More than 17,000 students take part in WOWZAPP Hackathon

More than 17,000 students registered to be a part of Microsoft's WOWZAPP Hackathon, an event which pits student developers, start-ups and professionals against each other in a global app-development challenge.

The global hackathon took place this weekend in more than 100 locations across five continents with participating countries including the U.S., Malaysia, Finland, Greece, Turkey, Brazil, India and Pakistan. Each team was given 48 hours and all the software and hardware required to create apps for the Windows Store.

By the end of the challenge not only did teams have usable apps that they could submit to the Windows Marketplace, there were also prizes up for grabs and students are eligible to enter their apps into Microsoft's annual technology competition, the Imagine Cup, where they can compete for a total of $300,000 in prize money.

The general manager of Worldwide Academic Programs at Microsoft, Moorthy Uppaluri, said that events like the Hackathon empower students with the tools and resources they need to showcase their creativity and make money through app development.