FbStart Apps of the Year

FbStart, a program that helps thousands of developers grow their startups by offering valuable tools & services, worldwide events, and opportunities to engage with the Facebook team, is now accepting entries for its annual Apps of the Year competition. Honoring the most successful FbStart apps, the grand prize winner will receive $100,000 in prizes — $50,000 in cash and $50,000 in Facebook Ad Credit. We're also giving prizes to four additional app developers worth $12,500 each.

Judging Criteria

A panel of mobile development experts from Facebook and the startup community will judge this year's entries. All apps must be members of FbStart and integrated with Facebook's developer platform to be eligible. Applications are due by May 12, 2016 at 12 am PST.

Apps are evaluated based on the following criteria:

• 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 customer 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: Are Facebook developer tools an integral part of the app? Do they improve the app's user experience?

Before submitting, please visit the official Apps of the Year page and read our official rules.

This Year's Prizes

Awards will be given to five startups, each with their own accompanying prizes:

• FbStart App of the Year (one winner): Overall winner based on the criteria above, selected from the regional winners. $50,000 cash prize, $50,000 in Facebook Ad Credit, and a 1:1 mentorship session with one of the panel judges.
• 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 $7,500 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 $7,500 in Facebook Ad Credit.

2015 Winners

Last year, we honored MomentCam (Android, iOS) as our App of the Year, Whichit (Android, iOS) as our EMEA App of the Year, Qranio (Android, iOS) as our LatAm App of the Year, Workflow (iOS) as our North America App of the Year, and Hunger Crunch (Android, iOS) as our Social Good App of the Year.

We look forward to receiving FbStart member submissions. If you're not a member, apply to FbStart by May 1, 2016 in order to be considered.