Guidelines

Submissions to the 2015 competition are no longer being accepted.

If you consider submitting an app (see the link at the bottom of this page), please carefully review the guidelines below:

Eligibility

The Tabby Awards celebrate organizations who have developed or commissioned the best tablet apps. Please refer to the following definitions.

Apps: Eligible tablet applications include:

  • executable software packages which can be downloaded and installed on a tablet device – via a public app store (commonly referred to as “apps”); and

  • web sites which are specifically designed for tablet devices, and which allow app-like functionalities to users (commonly referred to as “web apps”).

Tablets: For the purpose of the awards, valid (or acceptable) tablet platforms include:

  • iPad, iPad mini

  • Android OS devices of at least 7 inches

(If you would like to submit an app for another platform, please contact us at contact@tabbyawards.com)

Location: The Tabby Awards is a global competition. Your organization can be located anywhere in the world. Be aware, though, that most judges are located in the US and access US app stores. If your app is not available in US app stores, you should provide a way for US-based judges to install it on their device.

Language: Your tablet app can be in any language but it will be evaluated by an English-speaking panel of judges. If you submit an app in another language, consider whether judges need to understand that language to properly evaluate your app and, if so, provide additional documentation (explanations or translation of key terms) to help the judges properly evaluate it.

Eligible entities: While the competition is about apps, each award is actually given to an entity (an organization or a person) – which may or may not be the same as the organization having submitted the entry. To be eligible for an award, an entity must:

  • either have developed the app (or have been the main/lead developer if the app was developed by several organizations);

  • or be the “publisher” of the app and own its code. (To be clear, you may submit an app that you own but has been developed by a third party.)

PR or communications firm can submit an entry on behalf of an app developer or publisher, as long as they mention a developer/publisher as an eligible entity in the “Organization which should be declared a winner” field in their submission form.

If you submit as an individual, and if any organization has employed or paid you for developing the app that you submit, we suggest that you check with that organization before submitting the app.

How to submit

1. Tap or click on “Enter now” in the navigation menu (or on “Register and submit your app” at the bottom of this page).

2. Create an individual account with a first name, last name and email address (our platform may recognize your email address if you registered for a previous competition). Only one account can access and update an entry submission form. You can share your account with colleagues if needed. (If you plan to do so, consider using an alias email address which can be accessed by the people who will need an access.)

3. Fill the submission form. Here are the questions which you will be asked:

  • App name

  • Category (categories are OS-specific; each entry is for one category only; you should create another entry if you want to submit the same app in another category)

  • One-sentence summary of your app

  • Description and benefits provided by the app (for the judges’ benefit)

  • App price

  • Download URL (typically an app store web link)

  • Install instructions, promocode, video links (optional; please see specific instructions below regarding promo codes)

  • App icon

  • At least two screenshots (at least one of which preferably in landscape orientation)

  • Any additional product/project information document you may want to attach to your submission (optional)

  • Organization submitting the entry

  • Organization which should be declared a winner (if not the same at the one submitting the entry)

  • Contact information

  • Optional individual contacts (tech, PR, etc.)

4. Pay the fee associated with your entries (see Fees below). In the submission platform, add your entryies to the shopping cart, then click on the Checkout button to submit your payment. We will not consider entries until the associated fees have been paid.

Need to make your app available to judges for free

You must allow judges to install or access your app for free – by providing a web link to a public app store or to a web page where they can download the app, and by providing any necessary access or promo code so that they use your app without any cost to them.

If, to be accessed fully and free of charge, your app requires a promo code, a subscription, a username and password, or any other specific individual condition, here are specific instructions:

  • Describe the general conditions for access in your submission.

  • If you can easily provide, within your submission, access codes with no time limitation (or expiring no sooner than May 30) for up to 12 people, please do so. DO NOT provide, in your submission, access codes expiring sooner than May 30 (unless we later ask you to do so by email).

  • If you can’t provide such access codes (i.e.: with no time limitation or expiring on or after May 30) in your submission, we will send an email message from the @tabbyawards.com domain to the address of the main contact in your submission form at least two business days before the beginning of the preliminary judging round. (Please make sure that the email address you will provide for your main contact, in your submission form, will remain functional and will be checked regularly.) This message will tell you the exact number of access codes required (up to 12). You will then update your submission form with these promo codes within two business days. These codes should be active for at least 28 days and you should state, in your submission form update, when they become extinct.

  • Through the same process, you may be asked for some additional promo codes for a final judging round, if your app is selected as a nominee.

  • Failure to provide access codes on request can result in your app being disqualified.

  • If you app is free and offers in-app purchases, and if you can’t provide codes for the in-app purchases, be aware that your app will be reviewed as a free app, with only functionalities available as a free app.

Fees

The fee for the first entry is US $165.

Subsequent entries are US $95 each.

The fee per entry covers only one app or game in one category. If you submit an additional app, or the same app in another category, or the same app in the same category but on a second OS platform, this will be considered as a subsequent app entry. Many entrants do submit their apps in several categories.

Fees can only be paid online, only via Visa and Mastercard credit card. If you prefer to pay via Paypal or Amex, please add your entry to the Cart in the online system, then write to contact@tabbyawards.com, mentioning the email address we should send a Paypal payment request to. (Note that it may not be possible to pay via an American Express card from all countries.)

Entry fees do not cover the price of a trophy. If you are declared a Nominee, a Users’ Choice or a Winner, you will receive a badge that you can display on your site and in your promotional material. As a Winner or Users’ Choice, you will be offered, on an optional basis, to buy a physical trophy which will be shipped to you.

Communications with applicants

Nominees, Users’ Choice and Winners will be informed by email of their Nominee, Users’ Choice or Winner status, as the case may be, before any public announcement.

Make sure that the contact information you provide is accurate and that the email account that you provide as Main/Administration contact will be checked from your submission until June 30. FAILURE TO ANSWER information or confirmation requests from the Tabby Awards within two US working days may result on your entry being disqualified.

Deadlines

Final deadline for submissions  was March 6, 2015, at 11:59 PM Pacific Time (GMT – 8). Sign up for our newsletter to be updated on submission dates for the 2016 competition.

For any question, please write to contact@tabbyawards.com

For completed entries only: Update your submissions >>>