Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference continues through the rest of this week, though the annual Apple Design Awards show is now in the can. This is the event where the company hands out awards to developers with particularly well-designed software, be it in looks or overall functionality.
This year's edition, which wrapped up last night, was notable in that it was the first to require that Mac OS software apps were in the Mac App Store, a requirement Apple made when announcing the conference in March. Previously any application was eligible, as long as it was on the platform.
Apple began its annual design awards program in 1997 under the moniker the "Human Interface Design Excellence," changing to its current name just a year later. Those who win get promotion on Apple's developer site, as well as a cube-shaped award that glows when picked up. The design for that cube, which has been made by Palo Alto, Calif.-based Sparkfactor Design since 2003, was once put through a CT scanner by an award winner to see how it worked.
A full list of winners from this year's show is below. All links lead to those apps in their respective App Stores. You can also take a quick look at what each of these apps looks like in our slideshow.
Apple Design Award 2011 winners (images) iPhone
Winner: Infinity Blade Company: Chair Entertainment Group
Winner: Golfscape GPS Rangefinder Company: Shotzoom
Winner: Cut the Rope Company: Chillingo / Zepto Lab
Student Winner: Grades 2 Company: Tapity / Jeremy Olson
iPadWinner: Djay for iPad Company: algoriddim GmbH
Winner: Osmos for iPad Company: Hemisphere Games
Winner: Our Choice Company: Push Pop Press / Al Gore
Student Winner: Pennant Company: Vargatron / Stephen Varga
Student Winner: Pulse News Reader Company: Alphonso Labs / Akshay Kothari
MacWinner: Capo Company: SuperMegaUltraGroovy
Winner: Pixelmator Company: Pixelmator Team
Winner: Anomaly Warzone Earth Company: 11 bit studios
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