Following questions from participants of the JavaScript contest, we've updated the section about test phone numbers for testing user authorization flows (previously available here).

The results of the themes contest have finally arrived. We carefully inspected each of the 341 themes submitted by the 277 designers and selected the ones we considered best. While none of the themes submitted are perfect, here’s how we identified the winners:

1. Themes that supported more than 2 platforms were slightly prioritized.
2. Themes that could be built within a few minutes using the Telegram UI were discarded.
3. Themes that we deemed unusable (e.g. those with low contrast / dissonant color palettes) were likewise discarded.

The winners:

I PLACE

🥇Quick Boar (USA) – $2,000
t.me/addtheme/SepiaBlues (all platforms)
t.me/addtheme/MountainSolitude (all platforms)
t.me/addtheme/DraculaMint (all platforms)
t.me/addtheme/SnowDay (all platforms)

🥇Sunny Swan (Poland) – $2,000
t.me/addtheme/Spacegrey (all platforms)
t.me/addtheme/TheWave (all platforms)
t.me/addtheme/VaporNeon (all platforms)
t.me/addtheme/Jellygram (all platforms)

🥇Hardy Swallow (Ukraine) – $2,000
t.me/addtheme/mtgold (all platforms)

II PLACE

🥈Lawful Zebra – $1,000
t.me/addtheme/brownie (Android, macOS)

🥈Dandy Chameleon – $1,000
t.me/addtheme/DarkGreenNight (iOS, macOS)

🥈Tidy Shrimp – $1,000
t.me/addtheme/f_green (iOS, Android)

🥈Happy Squid – $1,000
t.me/addtheme/redmoon (all platforms)

🥈Cute Panda – $1,000
t.me/addtheme/japanserenity (iOS, TDesktop)

🥈Able Hyena – $1,000
t.me/addtheme/LavenderMint (iOS, Android)

🥈Bright Fox – $1,000
t.me/addtheme/puaro (iOS, Android, macOS)

🥈Modest Leopard – $1,000
t.me/addtheme/OrangeFlowers (Android, TDesktop)

🥈Busy Skunk – $1,000
t.me/addtheme/darkQD (iOS, macOS)

🥈Big Gnat – $1,000
t.me/addtheme/lavender_blizzard (iOS, macOS)
t.me/addtheme/pumpkins (iOS, macOS)
t.me/addtheme/Firewatch (iOS, macOS)

🥈Noble Swallow – $1,000
t.me/addtheme/nightshift (iOS, macOS)
t.me/addtheme/coldeverest (iOS, macOS)

🥈Hardy Piranha – $1,000
t.me/addtheme/jotunheim (Android, TDesktop)
t.me/addtheme/orchid_fantasy (Android, TDesktop)
t.me/addtheme/elemental_blue (Android, TDesktop)
t.me/addtheme/afterglow (Android, TDesktop)
t.me/addtheme/joker_art (Android, TDesktop)

🥈Mindful Crow – $1,000
t.me/addtheme/AbstractDeer (iOS, Android)
t.me/addtheme/TonTheme (iOS, Android)
t.me/addtheme/DigitalNight (iOS, Android)
t.me/addtheme/AbstractLandscape (iOS, Android)

🥈Brave Clam – $1,000
t.me/addtheme/kYoTqXOSmRvFAJeD (Android, TDesktop)

III PLACE

🥉Able Fish – $500
t.me/addtheme/cairo (iOS, TDesktop)

🥉Grim Beaver – $500
t.me/addtheme/mandarin (iOS, TDesktop, macOS)

🥉Perfect Hedgehog – $500
t.me/addtheme/midnight_theme (all platforms)

🥉Mindful Gorilla – $500
t.me/addtheme/StrawberryNight (iOS, TDesktop, macOS)

🥉Quick Deer – $500
t.me/addtheme/grayscale (all platforms)

🥉Sharp Toad – $500
t.me/addtheme/halloween_night (iOS, Android, TDesktop)

🥉Quick Wolf – $500
t.me/addtheme/starWarsNew (iOS, TDesktop)
t.me/addtheme/LightSideStarWars (iOS, TDesktop)

🥉Witty Clam – $500
t.me/addtheme/Traku (Android, TDesktop)
t.me/addtheme/Buifys (Android, TDesktop)

🥉Shiny Moth – $500
t.me/addtheme/bluechill (TDesktop, macOS)

🥉Agile Lizard – $500
t.me/addtheme/wes_anderson (iOS, macOS)
t.me/addtheme/felicia_chiao (iOS, macOS)

🥉Gentle Falcon – $500
t.me/addtheme/md_tg (iOS, TDesktop, macOS)

🥉Small Peacock – $500
t.me/addtheme/hardluna (iOS, macOS)
t.me/addtheme/softluna (iOS, macOS)

🥉Sturdy Cock – $500
t.me/addtheme/ultra_violet (all platforms)

🥉Tall Gnu – $500
t.me/addtheme/KakTebeTakoeElonMusk (iOS, macOS)
t.me/addtheme/hermitage (iOS, macOS)

🥉Sleek Elk – $500
t.me/addtheme/limbo (Android, macOS)

🥉Kooky Bear – $500
t.me/addtheme/Emirald (Android, TDesktop)

🥉Rich Panda – $500
t.me/addtheme/purplenight (Android, TDesktop)

🥉Perfect Crow – $500
t.me/addtheme/castlevaniahalimke (Android, TDesktop)

🥉Mellow Beaver – $500
t.me/addtheme/issoelegant (Android, TDesktop)

🥉Funky Jaguar – $500
t.me/addtheme/geometric (iOS, TDesktop)

🥉Kooky Cockroach – $500
t.me/addtheme/Bethells (iOS, TDesktop)

🥉Big Cobra – $500
t.me/addtheme/bones (Android, TDesktop)

Thank you for taking part in this competitive process. We hope you had fun!

115 scripts have been submitted for the JavaScript contest. They will be made publicly available tomorrow at contest.com. Also stay tuned for the Data Clustering Contest, which starts tomorrow.

All submissions for the first stage of the JavaScript Contest are now available for public testing on https://contest.com/javascript-web

Everybody's welcome to check them out. Stay tuned for the Data Clustering Contest.

The Telegram Data Clustering Contest starts now.

Based on the input data we provide, you are expected to develop an algorithm that:

1. Identifies content in English and Russian and discards the rest.
2. Identifies news articles from the result of (1) and discards the rest.
3. Classifies each news piece from the result of (2) into one of these 7 categories: Society, Economy, Technology, Entertainment, Science, Sports and Other.
4. Identifies news pieces about the same event and groups them together into news threads.
5. Sorts news threads based on perceived importance.

Below is the sample input data. We will be publishing more sample data sets as the contest progresses. Check out the detailed description of the contest task here (and here in Russian).

Participants have two weeks until December, 2 (the deadline is 23:50 Dubai time) to come up with a solution and upload it to @jobs_bot.

The authors of the best solutions will share a prize fund of $100,000 and will be able to take part in the second stage of the contest, getting a chance to claim another $100,000 in prizes.

More sample data for the participants of the Data Clustering Contest. Have fun!

Please find the latest data sample for the Data Clustering contest below.

Note that, following questions from the participants, we decided we'll also accept archives larger than 200 MB (up to 1,5 GB) with an appropriate penalty.

Also added a section for Clarifications to the contest page.

The Data Clustering Contest ends on Dec 2, 23:50 Dubai time. You can now submit your files to @jobs_bot.

Please plan ahead to make sure you have enough time to answer some basic questions and upload your file.

Note that after completing your initial submission, you may resubmit the archive at any time before the deadline.

After the end of the contest, we will run all submitted algorithms on our evaluation data set and publish the results. The source code of the apps will remain available only to the judges.

The first round of the Data Clustering contest is over. We have received a total of 112 algorithms which will now be tested on our evaluation data set. The results of these tests will soon be published on contest.com

Congratulations and best of luck to all participants!

The second stage of the blockchain contest starts tomorrow and will last 2 weeks. The 41 winners of the first stage will be able to take part. The prize fund is $100,000 + another $100,000 subject to additional conditions.

The results of the Javascript contest will be published within the next few days. Next week we are going to host the solutions submitted for the Data Clustering contest in a way that would allow anyone to test their output. Stay tuned!

The 2nd stage of the blockchain contest starts today.

Dates: 7 Dec - 22 Dec 2019.

Prizes: $100,000 will be distributed among the winners (+additional $100,000 will be awarded subject to certain conditions).

Who can take part: 41 winners of the 1st stage.

Goal: build one or two TON-based smart-contracts (decentralized services) that can become popular with consumers.

Criteria to identify the winners: 1) The validity and efficiency of your code 2) The potential demand for your service from a consumer standpoint.

Description: in Stage 1, you have proved that you know how to build smart-contracts on TON. This time you may choose any idea you like for your smart-contract - and implement it. You will retain the ownership over the decentralized projects resulting from this contest. You are also encouraged to launch your apps on TON mainnet once its live.

Your project should be decentralized and built with a TON-based smart-contract, but can also include off-chain elements if required. Each participant may submit a maximum of two projects.

Participants may request 5000 Test Grams from @test_ton_bot to test and develop their apps.

Good luck!

We received questions regarding the use of external software in the second stage of the Blockchain Competition.

While you may submit such projects, note that code ported from Solidity apps is likely to be less efficient.

During evaluation, we are likely to prioritize apps built with Fift/FunC toolchain over apps built with third-party toolchains (e.g. Solidity compilers for TVM), but you are welcome to use any tools you like. If you are using third-party solutions, make sure you include detailed build instructions.

Submissions for the first round of the Data Clustering Contest are now available for public testing:
https://contest.com/data-clustering

Everyone is welcome to leave their feedback while our judges tally up the results.

For reference, this was the data set we used: raw, en, ru. We will be feeding more test data to the submitted algorithms in the coming days.

Several clarifications for the first round of the Data Clustering Contest.

1. Some articles in the first evaluation data set were missing the attribute article:published_time due to an issue on our side. The problem has now been fixed.

If this issue was causing your app to crash, kindly notify us in the @contests group so that we can relaunch your algorithm on the updated data set (don't forget to mention your spiritual animal).

2. For your information, we will always use the following launch order for testing all submissions:

tgnews languages raw_source_dir
tgnews news en_source_dir
tgnews news ru_source_dir
tgnews categories en_source_dir
tgnews categories ru_source_dir
tgnews threads en_source_dir
tgnews threads ru_source_dir
tgnews top en_source_dir
tgnews top ru_source_dir

3. If your submission is not working but can be fixed without changing the source code or resubmitting the binary (e.g. by installing dependencies, changing launch parameters) you can write detailed instructions in a comment on contest.com and then ping us in @contests. If we have to fix your submission, we will apply relevant penalties during final scoring.

Unfortunately, if your submission requires a change in the source code or resubmitting the binary to start working, we will not be able to help you at this stage.

—
Stay tuned for the second evaluation data set coming soon.

You can now submit entries for the second stage of the TON Blockchain Contest to @jobs_bot.

The bot will expect:
1. A link to a GitHub repository with the source code of your project.
2. The address of your smart contract in TON testnet2.

Please make sure that your GitHub repository includes a ReadMe file with a description of your project and how users will interact with it. Don't forget to explain how your code should be used to deploy and use your smart contract.

The deadline for submissions is Dec 22, 23:50 Dubai Time.

1. If you created multiple projects for the Blockchain Contest, please resubmit them to @jobs_bot – the bot will now offer to send it a second link/address after you submit the first.

2. Submissions for the Data Clustering Contest can now be tested on the second evaluation data set. (raw, en, ru)

We received a total of 37 submissions from 27 contestants for the second stage of the Blockchain Contest.

All submissions are now available for public testing on https://contest.com/blockchain-2

Everyone is welcome to leave their feedback while our judges evaluate the entries. We ask the contestants to add a comment with a brief description of their projects.

Good luck!

After many hours of testing – and many more hours of deliberation – we are happy to announce the results of the first round of the JavaScript Contest. Meet the winners!

1st place, $10,000
🥇 Hip Hyena

2nd place, $5,000 each
🥈 Merry Ant
🥈 Giant Parrot
🥈 Neat Croc
🥈 Shiny Deer
🥈 Shiny Cat
🥈 Posh Ram

3rd place, $3,000 each
🥉 Quirky Mammoth
🥉 Tidy Hawk
🥉 Kooky Hawk
🥉 Posh Owl
🥉 Ace Monkey
🥉 Sturdy Whale
🥉 Sacred Parrot
🥉 Jolly Cobra

4th place, $1,000 each
🎖 Dark Unicorn
🎖 Nice Zebra
🎖 Earnest Hedgehog
🎖 Rich Falcon
🎖 Funny Dodo
🎖 Dreamy Crab
🎖 Bold Wolf
🎖 Ace Piranha
🎖 Large Fox
🎖 Sacred Gorilla
🎖 Tactful Seal
🎖 Funny Deer
🎖 Fairy Lemur
🎖 Sexy Swan
🎖 Gifted Phoenix
🎖 Sleek Mammoth
🎖 Tall Tiger

Our detailed comments on the reasoning behind these decisions can be found on the contest platform.

The second round of the JavaScript Contest will start next week, stay tuned!

P.S. Note that only the 32 winners of this round will be able to participate in the next round of this contest.

The second round of the VoIP Сontest will start on Tuesday, January 14. Contestants will have two weeks to complete the task.

Everyone will be able to participate, including contestants who didn’t take part in the first round of the VoIP Contest.

Stay tuned!

P.S. Note that the second round of the JavaScript Contest, also starting next week, will have different rules: only the 32 winners of round one will be able to participate.