Microsoft Imagine Cup 2016

• Imagine Cup is a skill-based competition organised by Microsoft and is commonly known as Microsoft Imagine Cup and it consists of three competitions.
• The three competitions include:
  • The Game Path
  • The Innovation Path
  • The World Citizenship Path
• Contestants are required to build new and innovative software applications.
• The time span of the competition is one year.
• It is the thirteenth year of the Microsoft Imagine Cup competition.

• Imagine cup provides opportunities for students across all disciplines to team up and use their creativity, passion and knowledge of technology to create applications, games and integrated solutions that can change the way we live, work, and play.
• Indian student developers have been a valuable part of Microsoft Imagine Cup in past.
• Imagine cup will be conducted in every country and then the students who have been selected fill move to the Next Round.

• Age: 16 years of age as of 10 September 2015

• Actively enrolled as a student at an accredited educational institution that grants high-school or college/university (or equivalent) degrees (including home schools) at any timebetween 1 January 2015 and July 31, 2016
• In case of Minor: If you are considered a minor in your place of residence, then you should ask your parent’s or legal guardian’s permission prior to submitting an entry into this Competition.
• You can only compete in the 2016 Imagine Cup if you participate in National or Online Finals.

Not Eligible to Participate

• Countries : Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, or Syria.
• People: Employee or intern of Microsoft Corporation or a Microsoft subsidiary at any timebetween between January 1, 2016 and July 31, 2016.
• Not involved in any part of the execution or administration of this Competition.
• Not an immediate family member of (parent, sibling, spouse/domestic partner, child) or household member of a Microsoft employee, an employee of a Microsoft subsidiary, or a person involved in any part of the administration and execution of this Competition between January 1, 2016 and July 31, 2016.

What needs to be created

All World Citizenship Projects must be developed using at least one product in the Visual Studio family and must be built to require any one or more of the following platforms:
 Windows
 Windows Phone
 Windows Azure
In addition to one or more of the above, you may also use other Microsoft platforms such as Kinect for Windows SDK, .NET Framework, XNA, Bing maps API, etc., as well as third-party game engines, libraries, and middleware provided you obey their licenses, but none of these are required.

As long as your project requires Windows, Windows Phone, or Windows Azure to operate your project meets this requirement. 

 Reward

• Each World Finalist and one Mentor per team will be awarded a trip to World Finals, to compete at the World Finals.Trip includes round trip coach airfare from a major airport closest to each competitor’s home, standard hotel accommodations, and select meals and activities. 
• A full list of all winners will be published within 30 days following the 2016 Worldwide Finals
• First Prize: Grand Prize of US $ 50,000
• Second Prize:  US $ 10,000
• Third Prize: US $ 5,000
•  Application Process

  Step 1: Sign up or sign in to Microsoft account
  Sign in or Sign Up

  Before you can sign up for any competitions, you need to tell us where you're from! Pick your country from the list, and you're ready to move on.

  Step 2: Go To Your Dashboard- Create your Team
  From your Imagine Cup dashboard, you can fill out your member profile, tell about yourself, and get started creating or joining a team.

  1. Team Size: Up to four (4) eligible students may submit a single entry as a team.
  2. Mentor: It is recommended that each team (or individual if competing alone) enlist the services of a mentor. Mentors may be from academic institutions, not-for-profit organizations, or private companies.
  3. Part of multiple Teams: Each competitor may belong to multiple teams, but not within a single Competition.
  4. Participation in Multiple Competitions: You may submit entries to as many Competitions as you like, but you must create unique entries
     for each one and you can only make one entry per Competition.

  • At the bottom of your team page, you can see all the competitions your team is eligible to enter!
  • Click the 'Register' checkbox if you want to receive information about a competition;
  • if you want to participate in that competition, also click the 'Competing' checkbox.

  Step 3: Register For Competitions
  Once you're signed up to participate in a competition, you can assign your team members (including yourself!) to each competition. Just click the 'Assign' link to get started.

  Step 4: Submit Your ProjectReady to submit your project to the judges? Click the 'Submit' link next to the competition on your Team Page to get started!

  Last Date to Apply:

  •  You can begin submitting your round 1 entry from your Team Profile page once the national finals for your country opens.
  • Submission requirements and deadlines for Round 1 vary from country to 
    country but all will be concluded no later than April 23, 2016.
  • Country with no National Finals: If there is no National Finals in your team’s country, you may instead compete in  the Online Finals. This is only open to teams in countries without a National Finals.
    • The last date for entry via Online Finals in is March 16 2016.

  Selection Process

   selection Process

  There are three rounds

  Round 1: National Finals/Online Finals.

  • Round 1 Advancement: Teams in the National Finals and Online Finals will be evaluated by judges using the scoring criteria.
    • Each National Final World Citizenship Competition results in one World Semifinalist team that advances to round 2.
    • The Online Final World Citizenship Competition results in two or more World Semifinalist teams that advance to round 2. The total number of World Semifinalist teams advanced from the Online Finals will be dependent on the merits of the entrants and the competitive needs of the World Semifinals.

  Round 2 – World SemifinalsAll World Semifinalist teams, regardless of whether they came from National or Online Finals, compete in a global round conducted online.Within one week of being chosen as a World Semifinalist in their National Finals or in the Online Finals.

  • Round 2 Advancement- Teams in the World Semifinals will be evaluated by judges using the scoring criteria

   Round 3 – World FinalsAll teams who advance to round 3 will be brought at Microsoft’s expense to the World Finals event where the last round of competition occurs.
  

  The judges at the World Finals event will choose first, second, and third
  place winners for the World Citizenship Competition. No team rankings below third place will be
  released.

  Important dates of Imagine Cup 2016

  Round	Microsoft Imagine Cup Begins	Microsoft Imagine Cup Ends
  Round 1 – National Finals Round 1 – Online Finals	September 10, 2015 January 01, 2016	April 23, 2016 March 16, 2016
  Round 2 – World Semifinals	April 23, 2016	May 01, 2016
  Round 3 – World Finals	July 2016	July 2016

  Microsoft Corporation 
  One Microsoft Way 
  Redmond, WA 98052 
  USA
• Email: imagine@microsoft.com, icindia@microsoft.com
• For more information visit https://www.imaginecup.com/