A team of six students from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, CEDAT, and members of the ARMS Project, have won this year’s Huwaei Android Applications Challenge.
The competition, held under the theme: ‘Enriching Life through Communication’ brought together student developers from Makerere, Kyambogo and Kampala International Universities. The participants were required to
develop apps in line with the theme, especially in relation to education, research, lifestyle and productivity. The six: Edward Semuwemba, Timothy Asiimwe, Power G Mukiisa, John Paul Otim, James Muranga and Noah Wasswa
developed an application called Destination East Africa which enables travelers to East Africa to plan for and have a perfect trip. Destination East Africa offers trusted advice from real travelers and a wide variety of
travel choices and planning features with a plethora of booking tools.
Destination East Africa features national parks, hotels, tour operators, restaurants, lodges, shopping malls, taxi hire services, national heritage and cultural sites. Detailed information and beautiful galleries of all these places are also included in the application. The application beat 15 other apps that reached the final stage of the competition. The apps were judged based on relevance, practicability, originality, completeness, usability and marketing.
The award ceremony was hed at Serena Hotel on 5th December 2012, and presided over by the State Minister for ICT, Hon. Nyombi Tembo. For their hard work, the team received a Huwaei tablet and a cash prize of Shs1.5m.
The runners up were also handsomely rewarded, with a Huwaei tablet and Shs 1.25 million (1st runner-up),a Huawei tablet plus Shs 1 million (2nd runner-up), a Huawei smartphone plus Shs 750, 000 (3rd runner-up), and
Huwaei smartphone and Shs 500, 000 (4th runner-up).
The Huwaei Android Applications Challenge was established in an effort to boost Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Uganda, and seeks to engage local university students in developing android software applications that address local needs. It will be an annual event.
Betty Kyakuwa is the Communication Officer, CEDAT