Microsoft"s Imagine Cup student technology competition will now include two new categories that will put the focus on women and how technology directly affects women"s issues. Microsoft announced the two new competition categories today, which can be entered by teams that are picked to participate in the Imagine Cup 2013 Worldwide Finals.
Microsoft"s press release states that the first category is the Women’s Empowerment Award, which can be entered by Imagine Cup teams of any gender. Microsoft says that the new competition is designed to find the best Imagine Cup projects that " ... best address economic inequality, access to technology and other resources, gender-based violence, leadership and political participation, or other critical women’s issues." The team with the winning project in the category will get $12,000, with the second place team receiving $8,000.
The second new Imagine Cup competition is called the Women’s Athletics App Challenge. Only female teams can enter projects in this category, which is designed to find the best women-themed apps made for "sports, fitness and athletics." The team with the winning app will not only receive $1,000 for each team member but they will also get a chance to meet a member of the Seattle Storm women"s basketball team and watch one of their games in Seattle.
The 2013 Imagine Cup world finals will be held in St. Petersburg, Russia July 8-11th.
Source: Microsoft | Image via Microsoft