Disclaimer: I’m not the competition host or judge. I’m just a fellow competitor sharing observations that might help others. If you’re already aware of these points, please feel free to ignore them.
I’ve been watching a lot of app submissions since yesterday and voting for my favorites. I’ve come across some really exciting projects, but I also noticed a few common issues that may prevent some great ideas from shining through.
First, let’s consider why this competition is happening in the first place:
Google created Gemini and the Gemini API to encourage developers to explore its capabilities and integrate it into their projects. The goal of this competition is to showcase how Gemini can be used to create amazing, innovative apps that could inspire others—startups, enterprises, and developers alike—to use it.
Lesson: We’re here to show what’s possible with Gemini.
Here are a few common areas where some submissions may have missed the mark:
Not reading or following the rules carefully.
Demo videos are required to be between 30 seconds and 3 minutes. Videos under 30 seconds get disqualified, and anything over 3 minutes won’t be judged. I’ve seen a few videos that are under 30 seconds or over 5 minutes
Selecting the right category is essential. If your app is a web app, it should have been entered into the web category. Unfortunately, submissions can’t be changed at this stage.
Sound quality matters. Some videos had distracting background noise or unclear narrations.
Video picture quality can make a difference. Poor visuals make it harder to see what the app does.
App descriptions should clearly explain the app’s purpose. Some descriptions didn’t provide enough detail.
Subjective areas where I think some submissions might struggle:
Bugs in the demo: Many videos showed bugs, like error messages or broken functionality or null.
Design issues: Some apps had inconsistent colors (high contrasting), mismatched button sizes, or difficult-to-read text.
UI/UX problems: Textboxes overflowing off the screen or buttons that are hard to click can harm the user experience.
Gemini integration: If your app only replicates what the Gemini app can already do without offering something new, it may not stand out. The goal was to showcase creative and impactful uses of the Gemini API, not just replicate what the Gemini app already does.
Even if you’ve made some of these mistakes, don’t be discouraged! You’ve already accomplished something huge by participating and getting your app out there. These are just some observations I have for anyone who may find it helpful in the future.
nah 9/10 of those things don’t matter. For example I literally just watched a submission with 0 audio, i’ve seen submissions with almost no description, and saw a submission that was pretty much just the Gemini website etc etc etc.
I dont know if the judges will give me fewer points because I didnt clearly mentioned which group my game targets. But its a game, so I dont know if this rating point is even relevant for me.
I’ve really wanted to code up a little mini app for myself to see how much competition is left after removing all the AI assistants, chat bots, and quiz apps. From my interpretation those aren’t novel concepts. They’re a reskin of Gemini. I don’t think anyone here has had the time or patience to sit through 3000+ submission videos.
I just made this post as a general guide for anyone who may want to improve their chances of winning in the future if they lose this time.
The odds of winning are 1 in 304. If we took out the disqualified submissions, I feel like the odds of winning one of the 10 monetary prizes would be significantly higher.
My submission is business oriented and I didn’t see submissions that were B2B so far. I don’t know if that’s good or bad news for me.
Yeah would be handy to see the odds of winning against the serious competitors. I still can’t believe someone just submitted a video of the actual Gemini app itself (someone else commented about this and I saw it too and I rewatched to make sure I’m not crazy).
