ITSC Announces ‘Personalised Transportation’ as code::XtremeApps:: 2011 Competition Theme

(Media release in PDF attached)

Singapore. April 28, 2011 – The Information Technology Standards Committee (ITSC) today announced the theme and supporting platforms for this year’s code::XtremeApps:: Competition. Open Category contestants will have just 24 hours to create an online or mobile application from start to finish using their raw talents and imagination while the Junior Category will pit programmers 12 years and below to develop an animated story, game or application based on a specific tagline. Training sessions for both categories will be held prior to the competition to help familiarise the contestants with the chosen platforms and tools so they understand their full scope of application.

Organised by ITSC, code::XtremeApps:: aims to promote programming education, create greater awareness on the use and value of standards in programming, and cultivate programming interest especially among the youth and young adults. The annual competition seeks to show that programming is fun, rewarding and suitable for people from all ages. The competition helps identify creative infocomm talent, as well as demonstrate the real business applications that can be derived from outstanding programming skills. In fact, some past contestants have been given the green light to commercialise their applications.

This year’s theme ‘Personalised Transportation’ puts programming talents firmly in the driver’s seat, encouraging them to carve their own path by developing practical solutions that will impact lifestyles positively around the all-encompassing topic of transportation and daily commuting.

The Open Category is targeted primarily at students from Institutes of Higher Learning (IHL’s) and industry professionals as they once again go head to head and compete for great prizes including up to $9,000 in cash, game consoles and fancy gadgets. This year’s competition will be held July 22-23 at the Singapore Management University. Participating teams (maximum of 3 members each) will have 24 hours to develop an innovative anduseful online or mobile application using at least one of the required platforms – Apple iOS, Google Android, Windows Phone7 or HTML5. To add to the challenge, contestants will be given a set of scenarios on the competition day itself,around this year’s theme to select for their entry. This year’s judging criteria will include innovation, value (usefulness), usability and aesthetics and technical features.

Participating teams representing their polytechnics or Institute of Technical Education (ITE) colleges will be able to accumulate points to qualify for the grand prize of the National Infocomm Competition, an inter-school competition organised by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA).

Junior Category contestants, comprising of children 12 years and below, will have to programme an animated story, game or application based on a tagline to be announced later using Scratch, an easy-to-use child-friendly programming tool. If last year’s entries are anything to go by, this year ITSC expect high quality entries for the attractive prizes up for grabs. Contestants must form teams of two to three members and will have one month to conceptualise and devise their entries before the July 5 submission deadline. This year’s judging criteria for the Junior Category will include creativity, relevance to theme, entertainment value and presentation.

The winners of both categories code::XtremeApps:: 2011 will be announced at a prize presentation ceremony scheduled for August 18.

code::XtremeApps:: 2011 is proudly organised by the ITSC, with support from the following partners and sponsors:

ISSUED ON BEHALF OF THE ITSC BY SIREN-COMMUNICATION

###

About ITSC

The Information Technology Standards Committee (ITSC) was formed in 1990, under the purview of the Standards Council appointed by SPRING Singapore. It is an industry-led effort made up of volunteer members from the industry, and supported by SPRING Singapore and IDA Singapore. It is a neutral and open platform for interested industry and government parties to come together to agree on technical standards.

ITSC promotes and facilitates the national Infocomm standardisation programmes and the participation of Singapore in international Infocomm standardisation activities. ITSC fulfils its role by appointing the various technical committees and work groups to develop Singapore Standards where no international or industry standards exist and/or recommend the adoption of international standards asSingapore Standards. The participation in local and international standardisation efforts are also done through the appointed technical committees and working groups. For more information, visit www.itsc.org.sg.

Media Contacts:

Tony Tan / Suren Rastogi

Siren-Communication

Tel: 6597 7050

tony@siren-communication.com

suren@siren-communication.com