MeeGo Coding Competition 2011

Introduction
The wait is over!

We are proud to announce the MeeGo Coding Competition 2011!

As successor it will follow the good example of the community driven Maemo Coding Competition 2010. Quim Gil wrote a lot of good things about this "grass roots community success".

To make this year's competition bigger and better, we urge all MeeGo enthusiasts to organize events during the MeeGo Coding Competition 2011 in their Local MeeGo Network. We are sure that Intel and Nokia are going to assist you doing that. Please [mailto:info@meetmeego.org contact us] to get in touch with Intel and Nokia.

Categories
This List is still in a Draft state

There are 8 main categories for submissions:


 * Business & Office
 * Games
 * Desktop (Widgets)
 * Fun & Strange
 * Graphics & Multimedia
 * Location & Navigation
 * Network & Communication
 * System & Utilities

In addition, there is an extra category especially for those new to Maemo/MeeGo development:


 * Beginners

Competition Timeline
The competition runs from 01 April 2011 to 31 July 2011. After that no further submissions will be accepted and the winners will be elected by the community.

How to Submit an Application
To enter, simply submit your application via the competition submission page available at http://competition.meetmeego.org/ and align it to one of the main categories. You will also need to provide some details for the judging thread, including at least 2 screenshots, a brief description of your application, and an outline of what work you personally completed on it.

Authors who mark their entry as 'beginner' will also have their application automatically entered into the beginner category.

Only applications entered through the submission page will be counted as valid entries in the competition. New participants are welcome to join at any time up until the closing date.

Prizes

 * Apart from the educational events and the fun at coding there is a lot more for you!


 * Developers of promising apps will probably receive a MeeGo device.


 * If you will be elected by the community as one of the main winners, you will be flown to the MeeGo Conference in November and stay at a nice hotel. There you will meet a lot of like-minded people to share ideas with, without having to pay a single cent!


 * But even if you don’t win one of the main prizes, that does not mean you get nothing! We will have cash prizes this time, too, independent of sponsorship funds! Last time the community donated extensively, and about $1000.00 came together! Will we be able to beat the record-sum this year? Your donation is just a click away!


 * The winning author of the beginner category will also receive a MeeGo application programming book of their choice to help develop their skills further (donated by Kojacker)

Donations for the Community Prize Fund
The following list shows all of the donations made to the community prize fund so far. If you would also like to make a donation please click the following link: Donation via PayPal. Remember to include your maemo.org username in the PayPal messaging box, else the donation will be marked as anonymous. There is no fixed amount - all donations are very welcome - and will be accepted from now until the closing date of the competition.

Our special thanks to the following people for their generous contributions:

Participants
To enter, please submit your application via the competition submission page available at http://competition.meetmeego.org/. Please note that only applications entered through the submission page will be counted as valid entries in the competition. New participants are welcome to join at any time up until the closing date.

The following list is to notify us of your intentions to enter the competition. Please fill in the table with your application details and progress so far. Beginner's should also mark a 'Y' in the beginner's column.

Rules
To ensure that the event runs properly, there are a few essential rules:


 * Only individuals may participate. Companies are excluded from the competition because of equity reasons.


 * If you have coded your app in a team and you win one of the travels to the MeeGo Conference, your team has to designate one person as the winner.


 * Any number of apps can be submitted and elected as winner.


 * Apps must be uploaded as executable including at least two screen shots and a brief description on the submissions website to take part in the election. The applications have to run on default hardware running on an official version of Maemo or MeeGo.


 * All applications, which are created and uploaded during the duration of the Competition will take part in the election. For existing programs, only progress which has been made during the Competition will be considered. When porting apps, only the work of porting will be considered, unless the original program is from the same programmer and was developed or extended in the Competition timeframe.


 * Only users of maemo.org and meego.com who are registered at the time of voting for at least four months are entitled to vote.


 * There is no legal right to win.

More details regarding the election process to follow.

Getting started with MeeGo application development
The MeeGo Developer subsite (http://developer.meego.com) is a one-stop shop for developers who are keen to learn more about developing for MeeGo devices. You can download the MeeGo SDK from there, get information on targeting and setting up devices, and there's some tutorials to get beginner's started on their first applications.

The Getting started section might be of particular interest, and includes guides such as:


 * Qt SDK


 * MeeGo application development overview


 * Getting started with the MeeGo v1.2 SDK for Linux


 * Getting started with the MeeGo v1.2 SDK for Windows


 * Create your first application: Hello World

For those without MeeGo devices but would like to try it out on their N900:


 * Setting up the Nokia N900 for MeeGo Development

Getting started with Maemo application development
The Nokia Qt SDK is the official set of tools with everything needed to design and create applications for the N900. The development wiki is a great place to start, it contains lots of code examples and development guides. The "Windows Python and Qt in 30 mins" thread is a great PyQt tutorial for beginners and will have you coding your first app in minutes, and here's a link to a tutorial from Linuxuser.co.uk.

The 'Developer' forum on maemo.org is an excellent resource to find answers and ask questions of your own.

Q: Which Twitter Hashtag to use for this Competition?

 * A: Please use #mcc2011

Q: It is obligatory to code in Qt?

 * A: No, it isn't, but it would make your life probably a lot easier because you will be able to reach more platforms. We encourage everyone to use Qt.

Q: Where to submit my application?

 * A: There is an Application submission page available. This will be the only valid way to participate in the competition. This list in the wiki is for information only and not valid for the competition.

Q: Updates allowed during the competition?
I have a new app in the repository, i am considering to apply for the contest.. If i submit it now, will that prevent me to upload further versions to the repos or here? (As it's a work in progress)


 * A: No. you can upload updates till the end of the competition.

Q: No Maemo/ARM platform?
There seems to be no platform for Maemo ARM. What is the right choice if I wish to submit a Maemo application?


 * A: Please use the MeeGo/ARM platform.

Q: Who selects the category of the application?
Will the developers select the category when they join the competition or will someone sort it into the correct category before the voting begins?


 * A: They will choose the category for their app, but everyone should keep an eye on that. Before the voting process starts we'll check if every app is in a reasonable category, so that it is not possible to cheat by choosing the category with the lowest competition.

Application proposal
If you would like to have an App but you can't code yourself, write it down here! Many devs are happy to get a new idea input.

Discussion
Please participate in the discussion at http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=71561

Resources

 * Facebook-Fan Page of the MeeGo Freeday: Like it to get the latest information about all the events
 * Blog-Posts:
 * Announcment of the MeeGo Coding Competition (in german)
 * Coding Qt Workshop announcement (in german)

Contact
Ready? Grab your PC, start to hack and show us your app!

You still have questions? Contact us!
 * http://twitter.com/meetmeego
 * http://facebook.com/meetmeego
 * info@meetmeego.org

Events
The MeeGo Coding Competition is not an event restricted to one city or country! Everyone can and should participate! Local MeeGo Events and Intel AppLabs will take place in different cities and countries.

Local MeeGo Network Berlin
The Local MeeGo Network Berlin has planned the following events using the name "MeeGo Freeday". The events in Berlin will be streamed live.

Intel AppLab 2011-04-29
On 29 April 2011, we bring you the Intel AppLab to Berlin (of course also in the c-base)! During the AppLab coding examples are shown and you will submit your app to the Intel AppUp store. At previous AppLabs developers got MeeGo hardware to take home. This time? Come and see for yourself!

Streaming
The AppLab will be streamed live in HD quality. The language is English. The stream will be available at the following link. http://c-base.org

Previous Events

 * Coding Qt - Workshop - 2011-04-01
 * Nokia Ovi Workshop 2011-04-15

You can watch the recorded videos of these events here.