The excitement at Microsoft Build 2018 kicked off on May 6 with the annual presentation of the Windows Developer Awards, which acknowledge the hard work that goes into making great applications.

In a room full of the some of the best and brightest Windows developers, recognition went to Application Creator of the Year, Game Creator of the Year, Reality Mixer of the Year, Design Innovator of the Year, Commercial Developer of the Year and Ninja Cat of the Year.

Apart from the Ninja Cat of the Year award, which was selected by an internal team of Windows experts, the top applications were voted on by the developer community.

Application Creator of the Year: Leveraging the latest Windows 10 capabilities

Winner: Affinity Designer

Affinity Designer is the fastest, smoothest, and most precise vector graphic design software available. Whether for work or fun, the application revolutionizes the creation of everything from marketing materials and websites, to icons and UI. Features and functionality include real-time performance, perfect color and output, and multiple disciplines.

Game Creator of the Year: Outstanding game contribution to the Microsoft Store

Winner: Luna

Using Windows Mixed Reality, Luna immerses you in “Bird’s” peaceful summer, interrupted by it swallowing the last piece of the waning moon and getting blown far from home. Players unscramble celestial puzzles and create miniature musical worlds. The aim is to unlock each level‘s tree, plant, and animal spirits to help Bird reunite the fragmented moon and find its way back home.

Reality Mixer of the Year: Creator demonstrating a unique mixed reality experience

Winner: Space Pirate Trainer

Space Pirate Trainer transports users to the 80s arcade cabinet games of yesteryear, using today’s immersive experience. Through Windows Mixed Reality, users can fight off relentless waves of droids, with all the weapons and gadgets a Space Pirate could ever need.

Design Innovator of the Year: Beautiful look and feel

Winner: Huetro for Hue

Huetro for Hue easily connects with the Hue lighting system and syncs across Windows 10 devices to create new experiences. The colorpicker enables users to select specific colors or create new scenes using favorite memories. Ambiences allow for dynamic light shows. Alarms, Cortana, or NFC can be setup for home automation.

Commercial Developer of the Year: Focused on an enterprise audience

Winner: Wrike

Wrike mission “is to make teams insanely productive.” A SaaS work management and collaboration platform, Wrike supports millions of users, in more than 15,000 enterprises in 120 countries to manage work streams and organize everything needed to complete projects in one spot.

Ninja Cat of the Year: Special recognition

Winner: Oren Novotny

Oren Novotny is the chief architect of developer operations and modern software at application maker Blue Metal. He was selected as Ninja Cat of the Year for his contributions to the Windows community and efforts to make life easier for other developers. He serves on the .Net Foundation Advisory Council, is a member of the Visual Studio ALM Rangers, and has been a Microsoft MVP for the last four years.

Congratulations to all the winners!

Look for full profiles of each of them on our Medium channel in the coming weeks.