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The Valley goes global – HBO's ‘Silicon Valley’ star Thomas Middleditch is looking for the next student tech genius

This year, we thought we’d bring a little bit of the Silicon Valley up to Seattle to shift the Imagine Cup World Championship into overdrive. We’re excited to announce that actor Thomas Middleditch, star of the hit HBO show “Silicon Valley,” will round out the trio of judges that includes Alex Kipman, inventor of HoloLens, and Jens Bergensten, lead developer of Minecraft. 

You can watch all the action and drama unfold via a live webcast starting at noon PT on July 31. Be sure to tune in to find out who will be crowned the next Imagine Cup World Champion by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. 

For those of you who don’t know, here’s how the competition unfolds. On Wednesday, July 29, 33 teams from all over the world will compete in their respective competition category – Games, Innovation and World Citizenship. On Thursday, July 30, the winners from each of the three categories will be announced, with the first-place teams taking home $50,000, plus a “boot camp experience” to help take their projects to the next level. Finally, it all comes down to this, on Friday, July 31, the three first-place teams will take the stage at the Washington State Convention Center in downtown Seattle and go head-to-head for the Imagine Cup World Championship. 

As for the World Championship competition itself, well, we’re raising the bar this year. Each team will have to deliver a successful demo of their technology to Middleditch, Kipman and Bergensten. The judges will select a winner and Satya will crown that team as the next Imagine Cup World Champion. 

Innovative and passionate student innovators from all over the world. An exceptional panel of judges. A Champion crowned by Microsoft’s CEO. What more could you ask for? Watch it all via the live webcast. If you love seeing startups pitch their dreams, love technology, or love to code, you do not want to miss this! 

Who: The first-place teams in Games, Innovation and World Citizenship
What: World Championship webcast
When: 12:00N PT, July 31
Where: www.imaginecup.com

To stay up to date on the latest Imagine Cup news, follow us on Twitter at @MSFTImagine, Facebook, Flickr and Instagram.