The U.S. Department of Treasury is sponsoring a mobile app contest, all in the hopes that some citizen ideas will “allow consumers to search for and access financial products on demand, manage their finances, and set and stick to financial goals.”
It’s called the MyMoneyAppUp Challenge, and it’s actually comprised of two separate but parallel contests that both ask for ideas about how to build a great financial app.
Today, the Dept. of Treasury has announced the contest(s) official judges, and they come from places like Facebook, Google, Harvard, and NBC. The final round judges include Facebook’s Platform Marketing head Katie Burke Mitic, Google’s Jonathan Weiner, Jean Chatzky of The Today Show, Entrepreneur Carol Realini, Omidyar Network’s Chris Bishko, and Harvard Professor of Economics Sendhil Mullainathan.
One contest, “App Design,” asks entrants to submit a 3-5 page app proposal along with images describing the app. Submissions for this close on August 12th. Entrants have a chance at two $2,500 Honorable Mention prizes, two $5,000 Runner-Up prizes, and one $10,000 Grand prize.
The smaller contest is called “IdeaBank,” and asks for simple app ideas in 140 characters or less. Submission for this part end on August 1st. Cash prizes for the IdeaBank range from $250 to $1000.
Judging begins on August 13th and will run until September 19th. On the day after the judging period ends, the winners will be announced.