The world's biggest apps & software awards program: Mobile Star Awards

Celebrating 20 years, the Mobile Star Awards™ is the world’s largest, longest-running mobile innovators, apps and software awards program. Voters honor leading and cutting-edge mobile apps, enterprise mobile software, mobile devices and accessories, operator solutions, success stories, and “innovators” in 100+ exciting categories!

Mobile Star Awards Winners are chosen by a few select judges plus the votes of mobile user experts like you—thousands of readers and social media followers.

2021 Mobile Star Awards FAQs
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(Frequently Asked Questions)

(Updated Nov. 2021)

How can I nominate a product, people or company?

Free Nominations:
Throughout the year, you can anonymously nominate your favorite mobile apps, gadgets, enterprise services, innovators or success stories online for free, or email them to awards [at] mobilevillage.com. We’ll then add your nominations to the 2020 & 2021 Mobile Star Awards page as soon as possible, and to the online voting ballot when that is ready.

Enter for Badges & Benefits:
Only Entrants (not free nominees) receive 2021 Mobile Star Awards Finalist and Winner Badges, Directory Pages, Homepage Feature Stories, Event or Webinar Listings, and even more benefits detailed further below.

To gain those entry benefits, start your online entry here. You can still edit your entry after submitting it, if you save the link url of your confirmation page. You can also choose to email part or all of your entry form content (Google Docs, Microsoft Word, or just in your email) to Gary at awards [at] mobilevillage.com.

Sometime after you submit your entry, please email us your company logo and any other images you’d like for your directory page. (See the entry form for details about images.) If we don’t receive these, we’ll email you to ask for them.

Discounts:

Special Holiday Discount: Enter by December 10, 2021 for up to $50 Off. (We accept entries through Dec. 31.)

What and who can I nominate?

Most mobile products and apps accepted:
You can nominate a mobile app, enterprise software, mobile or network hardware, or mobile accessories. If your product is not yet available to the public, then it needs to be in beta with a large number of users. We won’t ask you to verify that, but you’re welcome to provide that information for your online Directory Page.

Non-English apps okay:
We accept nominations from all over the world. If you want to tell the world about an amazing app that’s not available in the English language, we welcome your nomination or entry!

Cloud-only apps or services okay:
If you’re entering an app, it doesn’t have to be a phone or tablet app. It can be a web app or other cloud-based service that people can access from a web browser on any device. And if you’re entering enterprise or operator software that enables or controls a mobile service, a separate phone or tablet app is not required.

Company nominations, too:
You can also enter any company, team, person, or success story in certain categories on the entry form. If you work for a PR agency, events company, or research analyst, there are even awards categories for those!

How are Winners ranked?

Winners are ranked by online vote and by our own in-house experts. Anyone can vote one time after liking MobileVillage on Facebook or following us on Twitter — you can see links to our social pages on every page on MobileVillage. You must be a Facebook or Twitter follower for us to count your votes.

You and others you invite can vote using the 2021 Voting page from late September until December 15, depending on the entry category and voting requests by entrants in certain categories. For categories with enough early entrants, voting can close earlier and winners will be posted earlier.

Does voting matter?

Voting is optional, and does not affect if you win. All entrants who have paid for their entries will receive the 2021 Nominee badge, and later in the year, the 2021 Mobile Star Awards Winner badge.

If you want a fun way to promote your entry, you can choose to tell people to vote for you. Let us know and we’ll add you to the ballot, and we’ll email you a shareable voting invitation that you can use if you wish. Your ballot listing will remain live until a date of your choosing; we’re fairly flexible about that.

Though we mainly list winner titles (Superstar, Shining Star, Rising Star if applicable) in each category based on the opinions of our own category-specific experts, we may also look at your voting results if there are other entrants in your category.

Each category can have up to five Winner rankings: Superstar, Shining Star, Rising Star, and up to two ties if votes are within 5%. But since all paid entrants receive the same 2021 Winner badge, we only use those rankings when listing Winners on MobileVillage.

Are there any voting rules?

One vote per person is allowed for the entire voting period (one Business Apps ballot, and/or one Personal Apps ballot). We encourage voters to check out official entrants’ feature pages, but it’s not required.

Fairness in vote counts:
To ensure fairness for smaller companies, we only count the first 40 employee votes by a company’s employees including known subsidiaries. We review voting carefully: we don’t count duplicate votes, or votes from people who have not followed MobileVillage on Facebook or Twitter. We don’t share vote counts.

Unlimited customer and partner votes:
To make voting easy, we provide you with a shareable voting invitation. Voting is optional, but we don’t limit the number of your customers, end-users or partners who want to vote. Even if you don’t participate in voting, it’s a great idea to share your nomination on your website, as well as in social media.

When are Winners announced?

We usually post and contact the latest Winners within an hour after voting ends in their categories. For the 2021 Mobile Star Awards, that will be on a rolling basis from late October through mid December 2021, as select categories are closed when they get enough entrants.

What Benefits are only for (Paid) Entrants?

Official (paid) entries help to cover our expenses in managing the program and posting / promoting your nomination and other content. For a very small investment, you get a lot of fantastic benefits:

> Your Nominations Linked on the Mobile Star Awards page,

> Feature Story / Directory Page with Excellent SEO (Feature Story for Featured or Sponsor Entries only),

> Free Page Updates for your Directory Page at any time you like,

> 2021 Nominee & Winner Badges to use as you like,

> Marketing & PR Content for your fans to get excited about your nominations,

> Your News or Blog Submission for Featured or Sponsor Entries (details below),

> Your Event or Webinar Listing (your choice; see details below),

> Future Entry Discounts if you participate again in 2022,

> Priority Postings of your future news if it meets our guidelines.

For all of those great benefits, it’s only US $49 for a Startup Entry, or $78 for a Basic Entry package (with Holiday and Survey Discounts below), or starting at $125 for the popular Featured Entry package. We compare the packages for you further below.

To gain those benefits, just fill out the Online Entry Form, and/or email any of your entry submission to Gary at awards [at] mobilevillage.com.

Are there any discounts?

$20 Holiday Discount:
Enter by Dec. 10, 2021 for $20 Off a 2021 Featured Entry, $10 Off a 2021 Basic Entry, or $50 Off a 2021-2022 Sponsor Entry! If you can’t finish your entry by then, just email your entry category/ies to Gary Thayer at awards [at] mobilevillage.com by that date so we can post your entries. Then we’ll apply the discount later when you finish your submission.

Extra $10 Survey Discount:
If you or a colleague take this quick, 2-minute survey about MobileVillage (link is also on the entry form), we’ll thank you with another $10 Off, in addition to the other discounts.

Past Entrant Discount:
Plus, if your company entered any time in 2018-2020, 2016-2017, or 2014-15, you’ll get an additional $20, $15, or $10 Off respectively. This discount only applies to the Featured Entry and Superstar Sponsor packages (details below).

Future Discounts:
If you enter for 2021, you can choose to enter again anytime in 2022 for as little as $22! Choose the same entry category again, or a different category. And whether or not you participate again in 2022, you can return in 2023 and still qualify for an extra “recent entrant” discount.

Lots of Payment Options:
After you approve your posted entries and page(s), we’ll email you an invoice that lists your entry benefits and discounts. You can choose to pay via PayPal, TransferWise, Google Pay (US only), check, or ACH. You can also choose PayPal financing with no payments and no interest if paid in six months.

Tight Budget?
If you don’t have enough budgeted for the entry package you’d like, let us know! We can usually customize a package to fit your needs.

Featured Entry benefits:

Choose from the popular Featured Entry Package with a full Directory Page (examples here and here) or a Basic Entry Package with a basic Directory Page (example here).

A Basic Entry Directory Page includes your feature story image, company logo, optional headquarters address, general contact info, and optional short description (max 450 words). In contrast, a Featured Entry also gives you:

> More Content — No word limit on your Directory Page for better SEO.

> More Images — Optional screenshots, user photos or team members!

> Contacts — Optional names, titles, and unlinked emails for up to 4 people.

> Max SEO (Search Engine Optimization) with Yoast SEO “Excellent” rating.

> “App of the Week” Spotlight twice a year on our Facebook and Twitter pages, for your optional feature submission above.

> 2nd Event or Webinar Listing on our Events Calendar any time in 2021 or 2022.

> Top-of-Directory Placement in your categories if you enter each year.

2021-2022 SUPERSTAR Sponsor benefits:

Go beyond a Featured Entry package and become a 2021-2022 Mobile Star Awards / MobileVillage SUPERSTAR Sponsor! You get:

> All Above Benefits with Featured Directory Page + Awards Category Entry,

> 2nd Awards Category Entry (or swap for a third event listing),

> Top-of-Awards Page Spotlight — Your logo near the top of the 2021 Awards page and 2022 Awards page for several years,

> All-Site Logo Placement thru 2023 — Your logo in the Sponsors Box on all MobileVillage.com pages through 2023,

> Sponsor Recognition in all Awards-related announcements,

> Bonus Homepage Feature Story — Submit your News, Company Blog Post, or Whitepaper any time in 2021 or 2022. We’ll lightly edit if needed, create excellent SEO, place your story on our Homepage for 3-4 weeks.

> Two Featured Event Listings (live event or virtual online event) with your event logo at the top of our Events Calendar as long as you like,

> Automatic 2022 Nominations even before you decide to enter again or not.

All of those Sponsor Benefits are yours for as little as $275 after all discounts. To become a 2021-2022 SUPERSTAR Sponsor, just select it on your official entry form or contact Gary at awards [at] mobilevillage.com.

If any of the above Sponsorship benefits don’t suit your needs, we’ll work with you to customize your Sponsorship with other benefits that suit you perfectly.

How much time does it take to enter?

Whether you fill out our Online Entry Form, or email your entry, please allow 10 to 30 minutes, depending on how many categories you choose and if you choose a Basic or Featured Entry package.

Short on time? We’ll help you fill it out at no extra cost! Just tell us on the entry form, or by email at awards [at] mobilevillage.com. If you’d like us to select information for your directory page, we’ll use the contact info and/or product info and images on your company website. We don’t want time or cost to be barriers for you–we want everyone to be able to participate.

How soon will you post my innovator or software awards entries?

New entries are usually added online the day they are received, and directory pages are posted as soon they are approved. This includes nominations received during the voting period. If there are many new entries at once, posting your page may take a bit longer, but we still do our best to get it posted asap.

How can I promote my nominations?

As an official entrant, you’ll receive a Nominee or Finalist badge and voting invitation email that you can directly share with colleagues, customers and partners. As noted above, voting is optional and doesn’t affect if you win or not, but it’s a fun way to promote your entry. (Please note that we accept only one vote per person.)

Also, you can link your Nominee badge to the Awards page, to your feature or directory page, or to your bonus feature story from your promotional emails, from your website, and in your social media posts.