I participated at the first competition with the first Linux application I've ever created (I hand not much Linux knowledge before). It was a somehow ugly python hack I called DreamRemote for the N900. The main reason to develop it was to control my satellite receiver in the living room from my bedroom. It was mainly only for myself and a hard stuff to get it published at the repositories.
During the competiton timeframe I added support for several other receiver types, support for more than a single device at the same time and so on. I learned to dislike python but in the end I was motivated enought to buy after the competition timeframe a C++ book and some months later a book about Qt to learn it the hard way.
I spent the cold months reading and learning new stuff and at the next competition I were able to participate with my own C++ Linux apps. I learned how to crosscompile and published those at the discontinued Intel AppUp store (I got a expensive SSD HD from Intel and later a megacool Ultrabook from Samsung as a thankyou gift), I learned how great it feels if you get your stuff working on different devices like symbian and how hard it is to publish signed sis files at the ovi store. But I got a C7 from Nokia for my symbian portings even though the sales are so low that I'm able to buy every month a small pakage cewing gums from the earnings. Disapointing, but in those moments I try to see the big picture just as you should with this years competition.
I learned during the last year enought to get qualified for a superior Nokia N950 as a loan from the community and won a Nokia N900 because I made with one of my apps the second place in one of the subcategories. A great surprise!
Thanks to the knowledge I needed to learn during the competitions I were earlier this year able to get a BlackBerry Playbook 16GB from RIM and visited this autumn a Developer Event in Berlin and met there some of the most famous and inspiring maemo community members in real live, face to face. A fact I would have never thought about 3 years ago when I switched from my N95 to maemo5 and the N900.

In the meantime I were actually able to use my new knowledge at my daily job. And I'm sure if I need to search for new opportunities I would mention it in my next application. I'm sure, there are not many guys out there which got devices from global big player like Intel, Nokia and RIM for their hobby projects. And not only simple devices, unpublished stuff like the N950 or my new toy from RIM, the prototype DevAlpha.
I'm absolutly sure, this is the biggest thing I could have ever won from this competitons. It makes me feel to have a more safer future. Every participant has left this competition with more knowledge than before. Make good use of it and keep on rocking. Congratulations!

I won at this competition the 5th place in the others category. It was a surprise and feels just great but this price is only a small contribution to all the stuff I won from this competitions. And I will try to invest the bounty again to learn new stuff, to port my applications to new devices and my vain try to chatch up with all the big developer megastars at this community. I will never reach the point were are all those young inspiring talents are. But sometimes it feels like beeing a part of them.

Thank you!