This past week I had the opportunity to serve as one of the judges for a local Web 2.0 competition called Reto 2.010. IBM is one of the sponsors for this competition and the local team asked me to be a judge.
The competition was open to local college students. The purpose of the contest was to see who could create the best mashup application using the API's of El Nuevo Día, the largest local newspaper.
Teams from all around the island submitted proposals. The top 6 proposals were selected and teams were asked to prepare a presentation and prototype. Each team had 45 minutes to present their idea. As a judge, there were three areas I had to look at:
- Tecnical Innovation
- The use of state-of-the art tools, algorithms, methods and techniques.
- Creative use of the API’s Integration.
- User Experience
- Easy to use and effective User-centric design.
- Use of effective User Information/Interaction Architecture Patterns.
- Commercial Potential
- Simple but clear monetization methods.
- General revenues models
I really enjoyed the opportunity to see what these college students could come up with. I have to say, though, I was a bit disappointed to see that most students decided to create either a .NET or PHP web application. Next year, I plan to give a workshop to students and introduce them to IBM Mashup Center. 
The winner has been selected and each team member will get $3000 plus a trip to the next Web 2.0 conference. The winner will be announced on June 12th. Stay tuned!