$1,000,000 to Bot Developers. For free.

UPD: BotPrize extended: We will continue awarding grants to great bots in 2017.

Good news, everyone! This year, Pavel Durov will be giving away one million dollars to bot developers in the form of grants starting at $25,000 each. All you need to do to be considered is create an impressive bot using our Bot API. What do we want in return? Nothing. That's right, just support your creation and make your users happy.

Here's a list of things that a bot needs to make us smile:

• It must be fast, just like the rest of Telegram's interfaces.
• It must be useful for at least a few people out there.
• We like it when bots also work in inline mode.
• Oh, and did we mention it must be fast?

Some areas you may want to focus on: integrations, tools for bot builders, AI stuff, and natural language processing, although your bot may do something altogether different. Surprise us!

We don't mind if you port your bot from a different platform – just make sure it really feels at home in Telegram. We have many nifty interface options that aren't available elsewhere and make using Telegram bots a breeze.

How to submit

If you think you've made a bot that fits the description above, go ahead and drop us a line at BotSupport. Don‘t forget to include your bot’s username and the tag #BotPrize – this way we'll be able to find your bot.

We‘ll be giving out the prizes in several batches throughout 2016 and 2017. But there’s no reason to wait that long, send them to us as soon as they're ready.

Here‘s a poster in case you’d like to spread the word:

And that's it. Get the docs here, check out the intro if you're new to this, and make a bot for the world. Then send us a link.

You may also want to subscribe to our official @BotNews channel.

April 18, 2016
The Telegram Team