Apple announced in late April that its annual Apple Design Awards, given every year since 1997 during its annual Worldwide Developers Conference, would only be awarded for iPhone and iPad apps this year. Many long-time Mac OS X developers felt a little slighted, so we were inspired to pick up the torch and start giving out our own Ars Design Awards.

First we solicited nominations from our readers. Then we culled that list of thousands of nominations down to five nominees in each of five categories: Best New App, Best User Experience, Most Innovative App, Best Education App, and Best Student-created App. The top 12 nominees were also put to a vote by you to pick a Reader's Choice award.

Then we assembled a panel of judges from the Ars staff:

Editor in Chief Ken Fisher

Senior Apple Editor Jacqui Cheng

Project Manager & Developer Clint Ecker

Art Director Aurich Lawson

Ars Apple Technology Specialist John Siracusa

Contributing Writer Chris Foresman

Contributing Writer Casey Johnston

Contributing Writer Jeff Smykil

Our blue-ribbon panel of judges evaluated the five nominees in each category to determine the final winners. Because most categories had some very close calls, we also decided to recognize a runner-up in each category as well.

Without further ado, here are the 2010 Mac OS X Ars Design Award winners:

The Awards

All winners will receive a custom laser-engraved, 6.24lb, 4" cube of solid 6061 aluminum alloy. As you can imagine, these beautiful(-ly geeky) trophies, bead-blasted to match the look of most Apple kit, will look dashing sitting on any developer's desk, on a bookshelf next to a copy of Hillegass's seminal Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X, or lovingly placed on the mantel between the family portrait and grandma's urn.

There's also a special treat for Logan Collins, winner of the award for Best Student-Created Mac OS X App. Kelly Thompson, COO of iStockphoto, will be giving Collins a $1,000 check for his efforts. Though we are not associated with this cash award, we would like to thank iStockphoto for going the extra mile to help support young Mac OS X developers.

We would also like to extend an enormous "thank you" to a couple of people for their extraordinary efforts to make the ADA trophies a reality. The raw aluminum material was donated by Brad Larson of Sunset Lake Software. The laser engraving was done by Joerg Baier of Baier Technologies LLC. Thanks to both of these gentlemen for their generosity.