Every year, Microsoft holds the Imagine Cup. The Imagine Cup challenges college students across many disciplines in technology to show their best efforts in nine categories. The categories include filmmaking, photography and of course, computer programming.
For the past two years, ETSU’s computer science department has been well represented. Each year has seen its respective team at Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond, Wash., returning with an award. The department hopes to continue the success in this year’s challenge.
The theme for the 2007 competition is, “Imagine a world where technology enables a better education for all.” The broad scope of the theme allows for innovation, which is the basic tenet of the Imagine Cup.
In previous years, a team would sign up and go through the full gamut of activities related to their respective competition. The rules, however, have been changed for the United States and Canada. The competition is now based on individual work rather than teamwork.
In the qualifying rounds, students will be given a set of programming and testing challenges. The challenges promote a well-rounded view of the software design process. By progressing through challenges, students received achievements, which are used by Microsoft to help students gain recognition from potential employers. This structure allows all competitors to win in some way.
After the qualifying rounds, the top 500 students are invited to regional semi-finals. The semi-finals give competitors a full day to complete the highest level of challenge. The submissions are scored with the top six from each region going to Redmond for the North America Finals.
During the North America finals round, the top 24 students live near the Microsoft campus for a week. The weeklong challenge puts six randomly assigned people together to form a team. The team will have the full week to design and implement the software based on the Imagine Cup theme. The top three win $12,000, $8,000, and $4,000, respectively.
The first place winners will travel to Seoul, Korea to represent their country in the finals. Competitors will battle it out with finalists from all other countries. The winner comes back with the Imagine Cup title and $25,000.
The Imagine Cup provides a lot of opportunities for students in technology. The competition provides a chance to showcase individuality and innovative capacity and promotes learning about technology and what it means to affect millions of lives.
As a previous competitor in the Imagine Cup, I would urge anyone interested in technology to sign-up for the competition.
The winning part is nice, but the people you meet along the way make the effort worth it. The competition is truly invaluable.
Do you think you have what it takes to change the world? If so, sign up at www.imaginecup.us using ETSU’s registration code of IC07US0073. Good luck!

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