Congratulations to the gadget competition winners!

In February, we launched the East Africa Gadget Competition that saw students from 10 universities in 6 East African countries compete in creating and developing the "next big thing". Following several other such competitions around the world, the East Africa contest was the first of its kind for those of us on the African continent. It gave East African students in computer science and IT the opportunity to demonstrate their skills, creativity to develop gadgets with content, feeds, features, looks and languages that reflect the needs of online users of today and tomorrow. Those students who combine outstanding creativity and exceptional technical skills could win great prizes.

Throughout the six months of the competition, all participating students received support via a dedicated email contact as well as monthly emails taking them step by step through how to create a gadget. Regardless of the technical difficulties we experienced, students kept working hard and submitted 41 fully functioning gadgets. Everyone who submitted a gadget has put a lot of time, effort, creativity and care into developing outstanding web applications. We're certain that the high quality of the gadgets and their relevance for local as well as international users will attract a high number of users not only in Africa but around the world.

Our East Africa Gadget Team was impressed by the quality and level of creativity of the submissions, which did not make it easy for our panel to select the winners. Still, only six entries could win one of the great prizes, and the judges have chosen these:

Overall Winner

• Igisoro Game by Antoine Nzeyimana (KIST, Rwanda)
  
  
  
  

Best Gadget UI

• Charty Wizard by Murithi Borona (University of Nairobi, Kenya)

Best Local Content

• Random African Proverb by Peter Munene Karunyu (Moi University, Kenya)

Best Education-Specific

• Deaf / Braille Alphabets by Jean Claude Nzayisenga (National University of Rwanda, Rwanda)

Best Procrastinator

• Sliding Puzzle by Miano Njoka (JKUAT, Kenya)
  

Most Technically Sophisticated

• Add Mad by Hussein Lightwalla (Strathmore University, Kenya)

Here's a full list of winners and links to their gadgets. And the prize? Antoine will receive a US$600 stipend, and the five runners-up will receive a US$350 stipend.

Thanks to everyone for their hard work. We look forward to seeing what students will come up with next time!

Posted by Maria Kubran and Louise Welch, University Programs Team

Link - from Google Student Blog
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