I just found out about another great contest from the good folks over at Microsoft. I know what you’re thinking “2 Microsoft posts in a week! What’s up with that?”and I’m a Mac user Well the truth is this is a great contest for Mobile developers, and since I’m one of the organizers of Mobile Camp Montreal, it’s my job to keep a watch out for stuff just like this. In fact, it would be cool see some these apps demoed at Mobile Camp Montreal, just saying.

Ok, enough banter, what’s this Great APPortunity all about?

The Great Canadian APPortunity competition is sure to uncover some amazing apps while providing the community with a platform to showcase their skills and creativity and gain recognition. Entrants have the chance to win a grand prize of $10,000, along with some great prizes …

Not bad for a Mobile app contest … I’m definitely interested in seeing where this goes, who enters, and what kind of cool apps end up being developed, even though I don’t own a Windows 7 phone, which means I can’t test the apps and blog about it (wink wink).

So, if you’re a mobile app developer you definitely should check this contest out, see the contest page for full details.

If you do end up entering this contest let me know and I would love to give you an opportunity to present it at Mobile Camp Montreal.

Bonne chance!

Once again the gang over at Microsoft has out done themselves with a really cool competition to go along side one of Canada’s largest Open Source Conferences, Make Web Not War, the “Code Your Art Out” competition.

The concept behind this competition is pretty cool and it comes with a hefty prize, $15,000.

“Code Your Art Out” is about helping non-profits harness the power of technology in order to better serve its communities and members. It’s also about blending Microsoft technologies with other technologies to create applications that connect people, data, and diverse systems in new ways; bringing it all together in one ground breaking application.

The winners will be announced at this years Make Web Not War conference in Vancouver, Canada. As a veteran speaker, supporter, and attendee of previous MWNW conferences I can honestly say “YOU DO NOT WANT TO MISS THIS!”

What’s MWNW

Make Web Not War (MWNW) is coming Vancouver on May 7th, 2011, MWNW is one of Canada’s first cross-platform conference showcasing the latest techniques and technologies available to the ever-evolving web community, jointly sponsored by Microsoft and Open Source communities across Canada. Here we will explore the power and flexibility of new web paradigms, technologies and applications – including the Microsoft web platform, Open Source applications, cloud computing and mobile – to help you develop the ultimate web experience for your clients. Read more.

I hope to see you there!

Official links

http://twitter.com/CodeYourArtOut and #codeyourartout.

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=175320262514766

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Code-Your-Art-Out-Competition/129146523825367?sk=info

Last year Microsoft held an open source event in Canada called “Make Web Not War”. I have to admit they did a really good job. I was also fortunate enough to speak at the event in Toronto. As part of the event Microsoft held a coding competition called “FTW“, which was very successful, so successful it’s back!

What is The FTW! Coding Competition?

FTW! is where the best and brightest Canadian web developers go toe-to-toe to develop the next great Canadian Web App. How can you participate? Simply code or port a web application onto Windows/IIS or Windows Azure. That’s it, that’s all. All applications that fall into any of the following categories, and are on Windows/IIS or the Windows Azure Cloud are eligible.

Compete in the following categories:

• PHP Application: (PHP on Windows+IIS or PHP on Windows Azure)
• Windows Azure Application: (Any Language: .Net, PHP, Ruby, Python…)
• Open Data Application: (Use of Open Data Catalogues on Windows or Windows Azure on Any Language)

What could you win?

Along with an awesome grand prize worth fighting for (Dell Office Computer Make Over), the FTW! Coding Competition not only grants the winner bragging rights as one of Canada’s top web developers, but awards two runner-ups with top of the line Dell prizes as well. Once the hard work is done, a panel of industry judges will choose three finalists to battle it out for the grand prize at the “Make Web Not War” conference on May 27th in Montreal!

How can you register?

If you want more information on how to register to the competition please visit: http://www.webnotwar.ca/ftw/

See you at the finals in Montreal!

They are currently running 2 great contests for some really cool prize packages.

Contest #1
As a promotion for F13′s  upcoming JOSH DAVIS exhibit Outside the Lines, which you should really check out, they are offering a prize pack for the best hand made font. The prize is one Josh Davis Kimono Backpack filled with his line of Miquelrius of notebooks.

Rules:
Simply spell out Function13 in your own hand made font and either drop off your entry at the shop or email it to info@function13.ca. The deadline for entrees is Friday April 24th. The winner will be announced the following week.

The exhibit opens April 26th.

Contest #2
F13 have 2 free tickets to the Woodhands show this Friday at the Phoenix Concert Theater. The pair of tickets will go to the first person to post a link to a piece of wood on the Function13 Facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=32512412120
More info on the show here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=79008542416&ref=ts