Apps for Democracy

Apps for Democracy, or APPS08 is an annual innovation contest for software and web developers, founded in 2008 by Vivek Kundra, CTO of Washington DC and iStrategyLabs. The intention of this competition is to reward technology developers with cash prizes and public recognition for creating applications that are useful for the DC government and the citizens, visitors and businesses of Washington, D.C.

Developers are encouraged to build a wide variety of mashups, including Web applications, wikis, widgets, map mashups, iPhone applications, and Facebook/OpenSocial applications. Teams or individuals work to develop visualization solutions from the District of Columbia's public data catalog.

The Apps for Democracy contest is part of the District of Columbia’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO) drive toward digital democracy in the nation’s capital. The contest helps to find more efficient and impactful methods for delivering higher levels of service to citizens for a reduced cost.

The contest was founded to promote awareness of participatory democracy and development, as well as to excite developers about new, creative applications of technology. The contest runs in the early fall and ends in a award ceremony with Mayor Adrian Fenty.

History
The inaugural APPS08 had 47 application submissions; most of these entries were based in the Washington DC metro area. The contest was open to any individual. Apps for Democracy featured 60 cash prizes from $2000 to $100 dollars for a total of $20,000 in prizes. The medal-winning applications were announced on November 14, 2008.

Indie Gold

iLive.at

Agency Gold

D.C. Historic Tours

Indie Silver

Park It DC

Crime Finder

Agency Silver

Stumble Safely

DC Location - Aware Realtime Alerts

We the People Wiki

Indie Bronze

D.C. Pedestrian

Citystat

DCRA Building Permit Dashboard

Achieve D.C.

Hansen Daily Quick Browse

Agency Bronze (only 4 of 5 awarded)

dc BIKES

Carpool Mashup Matchmaker

DC Community Gardens

MPD Incidents - Mobile Phone Access (Aggregate prize for 5 total mobile apps)

People's Choice Awards

Carpool Mashup Matchmaker

dc BIKES

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