On 8 November a Deutsche Telekom jury named the winners of the first round of the Interactive TV Award 2011. The competition is for innovative applications for Entertain, the Deutsche Telekom TV channel. In total, prizes amounting to Euro 65,000 were shared out at this stage.

The following television concepts were commended in the “Developer” technical prize category:

“Interactive F1” by TeraVolt (Hamburg)
The “Interactive F1” concept gives Formula One fans their own individual race track perspective, including interactive functions, such as additional information and voting.

“Entertain social TV” by Sevenload (Cologne)
“Entertain Social TV” links friends in real-time on television and when on the move. Familiar networks like Facebook can be used.

“Contextual Shopping App” by Delivery Agent (Denver)
The “Contextual Shopping App” means that additional information or shopping offers are just one press of a button away from the current program.

“BabyCam-App” by IpAppMedia (Switzerland)
The “BabyCam-App” from Swiss media consultants IpAppMedia allows parents to keep an eye on the infants using the television.

“SportBet-App” by IpAppMedia (Switzerland)
The "SportBet-App" brings betting to the television.

There were also non-technical commendations in the so-called “Freestyle” category:

“Entertain for Kids” by TeraVolt (Hamburg)
“Entertain for Kids” allows parents to use their own criteria in putting together a set of television programs for their children to watch.

“Entertain TV together” by Oliver Caron (Ratheim)
“Entertain TV together” allows friends to link up by webcam so that they can chat while watching TV.

“Sing Kong” by Icareus (Helsinki)
“Sing Kong” is a community application for karaoke fans who want to test their singing skills with others and who would like to chat in real time.

The second round of the competition is about to begin for the winning teams, with a chance to win extra prizes amounting to Euro 70,000. They can now work on polishing their ideas before presenting them to a jury of well-known technology and media experts on 18 February.

Deutsche Telekom’s Interactive TV Award 2011 is the third time that developers and creatives have been invited to present their ideas for the interactive television of the future. Innovations are recognized in two categories: firstly ideas that can be implemented in Entertain’s technical environment, the Microsoft “Mediaroom Presentation Framework”, and secondly concepts that capture the imagination with their creativity. This innovation competition is how Deutsche Telekom seeks open dialog with pioneering thinkers. The company has promised to investigate the feasibility of all suitable concepts for implementation on Entertain, regardless of whether or not they win the big prize.

The motto of this year's competition is “Television in tune with our lives”. It indicates the future role of a medium that was previously confined to our living rooms: television is now part of our connected lifestyle and working practices in which individualization, mobility and interaction with others play an increasingly important role.

The best-known interactive function on Entertain is the personal conference in LIGA total!. Football fans can organize their own German league conference. An event alert tells them about important game highlights in parallel matches and keeps the viewer up-to-date at all times with a screen-in-screen function.

Further information about the Interactive TV Award 2011 can be found at www.interactive-tv-award.de.