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Apple's Design Awards highlight games, organizational apps

Awards recognizes the apps deemed by Apple to be particularly well-designed, including submissions by students.

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Steven Musil
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2013 Apple Design Award winners WWF Together and Badland. Apple

As the first day of Apple's 2013 World Wide Developer Conference draws to a close, the results are in for what the company found the best apps running on its platforms.

The annual Apple Design Awards recognizes the achievements of developers who created particularly well-designed software, be it in looks or overall functionality, for the iPad, iPhone, and Mac.

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.

Notable among this year's winners is a free iPad app from the World Wildlife Fund that brings users closer to some of the world's most fascinating endangered species, including giant pandas, tigers, and polar bears. Apple cites WWF Together's attention to detail, aesthetic, sound design and music, as well as its high-resolution photography and inventive interactions.

In addition to professionally designed apps, the awards also recognize the achievements of student developers. One of the winners this year was Finish, a task manager app for the iPhone that aims to help procrastinating students. Designed by two sophomores at Boulder High School in Colorado, the app taps gestures to easily and quickly organize to-do lists into short, mid-, and long-term tasks, Apple said.

For the first time, this year's list includes the winners of student scholarships, in which applicants were asked to develop and app that reflected their experience and background.

A full list of winners from this year's show, along with the name of the developer, is below. All links lead to those apps in their respective App Stores.

iPad:
WWF Together
World Wildlife Fund
(see above)

Procreate
Savage Interactive Pty Ltd
Art studio app

iPhone and iPad:
Badland
Frogmind
Adventure game

Yahoo Weather
Yahoo
Weather information

Letterpress
atebits
Word game

Ridiculous Fishing
Vlambeer
Retro-style arcade game

iPhone, iPad, and Mac
SkyGamblers: Storm Raiders
atypical games
World War II combat game

Evernote
Evernote Corporation
Note-taking and archiving service

Mac
Coda 2
Panic
All-in-one Web code editor

Student winners
Finish -- (see above)

Mosaic.io
Ishaan Gulrajani, Alex List, and Zain Shah
iPad and iPhone app connects two or more iOS devices around a single image

Student scholarships
Louis Harboe, 17
University of Chicago Laboratory High School
Created a scrolling list of photos and videos that can be zoomed to reveal details about his apps, academics, experiences, friends, and family.

Bryan Keller, 19
Marist College
Created a word cloud that can be tapped and zoomed to reveal details about his apps, schooling, and interests.

Puck Meerbug, 13
The Netherlands
Created app that taps a variety of tools to present a comprehensive resume of his life and interests.