We’re excited to announce our second annual worldwide developer competition: the Evernote Devcup! Devcup challenges software developers and designers to create awesome products that help over 25 million users do more with Evernote. We’ll be awarding over $100,000 in prizes and giving finalists the chance to present their work to the attendees of this year’s Evernote Trunk Conference in San Francisco.

Here’s what we’re giving away:

• Gold – $20,000 cash prize
• Silver – $15,000 cash prize
• Bronze – $5,000 cash prize
• 6 finalists – $10,000 cash prize, and airfare and lodging to attend ETC 2012

What are we hoping to see?

Great apps combine captivating functionality with beautiful, intuitive design. The entries that we select as Devcup finalists will be apps that we expect tens of thousands of people to use every day to capture and recall the important things in their lives. We can’t possibly enumerate every good idea that we’ve ever heard, but here are some general themes to help you get started thinking about what to build:

• Evernote Food and Evernote Hello are mobile applications that provide users with a dedicated experience for a specific Evernote use case. What other use cases could benefit from a customized application, and what type of rich, structured information would they contribute to a user’s Evernote account? What about a movie app that manages the list of movies that you want to see and your thoughts on those that you’ve seen, and combines that information with outside data from your Netflix queue and Rotten Tomatoes?
• Products like Nike+ and Fitbit have brought Quantified Self and lifelogging into the mainstream. These products generate an immense amount of data about us. How can Evernote fit in? What type of data could such products store in Evernote, and how could you incorporate all of the other information in a user’s Evernote account to enrich their life log?
• One of last year’s finalists noted that there are two types of notes that we create in Evernote. Some, such as shopping lists, start out being important but diminish in value over time. Others, such as records of great meals, aren’t that valuable in the short term, but become wonderful memories later. Dividing the world of Evernote notes into these two categories, what types of application could be built to focus on one area or the other?
• Evernote’s products are used by tens of millions of people around the world. Only a third of our users are in the United States, and about a third are in non-Western countries. We design products that we think have universal appeal and utility, but there are probably also opportunities for apps that serve the needs of a specific national or cultural group. What app would you build for users in your country that isn’t necessarily as obvious to an outsider?
• Evernote users love to learn about our products. Books, blogs and videos that help users get started with Evernote or get more out of it are extremely popular – there are currently 33 printed books about Evernote in Japan alone! What can you build to teach Evernote or guide great Evernote habits?

These themes barely scratch the surface of the opportunities that are available. Whether or not you plan to participate in Devcup, we want to hear what apps you’d like to see built for this year’s competition. Join the discussion at devcup.evernote.com or attend one of our worldwide meetups.

A look back

Last year, nearly 1,000 developers from around the world participated in the developer competition. Many were from the US, but almost a quarter were from Asia, another quarter were from Europe, and we had meaningful participation in South and Central America. All six of the finalist teams attended ETC and presented their submissions. You can watch their presentations at evernote.com/about/etc. Last year’s Grand Prize winner was Touchanote, an Android app that allows you to associate real life objects with your Evernote notes using NFC. Another one of the finalists, Notable Meals, formed the basis of Evernote Food. A third, Colorstache, allowed you to search your Evernote notes by color.

The details  

Any piece of software that integrates with an Evernote API is eligible for Devcup. You can build for desktop, mobile or the web. Here are the key dates:

• Now through July 2nd - Form a team, come up with an idea, build an app!
• July 2nd – Submission deadline (11pm PDT)
• July 23rd - 6 finalists announced
• Late summer - Finalists present their entries at the Evernote Trunk Conference; the Grand Prize winner and runners up are chosen

Devcup meetups around the world!

To help you get started, we’re holding a number of meetups around the world. These are a great place to brainstorm and discuss the feasibility of an idea with our developer relations staff, connect with others who are participating in Devcup, and learn more about Evernote. We’ll also be holding webinars if you’re unable to attend in person. For a list of events, and to find all of the information that you need about Devcup, join the conversation at devcup.evernote.com.