As you may have heard, we have announced the availability of a preview of the Windows Phone developer tools. The buzz around Windows Phone 7 Series has been so great that we want to encourage students to be amongst the first to get cracking with our platform. Today, we’re announcing a new Windows Phone 7 “Rockstar” Award for Imagine Cup 2010.

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Details of the contest

The contest will require students or student teams to build applications written in Silverlight or XNA for Windows Phone 7 Series, using the tools that have been made available. We’re encouraging our participants to think about the following criteria as they build their apps:

  • Appealing “look and feel” (like the User Experience of the Windows Phone 7 shell itself),
  • Originality of the application (we’re looking for apps that people may not have seen before),
  • The “consumer appeal” that this app might possess, and/or
  • Leveraging phone specific functionality (like Accelerometer, Location etc.)

The contest is live today and will end on May 24, 2010.

What students can win

Of the applications submitted, there will be three winning teams. Winners will be announced on June 1, 2010 on the Imagine Cup 2010 website.

  • First place winner – Each team member (up to 4 members) of the top overall winning team is invited to Poland. The winning team will be awarded USD8000. And each member of the winning team will be awarded a new Windows Phone.
  • Second place winner – The runner up team will be awarded USD4000. Each member of the winning team will also be awarded a new Windows Phone.
  • Third place winner– The second runner up team will be awarded USD3000. Each member of the winning team will also be awarded a new Windows Phone.

How to get started

Be among the elite first to be recognized as a Windows Phone 7 “Rockstar”!

  1. Download the tools.
  2. Build your application (you have till May 24, 2010).
  3. Register and Submit your ‘XAP’ application package.

Thanks and good luck!

@ai