The prize-winning programs are available for free download until March 31, 1999.

One of the reasons for the Palm's incredible success is its open, easy-to-program platform, which has led to a cadre of Palm Platform developers creating useful and ingenious programs. "There is some exciting and innovative work being done in PalmPilot programming" said Tim O'Reilly, president of O'Reilly & Associates. "This contest was one way to reward this spirit of innovation."

And the winners are:

• EV1 Dash

What the judges said: "EV1 Dash takes advantage of Palm's portability and communications."
What the winner said: "WOW! That's some good news. I don't know what to say but I'm grateful for being selected."

First Prize:
James Lee, of Austin, TX for:

• Pyramid Solitaire

What the judges said: "This was fun, a good choice of a game that works well on a Palm."
What the winner said: "Wow! I must say I am very shocked and delighted!!"

Second Prize:
Mark Yang of San Jose, California for:

• PalmSmear

What the judges said: " Quirky, entertaining."
What the winner said: "Oh, cool! Thanks again for all of you who contribute so much to the PalmPilot community!"

Pogue Prize:
The winner of the "Pogue Prize" for the creation of one of the "Ten Killer Apps That Don't Exist But Should or something equally cool": Cashman Andrus of Brasilia, Brazil for:

• Swipe

What the judge, David Pogue, said: " We saw some terrific work. There's only one Pogue Prize, however, and it goes to Cashman Andrus for his smoothly done HackMaster utility called Swipe. The program lets you assign up to 7 different stylus actions -- full-screen drags in different directions -- to trigger important Palm commands, such as beaming, bringing up the Graffiti cheat sheet, summoning the keyboard, and so on. Swipe wins this Prize because it's a clever implementation of one of Pogue's Top 10 Programs that Don't Exist but Should (which are described on the O'Reilly Web site) -- and it's genuinely useful to almost anyone. Extremely honorable mentions go to Palm Smear, which is basically Kai's Power Goo running on the Palm OS, and PillPAL, another excellent implementation of a Pogue Program that doesn't exist but should. -- and now it does! Congratulations, all, for some truly dazzling work!"

What the winner said: " Fabulous! I'm very pleased. Thank you, to all who were involved in this contest. I'm glad my work will be a part of it."

The prizes:
The winners have won a cash prize (Grand Prize) , a Palm Pilot device, a free book, and a "Palmer" bean bag toy (based on the flying squirrel on the cover of PalmPilot: The Ultimate Guide) from O'Reilly and Associates; a T-Shirt from Palm Programming; a gift certificate from PalmPilot Gear; and a one-year subscription to TAP Magazine.

The judges:
David Pogue is the author of many books, including the best-selling PalmPilot: The Ultimate Guide (O'Reilly, $29.95).

Neil Rhodes is co-author of Palm Programming: The Developer's Guide (O'Reilly, $32.95).