The Google Play Awards coming to Google I/O

Posted by Purnima Kochikar, Director, Apps and Games Business Development, Google Play
Google Play has seen tremendous growth over the past year, reaching more than 1 billion Android users across 190 countries. As a way to recognize our incredible developer community and highlight some of the best apps and games, we’re kicking off our first-ever Google Play Awards.
The program will showcase five nominees across 10 award categories and feature them in a dedicated collection on Google Play. Nominees were selected by a panel of experts on the Google Play team based on criteria emphasizing app quality, innovation, and having a launch or major update in the last 12 months. The winners of each category will be announced at Google I/O in May.
The full list of categories and nominees are below:

Standout Startup

Apps from new developers that offer a unique experience while achieving strong install growth. And the nominees are...

Dubsmash	Hopper	Musical.ly	Robinhood	Vrse

Standout Indie

Games from indie developers that focus on artistic design, high quality and innovative gameplay. And the nominees are...

Alphabear	Alto’s Adventure	Fast like a Fox	Neko Atsume: Kitty Collector	Prune

Best Families App

Apps or games with family friendly design that encourage creativity and exploration. And the nominees are...

Card Wars - Adventure Time	LEGO Jurassic World™	My Very Hungry Caterpillar	Thinkrolls 2	Toca Nature

Best Use of Material Design

First-class implementation of material design concepts that deliver an immersive and innovative user experience. And the nominees are...

Bring!	Robinhood	The Fabulous	Todoist	Vevo

Best Use of Google Play Game Services

High quality games with several strong GPGS feature implementations. And the nominees are...

Sea Battle 2	Table Tennis Touch	Tapventures	TowerMadness 2	Zombie Highway 2

Early Adopter

Early adopter of a nascent technology or platform, providing a delightful user experience. And the nominees are...

Glide	Mechanic Escape	Minecraft: Story Mode	World Around Me	Zumper

Go Global

Apps or games with great localization and culturalization, or subject matter appeal, across multiple regions. And the nominees are...

Dragon Ball Z Dokkan Battle	Freeletics Bodyweight	Memrise	Musixmatch	Pokémon Shuffle Mobile

Most Innovative

Apps or games offering a highly engaging novelty experience or unique benefit. And the nominees are...

Fast like a Fox	NYT VR	SmartNews	The Fabulous	This War of Mine

Best App

A true representation of beautiful design, intuitive UX and high user appeal, quality and rating. And the nominees are...

BuzzFeed News	Colorfy	Houzz	TuneIn Radio	Yummly

Best Game

Games with strong mechanics, informative tutorial, broad appeal and tasteful design. And the nominees are...

Alphabear

Clash of Kings

Clash Royale

MARVEL Future Fight

Star Wars™: Galaxy of Heroes

Join us live at the ceremony on May 19th at 7:00 pm PDT on stage 7 at Google I/O or via the live stream. You can also track the conversation on Twitter and G+ using the hashtags #io16.