Apple is now accepting entries for the Ninth Annual Apple Design Awards, scheduled to be presented at this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). The Apple Design Awards recognize excellence through three separate contests: Application Software, QuickTime Content and new for 2004, Performance Demos.
Apple is opening up this year’s Apple Design Awards to entrants from new countries, and is also allowing people to enter electronically. They’ve also expanded the categories in each contest and created an entirely new contest: Performance Demos. And for the first time, winners in all categories (except the Student category) can choose their own prize — either a 17-inch PowerBook G4 or a Power Mac G5.
Individual categories in the Application Software include software that excels in platform innovation, user experience, technology adoption, performance optimizations, and the use of Open Source. The specific categories include Best Product New to Mac OS, Most Innovative Mac OS X Product, Best Mac OS X User Experience, Best Mac OS X Technology Adoption, Best Mac OS X Open Source Product, Best Mac OS X Server Solution, Best Mac OS X Entertainment Product, Best Mac OS X Scientific Computing Solution and Best Mac OS X Student Product.
The QuickTime Content contest recognize excellence in authoring, outstanding production value, advanced encoding quality, innovation and ease of use in content navigation. The categories include Best QuickTime Content for Promotion, Best QuickTime Content for Education and Best QuickTime Content for Entertainment.
And the new Performance Demos contest highlights the performance of shipping products for Mac OS X and Apple’s hardware — products that demonstrate the capabilities of the technology “in a unique, unexpected and awe-inspiring manner.” Two categories have been opened for this new contest, including Best Performance Demo for a Shipping Product and Most Innovative Apple Technology Performance Demo.
Past winners have included shareware and commercial products in various categories, including Salling Clicker, BioTeam’s iNquiry, Toon Boom Studio, Watson, and many others.