The total cash and prizes for the 2009 “Summer of Innovation” contest are worth more than $50,000!
The top submission in each category will receive cash and prizes that include:

Round One- The Finalist
The top submissions in all six categories will receive between $2,000- $10,000 in cash and services, 6 weeks of hands on mentoring, travel expense to San Jose, and the opportunity to demo the winning application at a Semantic Seed-specified event in the Fall 2009.

Grand Prize winner: $25,000 USD in cash and prizes will be given to only one of the final 6 start up finalist.

2nd Place: $15,000 USD in cash and prizes will be given to only one of the final 6 start up finalist.

Judging Criteria:
In order to be eligible for these prizes, the "Summer Of Innovation" panel of judges will closely review all of the applications submitted, and choose finalists and winners according to the following criteria:

Quality / Functionality: the application or service must be fully functional and run successfully
Uniqueness, novelty value and innovativeness: display creativity in applications, use established technology in a unique way.
Usability / Creativity: leverage latest technologies to demonstrate superior design and ease of use (UI, graphics, etc.)
Commercial Viability / Market Potential: ability to fulfill users’ needs, customer adoption.