Embedded Development, Game Design, Digital Media, and (with the advent of Windows Phone 7) Windows Phone 7. The goal of the Software Design category is to come up with a software (and maybe hardware if need be) solution that solves a big problem in the world today. The goal of the Embedded Development category is to build a hardware and software solution that solves a big problem in the world today using embedded hardware and software. The goal of Game Design is to come up with the best game for either PC/Xbox, the web (via silverlight), or for Windows Phone 7. The goal of the digital media category is to make a video that conveys your view of an issue or issues in society that exists today which is visually and audibly interesting and stimulating. The goal of the Windows Phone 7 competition is to make the best (non-game) program for Windows Phone 7.

The US finals were held back in April at MS headquarters in Redmond, with the winners of Software Design being Team Notetaker from Arizona State University and the winners of Game Design being Team Bloom from Tribeca Flashpoint Academy for Windows/Xbox and Team Big Impact Bear from University of Houston for Windows Phone 7 Gaming. You can find the rest of the US winners here.

The Worldwide Finals will take place on July 8-13 in New York City. The winners from all of the categories in each country will be judged there to see who will take home the Imagine Cup.

Now, your vote is needed for the People's Choice Award in each category. You can find the voting site here. Your vote counts!

Now after reading this, some of you might be inspired to start an Imagine Cup team at your college/university or high school. This is good. You can find everything you need to get started for next year right here and all the tools that you (might) need can be found on Dreamspark.

Would anyone reading this article who has participated in the Imagine Cup competition before like to share there experience with other readers who haven't heard of the Imagine Cup before or have been considering it, but haven't entered before? Do you have any other thoughts on the Imagine Cup you would like to share? Feel free to share your thoughts and experiences in the comment box below. I am also open to people following me on Twitter as well (username is @rctechgeek).