Today, we’re announcing that the Alexa Developer Rewards program is expanding, giving developers worldwide even more ways to earn money for eligible Alexa skills that customers love. Now, kids joins the growing list of eligible skill categories. When you build delightful, useful, engaging skills that customers love, everyone wins.

Last year, we launched Alexa Developer Rewards to enable developers to earn money for game skills with the highest customer engagement, and later expanded it to seven eligible skill categories. Now there are eight eligible categories. To date, we’ve paid millions of dollars to developers in 22 countries who’ve published skills in the US, UK, and Germany. Many developers have earned tens of thousands of dollars, and a few have earned more than $100,000. We’ve heard from some that they’re using these rewards to further invest in skill development and in their business, including Tom Hewitson who has used the rewards to build a six-person voice-gaming studio in only six months. “Everyone's role in the company is made possible by Alexa Developer Rewards,” says Hewitson. “The company basically exists because of the rewards program.”

Kid Skills Make the Grade

Today, we announced the winners of the Alexa Skills Challenge: Kids, an opportunity for developers to win their share of more than $250,000 in cash and prizes for the best skills that educate, entertain, and engage kids under 13. Over the past few months, we learned that building experiences for kids inspires many of you, while reviews are showing that customers love them too. To continue inspiring your pursuit of building stellar skills for kids, this category is now eligible to earn money. The eight eligible skill categories are:

1. Education & Reference
2. Food & Drink
3. Games, Trivia & Accessories
4. Health & Fitness
5. Kids
6. Lifestyle
7. Music & Audio
8. Productivity

Developers worldwide are invited to create skills for kids and can be rewarded if they’re one of the top performers in terms of customer engagement. But we only publish skills in the US at this time.

Learn more about creating Alexa skills for kids.

Learn more about Alexa Developer Rewards.