BostonPocketPC

Well its that time of year again. Nominations are open for the 8th Annual Smartphone & Pocket PC Magazine Best Software Awards 2008. So if you have some favorite software you would like to nominate for the award please do so by July 21, 2008.

How are the 2008 winners determined?

There have been over 15,000 games, utilities, and applications written for Windows Mobile Smartphones and PDAs. To be considered for the Best Software Awards, developers need to enter their product description in the Smartphone & Pocket PC magazine Encyclopedia of Software and Accessories (free listing). Roughly 20% of the 4000 software products in the Encyclopedia are nominated by the Board of Experts. These experts vote in over 180 Smartphone and Pocket PC categories to determine finalists and winners.

All expert judges are prominent Web Site associates, Microsoft MVPs, support forum contributors, and Smartphone & Pocket PC magazine contributors. These experts are all volunteers and none are employed for the purpose of judging by Smartphone & Pocket PC magazine.

How do products become nominated in 2008?

The 2008 Best Software Awards Nominations Manager,  Werner (Menneisyys) Ruotsalainen and our Board of Expert judges select the 2008 award nominees in May and June 2008 from the Encyclopedia of Software and Accessories. Vendors must make sure their free Encyclopedia listings are entered and up to date by using the submission form.

Werner Ruotsalainen initially selects nominations based on his extensive knowledge of Windows Mobile software. In most cases these nominations include winners and finalists from last year's contest. The 2008 Board of Experts judges are then asked to examine Werner’s initial nominations list for validity and to suggest additions and category changes.

Judges, the public, and software vendors can use the nominations form to nominate products for the 2008 awards. Werner and the Smartphone & Pocket PC staff make the final judgment on nominations, giving the most weight to judges’ suggestions.

A great deal of quality time and attention is put into the nominations process. Even so, with so much Windows Mobile software available, it is certainly possible that some excellent products are missed.

In order to minimize the chances of missing great products, the working list of nominees are made public for a 2-3 week period currently scheduled June 25-July 16.

The 2008 nominations are frozen on July 21, 2008. Products and versions released by July 21, 2008 are eligible for the voting. It is possible that newer versions of products released during the judging period are considered by some judges. However, this anomaly is a function of the logistics of the process and not from vendor request.

So if you have some favorite software you feel deserving of an award please nominate them so they can get the recognition they deserve.