Microsoft announced the winners of the 11th annual Imagine Cup, a competition for student technologists, developers and aspiring entrepreneurs.

Winning projects were announced for the three major Competition categories — Innovation, Games and World Citizenship — as well as three product-specific Challenges and eight special awards from Imagine Cup sponsors.

Steve Guggenheimer (Corporate vice president and chief evangelist, Microsoft):  For the past 11 years, Imagine Cup has been a place of inspiration and innovation for students around the world.

Eighty-seven student teams from 71 countries competed in the Worldwide Finals after winning local and online competitions around the world. Microsoft has awarded cash and other prizes valued at more than $1 million throughout the yearlong Imagine Cup competition, including awards for the winning teams at the Worldwide Finals event this week.

Here are the Imagine Cup worldwide finals winners:

Innovation

• First Place, $50,000 prize: Team Colinked, United Kingdom, Project: SoundSYNK
• Second Place, $10,000 prize: Team DORA, Slovenia, Project: DORA
• Third Place, $5,000 prize: Team MYRA, Thailand, Project: SkyPACS

Games

• First Place, $50,000 prize: Team Zeppelin Studio, Austria, Project: Schein
• Second Place, $10,000 prize: Team Solite Studio, Indonesia, Project: Save the Hamsters
• Third Place, $5,000 prize: Team Banzai Lightning, France, Project: Seed

World Citizenship

• First Place, $50,000 prize: Team for a Better World, Portugal, Project: For a Better World
• Second Place, $10,000 prize: Team Omni-Hearing Solution, Taiwan, Project: Omni-Hearing Solution
• Third Place, $5,000 prize: Team Confufish Royale, Australia, Project: Foodbank Local

Windows Azure Challenge

• First Place, $10,000 Prize: Team Y-Nots, India, Project: Zoik It!
• Second Place, $5,000 Prize: Team nlife, Ukraine, Project: onQuests
• Third Place, $3,000 Prize: Team LetssGo, China, Project: Get & Put

Windows Phone Challenge

• First Place, $10,000 Prize: Team vSoft Studio, Singapore, Project: Speak Reminder
• Second Place, $5,000 Prize: Team WeRule, Poland, Project: Modern Drug Test
• Third Place, $3,000 Prize: Team front, Poland, Project: Cope

Windows 8 Apps Challenge

• First Place, $10,000 Prize: Team TeamNameException, Italy, Project: Ulixes
• Second Place, $5,000 Prize: Team Wordsapp, Germany, Project: Wordsapp
• Third Place, $3,000 Prize: Team Clever Mind, Thailand, Project: Vocable World

In addition to the Competitions and Challenges, students competed for the following special awards from Imagine Cup sponsors:

• AFT Excellence Award. Five teams will receive AFT (App Fast Track) review by the Windows Team. In recognition of their outstanding Windows 8 Apps projects, the following teams will receive a review process to enhance their projects and deliver great Windows 8 apps:
  • Team Banzai Lightning, France
  • Team Flying Ship, Brazil
  • Team Lumos, Korea
  • Team MASKed Ninjas, Egypt
  • Team TapBoarders, Poland
• AppCampus Award. Team Flying Ship from Brazil won 50,000 euros in funding, airfare and accommodations for its app Callvenient. In recognition of their great project that could be the next big thing on Windows Phone, the team members will fly to Finland for a four-week AppCampus training event.
• DreamSpark Learning Award. Team AuThink of Croatia won $5,000 for its project focused on helping autistic children and their parents, which showcases how software creates new ways of learning and teaching.
• Facebook Creativity Award. Team AYNi from Ecuador and its volunteering social-network based project took home $25,000 in Facebook advertising credits.
• KFC Russia Award. Team Sano from Canada won $10,000 for its health and wellness project. The team’s project will be showcased in KFC Russia’s flagship restaurant in Moscow.
• Mail.Ru Group Connected Planet Award. Three teams met Mail.Ru Group’s challenge to develop a project that embraces online communication and entertainment in fun, useful and innovative ways. The following are the winners:
  • First Place, $10,000 Prize: Team Y-Nots, India, Project: Zoik It!
  • Second Place, $5,000 Prize: Team TeamNameException, Italy, Project: Ulixes
  • Third Place, $3,000 Prize: Team LetssGo, China, Project: Get & Put
  • Samsung Digital Native Award. Team Firebird from Sri Lanka received this $10,000 award that honors the fresh thinking, digital savvy and global perspective of its project.
• Women’s Empowerment Award. In partnership with UN Women, this award recognizes two student teams that created projects that best address issues impacting women globally. The following are the winners:
  • First Place, $12,000 Prize: Team Code 8, Uganda, Project: Matibabu
  • Second Place, $8,000 Prize: Team Omni-Hearing Solution, Taiwan, Project: Omni-Hearing Solution

The 2014 Imagine Cup competition is headed to Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond, Washington.

[Image courtesy: Microsoft]