Announcing The Inaugural FbStart Apps of the Year Awards Program

After launching FbStart last year, we've accepted thousands of mobile apps into the program and helped these developers grow their startups by offering crucial tools like ad credits, analytics, email marketing, device testing and credit card processing. Today, we are announcing FbStart Apps of the Year, our inaugural awards program to recognize the most successful apps among our members.

We will reach out directly to members with instructions on how to nominate their apps for the awards, and we will announce the winners at F8 in March. We will be awarding a grand prize of $50,000 and $25,000 in Facebook Ad Credit to the FbStart App of the Year. The awards will be judged by a panel of experts in mobile development who come from Facebook and the startup community.

After receiving instructions, startups in the program can nominate their apps for the awards until March 9th, 12:00 AM Pacific Standard Time. Apps must be integrated with Facebook Platform or use Parse to be eligible. Startups not yet in FbStart can apply to be a member by March 7th in order to be considered for the awards. Before submitting, please read our Official Rules.

We'll be considering apps based on the following principles:

• Growth and engagement: Is the app growing quickly? Has the app entered new markets, or done a good job retaining new users? Does the app demonstrate potential for growth?
• Experience and design: Is the design optimized for the best user experience? Does it have a streamlined look and feel?
• Efficiency at scale: How does the app use Facebook or other third-party tools to make app development and iteration efficient?
• Leveraging Facebook Platform: Are Facebook and/or Parse products an integral part of the app? Do they improve any of the above three areas?

We plan to give out awards to five startups this year, each with their own accompanying prizes:

• FbStart App of the Year (One winner): Overall winner based on the criteria above. $50,000 cash prize, $25,000 in Facebook Ad Credit, and a 1:1 mentorship session with one of the judges from our panel.
• Regional Apps of the Year (Three winners): The best apps from the four global regions (APAC, EMEA, Latin America and North America), excluding the App of the Year's region. $5,000 cash prize, and $5,000 in Facebook Ad Credit each.
• Social Good App of the Year (One winner): An app that seeks to solve community needs or promote social issues. $5,000 cash prize, and $5,000 in Facebook Ad Credit.

We look forward to receiving FbStart member submissions and reviewing before F8.