Imagine Cup is an annual worldwide student competition with categories ranging from digital arts to software design. Imagine Cup has grown to be a truly global competition focused on finding solutions to real-world issues. More than 300 000 students from 142 countries entered the competition in 2009. As with the Olympics, Imagine Cup finalists compete at the world finals, which are held in a different country each year.

For Imagine Cup 2010, young programmers, artists and technologists aged 16 or older around the world are invited to submit innovative projects with the topic: "Imagine a world where technology helps solve the toughest problems facing us today.” This year the Imagine Cup uses United Nations Millenium Goals as a guiding light to inspire change all over the world.

Students’ works across the competition categories reflect real world solutions, while giving them the opportunity to compete for reputation and prizes at the global finals in Warsaw, Poland in the summer of 2010. In some Imagine Cup 2010 categories students can work in groups of up to four people, where as in other categories Imagine Cup allows individual participation. Three competition categories are already open for registration and the remaining categories will be opening shortly. The registration period will continue until early spring 2010

Imagine Cup 2010 is not only a global competition. Microsoft Switzerland, together with local hardware sponsor Hewlett-Packard (Schweiz) GmbH, will award the best Swiss competitors at the local Imagine Cup 2010 finals in May 2010.

The local competition finals / awarding will be held in all Imagine Cup 2010 categories with one or more competing teams from Switzerland. Based on the online submissions, the local jury will invite the most talented Swiss competitors to join the local finals in Zurich. The jury will select top Swiss talents and award them great prizes (Xbox 360 Arcade consoles, software packets, WebCams, keyboards and much more). Microsoft will be sponsoring train tickets for the invited students to join the finals.

As a part of the "You Make IT Smart: Code – Win – Play” campaign we will be awarding the best 15 Swiss competitors of Imagine Cup 2010 an Xbox 360 Arcade console. Please note that simply registering for the competition is not enough; you need to successfully compete the task (submit an entry as defined in the category’s Round 1 instructions) in order to participate and you need to qualify as the best Swiss competitor in the category you are competing in.

The number of consoles is limited. Only the best 15 Swiss competitors submitting an entry at the minimum to Round 1 in any competition category and qualifying as the best Swiss competitor in that particular category will be receive an award (maximum of 2 consoles per entry, also in cases of group entries). Microsoft holds the sole right to judge the students eligible to obtain the award. The awards will be distributed only in the Swiss Imagine Cup Finals in May 2010; no awards will be shipped by post. Microsoft will contact each student who is invited to the Swiss Imagine Cup 2010 finals and receives an award in person*.

1. Register at www.imaginecup.com either individually or as a member of a team.

2. Submit your Round 1 work to swissic@microsoft.com via e-mail (as an attachment) by April 16. 2010. Your Round 1 work should be written in English, in any format of your choice (Word, HTML, .pdf, etc.) and should include:

   • 1 A4-size page summary

   • Maximum of 5 A4-size pages describing your work: the idea behind your work, the problem your work solves, an architecture description.

The winning Swiss Software Design team will be awarded a trip to the Imagine Cup 2010 worldwide finals in Warsaw, Poland (travel expenses and accommodation paid by Microsoft). The local hardware sponsor Hewlett-Packard (Schweiz) GmbH will be awarding great hardware prizes for the best Swiss Software Design team.

In other the competition categories the finalists, who will be traveling to the world finals with travel expenses and accommodation paid by Microsoft, will be selected globally. Microsoft Switzerland will organize mentoring for all the Swiss students qualifying for the world finals. In the world finals students will compete for cash prizes of up to $25,000, not to forget the recognition and reputation that success in this worldwide competition brings.

Read about: Swiss Imagine Cup 2009 winners.

Further information: www.imaginecup.com.

*Microsoft Switzerland has no obligation to disclose any results, reasons, names or any other information connected with the competition (no correspondence). Competitors have no entitlement to reimbursement of any expenses they may have incurred in order to take part in the competition or to any remuneration whatsoever against Microsoft.