2009 MAX Award Categories

Following are the 2009 MAX Award categories available for entry. All category submissions will be judged on the following. Quality of user experience Breadth of Adobe solutions used to develop application Quantified business impact of application A category-specific judging criterion (see below) Visit the Judging page to learn about the judging process.	MAX News MAX Awards Winners Selected! Get the MAX widget Win a free pass to MAX 2009 along with some of the software used to create this widget, a copy of Flex Builder and a copy of ColdFusion Standard! Stay connected:

1. Advertising & Branding

Advertisements and the brands they support need to break through in increasingly crowded, global markets, where users have unprecedented control over their own experiences. Adobe delivers solutions that enable brands to connect with their customers in rich, interactive, and memorable ways. In this category, we recognize brands that use Adobe solutions to break through creating innovative communications and building lasting customer relationships. Winning submissions will include examples of communications or campaigns that have been effective at engaging customers and building loyalty.

Category- Specific Judging Criterion: Innovation in technique or concept

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2. Education

Across education institutions worldwide, technology is transforming the way we teach, learn and experience campus life. In this category, we will look for ways in which Adobe solutions are improving learning, facilitating access to information and services, and enabling better collaboration across the institution. Winning applications do more than just communicate information to students; they engage students to become active participants in their learning or greatly simplify institutional productivity and administration.

Category- Specific Judging Criterion: Innovative applications of technology to improve teaching and learning, communication and collaboration, or to enable education institutions to reduce operating costs and improve faculty and student services.

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3. Enterprise Productivity

This category will look at applications that enable business users to better respond to business requirements and improve performance. By applying the right technology, organizations are finding ways to boost employee productivity, improve collaboration, and drive new revenues by automating end-to-end processes. Winning applications will use Adobe solutions for critical functions, such as automating new account opening, product ordering, correspondence management, and other activities aimed at reducing costs and processing time, as well as providing better services to external users. Central to the application's success is integration of Adobe solutions with enterprise systems to strengthen the impact and reach of services. Applications submitted by third-party developers must be accompanied by a real-world customer example.

Category- Specific Judging Criterion: Extent of integration and adoption number of key enterprise systems integrated with Adobe solutions and number of employees or customers impacted by the solution.

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4. Entertainment

This category will look at how Adobe solutions are helping to transform the entertainment experience. Whether in movies or TV, on computers, or on handheld devices, winning submissions will highlight programs, applications, or projects that push the boundaries of what audiences and consumers previously thought was possible, and at the same time reach as broad an audience as possible.

Category- Specific Judging Criterion: Immersiveness of the experience -the visual impact of the entertainment and boundaries its pushed.

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5. Mobile

Mobile service providers today are challenged to deliver easy-to-use applications that provide expressive and complex capabilities. Tapping into features such as location, touch and motion detection, high-speed networks and others, service providers are looking to appeal to increasingly sophisticated customers who rely on their devices to access and share information, participate in social networks, be entertained, and for work. Winning entries in this category will demonstrate how Adobe solutions are being used to raise the standard of interactivity and quality for mobile services, bringing indispensible new services that improve the daily lives of consumers.

Category- Specific Judging Criterion: Value delivered by mobile device application to corporations or individual users.

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6. Public Sector

The challenge of doing more with fewer resources is long familiar to government agencies and not-for-profit organizations, particularly in the current economic climate. Here, technology plays a vital role in delivering higher-impact, more engaging services, while keeping costs in check. In this category, we will want to see applications that highlight how Adobe solutions have enabled an organization to boost the quality and variety of services and still address the reality of tighter budgets.

Category- Specific Judging Criterion: Specific value constituents have received from the applications-effect of the application on enhancing or changing their lives.

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7. Social Computing

Online communities are growing rapidly worldwide, bringing together people sharing similar interests, activities, and goals. In this category, we will want to see how Adobe solutions are used to deliver new social computing experiences to communities via PCs, mobile phones, televisions, and other consumer electronics. The aim is to foster improved communication and collaboration among individuals engaged in one-to-one or one-to-many interactions. Richness of experience and ease of use are integral components of winning applications.

Category- Specific Judging Criterion: Uniqueness of application, relevance and reach: the social computing app makes it easier for people to stay connected and share ideas with their communities; or the social computing app creates a new form of social computing experience that changes how people interact online and offline. Innovation is endless.

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8. Social Responsibility

In this category, we are looking for applications that use Adobe products to enable change, provide solutions, and engage people around a social or environmental issue. Winning applications will include clearly defined social and technology problems and innovative uses of Adobe solutions to address these. Quantitative impact on the social issue is ideal, if applicable.

Category- Specific Judging Criterion: Clear problem and solution; why or how it is innovative; role software played; level of creativity and social impact(s). This might include number of people engaged and/or served around social issue, how lives have been positively impacted or reduction in environmental footprint.

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