Win $100,000 in This App Design Contest, Even If You’re Not a Developer
We already know that creating a popular app can help you earn $6,000 a month — or even $10 million. But creating an app often takes coding skills the average person might not have. Now, even the non-techies among us have a chance to design an app and win $100,000 in prize money.
As part of its Small Business App Challenge, a tech company called Appsbar is offering $100,000 to the person or company who creates the best app for Android, iPhone or Windows using its free app-development platform. The idea is to make it easier for small business owners to design and launch apps to support their work.
“It’s always been our mission to empower small business and level the playing field for mobile app development,” the company’s founder and CEO, Scott Hirsch, told PRNewswire. “This opportunity to earn $100,000 reinforces our commitment to that cause.”
How Does Appsbar Work?
The platform helps small and medium-sized businesses develop and distribute mobile apps. It focuses on smaller businesses, such as “mom-and-pop” stores and This Free App Will Pay You to Tell Your Friends About New Music, which may lack the technical skills and know-how to program or code their own apps, as well as the budget to hire professionals.
The tool is also popular with community and nonprofit groups. For example, several parents have created apps to coordinate their kids’ soccer and softball schedules. Instead of hiring programmers to custom-build an app for their specific needs, they simply use a free template to create an app that meets their needs.
The app builder is easy to use, and you can even create an app directly from your Android, iPhone, Windows and even BlackBerry smartphones and tablets.
Win $100,000 With Your App
To enter Appsbar’s Small Business App Challenge, you must be a legal U.S. resident aged 18 or older who develops an app through Appsbar’s platform.
You’ll be eligible for weekly prizes, such as iPods, tablets, laptops and flat-screen TVs. Judges will select these weekly winners based on a number of factors, including creativity, practicality, innovation, number of downloads and other factors.
When the contest closes on November 4, 2015, a “celebrity panel of judges” will select the official Grand Prize Winner from the group of weekly winners, and the winning app’s designer will take home $100,000.
Though the judges have not been named, Appsbar notes these individuals have “backgrounds in technology, pop culture, business, philanthropy and more.”
How to Enter
The hardest part of entering is probably coming up with your app idea. The rest is easy!
Sign up with Appsbar and create an app using their free platform, which the company says should only take 20 minutes or so, unless you’re adding a lot of forms, menus and other data-heavy options. After you’ve created your app, publish it on one or more app marketplaces like Google Play, the Apple App Store and Appcatch.com. That’s it: As long as you’ve used Appsbar to develop your app, posted it on an app marketplace and listed it as free for users, you’re entered to win.
After you submit your app, Appsbar will review and optimize it. This process typically takes three to five business days, and then your app will be ready for sharing. You’ll want to get as many downloads as possible, so be ready to fire up your Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter and Facebook accounts to publicize your app.
The contest won’t accept group submissions, and you can’t use any kind of automatic program to develop your entry. Read the FAQ and the fine print for more details.
Good luck!
Your Turn: Have you considered creating an app? Will you enter this contest?
Kristen Pope is a freelance writer and editor in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
