Microsoft has announced the competitions for next year's student competition. The prize money has increased and Microsoft is going to fly every finalist team to St Petersburg, Russia for the Worldwide Finals.

This year there are thee competitions each with a top prize of $50,000 (USD) and three challenges with top prizes of $10,000 (USD). Participants must be 16 and older - which means that high school students are eligible as well as university students.

Writing on the MSDN blog, Alfred Thompson points out:

" ....success in the Imagine Cup is a great resume builder. Not only that many teams in the past have taken their Imagine Cup projects and made businesses out of them. For example Australian Imagine Cup 2012 Team StethoCloud was recently featured in the 'Innovators' section of Bloomberg BusinessWeek magazine!" 

So what can students expect when they enter the 2013 Imagine Cup?

Competitions:

• Games: Put a smile on the face of the world. Make the next great game and see people playing it all around you on console, PC, phone, slate – wherever people play games.
• Innovation: Reinvent social networks. Transform online shopping. Experience music in a new way. Do something amazing with GPS. It’s time to take that crazy idea of yours and ship it!
• World Citizenship: Make an app that could change someone’s life. Pick your cause: the environment, education, health, you name it. Use technology as an agent of change.

Challenges: 

• The Windows 8 App Challenge will test a team’s ability to design and build a Windows Store app that takes advantage of Windows 8 features and design principles to deliver an exceptional experience on the platform.
• The Windows Azure Challenge is about getting your team started on the “next big thing” by leveraging Azure platform features to build a great web application.
• The Windows Phone Challenge is seeking the best apps that feature startling functionality and device-focused utility, combined with a delightful Windows Phone user experience.

Over the past ten years, more than 1.65 million students from more than 190 countries have participated in the Imagine Cup and have created innovative solutions that uses Microsoft technologies to their full extent. As well as prizes and grants, Microsoft offers many of the resources that students need to take part in the regional competitions around the world that will culminate in the finals in July 2013 in Russia.