I'm working with MeetingBurner.com which uses nearly all the AWS products to power their cloud webinar service - from real time video encoding, to phone bridges, to playback.

From the list of finalists last year it appeared that having a VC or notable investor on your team was almost a requirement to get anywhere.

Anybody with experience making the finals or from the AWS side lurking around HN that might be willing to give some tips?

"Nothing in these Official Rules will be construed as a representation or agreement that we or our affiliates will not develop or have developed products, concepts, systems or techniques that are similar to or compete with the products, concepts, systems or techniques contemplated by or embodied in any Submission Materials."

Let me see if I got this right. I enter with my project, they like the idea, they cut me off and build my project as their own. And I get 25$ for participating...

Is this realistic or am I just being paranoid?

am I just dense or something? I spent several minutes reading the front page but can't for the life of me figure out what the contest is?

It's a competition to be the most photogenic AWS-using startup.

You get money; Amazon gets publicity ("look at these cool AWS-using startups!") and information ("huh, I had no idea so many people were doing X... maybe we need to offer X as a service").

The Amazon Judging Panel will judge the qualified Entries using the following judging criteria:

(a) implementation and integration of the Paid Services;

(b) originality and creativity;

(c) likelihood of long-term success and scalability; and

(d) effectiveness in addressing a need in the marketplace (the “Judging Criteria”).

http://aws.amazon.com/startupchallenge/rules/

This might be a bit more informative: http://aws.amazon.com/startupchallenge/rules/

For $25 in AWS credit for everyone that enters, I'll have to enter my start-up. All it does it write "Hello World!" on the screen.

:)