The World's Largest Arduino Maker Challenge has been launched, the pre-contest submissions close on January 15, 2016. The challenge consists of two phases. During phase one the 1,000 participants who submit the best project ideas will win the newly released Arduino/Genuino MKR1000 boards. The MKR1000 is a small SoC (System on Chip) that combines the functionality of the Arduino Zero and Arduino Wi-Fi Shield. In phase two the three contestants who submitted the best completed projects will be selected and awarded.

There are no restrictions on subjects – from smart home to the environment, gaming to robotics, augmented reality or UAVs, there is no limitation to your creativity. Two things have to be respected:
  1. You must use either the Arduino UNO or MKR1000
  2. The project must contains a Universal Windows App (UWA) that helps control the Arduino
Bonus points can be had by including Azure services like Azure IoT Suite, Azure IoT Hub, Stream Analytics and Machine Learning in your project.

The winners will be announced on March 18, 2016