I agree, chase those interested in donating to a prize pot. Set out the rules, application category. Then '[ANNOUNCE]' it in this forum and see who applies. I'm certainly interested in applying myself, depending on the category chosen

My hope in creating the thread originally was simply to breathe new life into application development on the handset, perhaps in terms of encouraging projects to be finished, new ideas to be generated, newbies getting interested and helped to begin programming, and a bit of a lark in general. Once the prize idea was mentioned, that scuppered that plan as now we have prize funds to set up, categories to arrange, rules to stick by.. it's moved from the original idea into a proper competition, but one without any backing as yet from Nokia or Maemo to help get it off the ground.

Personally I liked the idea of the freedom away from that, I think that helps people become more creative and more likely to get involved. A newbie may be put off by the idea of trying to compete for a cash prize against an experienced Maemo developer, and people aren't going to assist or help train up the competition if it puts their chance of winning at stake. IMO it also puts more emphasis on delivering a complete and polished app in a short time frame, whereas an incomplete good idea can be explored fully, continued and finished off later after the competition. These are just opinions, but more annoying for me is that i know what should be a simple friendly comp will get bogged down in people wanting to discuss how much, who judges it, what category they should be in, why they are in some other category, how to change category, how to vote, how to change their vote, and a list of rules produced in black and white for everyone to agree on before the competition starts. It needs someone dedicated to organise all that in the shortest timeframe possible or else it'll be weeks/months, and by that time we'll be looking at installing Meego.

how about giving recognition to the new apps or the top updated app in extras and extras-devel. once or if a bounty is setup, it can be awarded to them. Starting with a price, as you said complicates things at first..

I agree kojacker, which is why I would like to put this here for anybody who is after a large prize with categories

http://www.callingallinnovators.com/default.aspx


I did not intend for the small prize here to take the "friendly" out of your friendly contest. I thought it would just be a good small incentive for people to get involved. I was under the impression that the competition ball is already rolling with a date (end of the month) and that the prize is something that may be there when the deadline arrives as a bonus for winning. I don't think categories is something we should worry about.

I do not shy away from responsibility so I would definitely organize it if it's that we are lacking. it's just that people will be less reluctant to contribute to the pot if somebody with a better/longer history here than me was organizing it.

I certainly hope that me mentioning a possible prize at the end did not kill this contest or make it too competitive. noobmonkey mentioned a possible programming book prize which I think is a great idea since it will attract those who are just starting and want to learn (newbies, as you put them) while still keeping the friendly atmosphere where people help eachother, because by doing so you can probably learn more in these forums than what's in that book.

I would say imo the most important thing for the competition idea is to make it as absolutely visible and well known as possible, that'll keep up the interest. Perhaps start a new thread in a more mainstream area of the site, (as well as here) say, maemo.org > Talk > Devices > Nokia N900 (If you're specifically targeting N900 users) and request to have it stickied. I would imagine they would be ok with it considering it would be in the community's best interests as everyone would benefit.

Also, perhaps try and find out who to contact about the possibility of having a notice about the competition on the front page of the site, its updated with news and new apps, so why not community run competitions? Maybe whoever runs the site would be ok about having even just a small notice about it on the front page that stayed up for the duration you intend to have the competition running for. After all, it would only help stir up more interest!

GBAX are the guys behind most of the coding competitions on www.gp32x.com for open handheld consoles like the Gp32, Gp2x, Wiz, Dingoo and the imminent Pandora (which has very similar hardware to the N900) You'll notice they have a link to the competitions right from the front page of their site.

Here are GBAX's previous Coding competitions along with all the entries just to give you a feel for how they did it -

GBAX Coding Competitions

And heres this years competition, again with the entries, called the Pandora Angst coding competition

I hope some of this helps

im still up for it its just day to day life gets in the way of coming here and checking every day. know we now people are intrested just release a news thread that shows on the home screen. saying the date all entris should be in by. and basic rules such as must be in extras-dev or what ever. i liked the idea of winning a programming book but understand the difficulties that would make in the organisation. so i think maybe as we are an open source comunity people should be happy winning kudos.

just make an offical start and end and get every one programming and talking. maybe create a help thread so people can come talk bout there issues they may be having.

Well I went ahead and took the plunge

http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=53112

Please check it over and let me know any mistakes/problems you find (I didn't have much time but I wanted to get something started, so I basically just copied the first post in this thread again.)

To start off the bounty I've pledged $50 for the best overall app If you'd like to add then ofcourse feel free. If somebody would like more games or more utilities they could sponsor the winner of the individual categories also

Oh, and please link the thread everywhere you think it should be placed so we can try and get maximum exposure. It's still a bit of an experiment, but wIth a bit of luck we might have some interest and a few good apps at the end of it

Edit: Oh and if you'd like to join in the comp, and even if you dont, please reply and show some interest in the thread so I dont look a wally on my own hehe

Edit2: Fixed the link

I'm going to add the link to my sig once I figure out how : )

Great! Following the other thread! Hope we can develop good development guides for begginers!