In November last year, we announced the Alexa Skills Challenge: Multimodal. The challenge invited developers around the world to create Alexa skills that use voice, visuals, and touch using the Alexa Presentation Language (APL), a new design language built from the ground up for creating voice-first, multimodal Alexa skills.

First and foremost, we want to thank everyone who participated in the challenge. It’s been incredible to see you learn APL, help others in the Alexa developer community, come up with creative ideas, and build great multimodal skills. 

After reviewing hundreds of submissions, we are excited to share the 10 finalists with you. The review process wasn’t easy; we were amazed by of the creative ways you use APL to build rich voice-first multimodal experiences. offer great customer experience.

What We Looked For

People embrace voice because it’s the most natural form of interaction. Multimodal skills provide additional input and output options when a screen is present in order to create more interactive and immersive voice-first experiences. Here are some of the characteristics of great multimodal skills and what we looked for when determining the finalists.

• Adapt skills to work on different devices. You can optimize your designs and experience based on the type of device to deliver the right experience, from focused personal information delivery on Echo Spot to communal, 7’ experiences on Fire TV.
• Add easily glance-able, complementary information. You can display images, text, and overlays to communicate requested information at a glance, and provide more detail than is possible with voice alone.
• Simplify navigation of large data sets. You can display large amounts of information and help people quickly review options and choose -- using scrolling and selection by voice or touch.
• Create immersive and delightful experiences. You can build engaging experiences that your customers can sit back and watch, or lean into to get things done.

Meet the Multimodal Skills Challenge Finalists

Here are the 10 finalists we selected and that will move on to the next round. Congratulations to all! Each finalist will take home $5,000 and continue to compete for the $20,000 grand prizes.

Fork On The Road: You can add up to four things for the fork to choose from, and the fork will help you make a decision. Try Fork on the Road.

Loop It!: You can create amazing sounding loops by choosing your favorite drum, bass, and melody loops. Try Loop It.

Poet Challenge: You can learn about British poetry by playing fun games. Try Poet Challenge.

Crazy Conversation: You will be given a clue that sounds like nonsense and you need to figure out what it is trying to say. Try Crazy Conversations.

Color Lab: The skill offers a fun way to teach kids colors by using visuals and Echo Buttons. Try Color Lab.

BrainPickers! Guess The Movie: Guess the movie based on the given clues, and pixelated images. Try BrainPickers! Guess the Movie.

Kings over Aces: Try this card game that's easy to play, yet almost impossible to master. Try Kings over Aces.

Running Clothes: Wondering what to wear on your next run? This skill takes the guesswork out of gearing up for your next run. Try Running Clothes.

Movie Classics: The skill allows you to watch some of the best classical movies that are hard to find otherwise. Try Movie Classics.

Red Riding Hood - Interactive story: What if the Big Bad Wolf didn’t eat Grandma? Find out for yourself. Choose your own adventures are back. Try Red Riding Hood – Interactive Story.

What’s Next

From March 16 through March 26, we will evaluate customer engagement with the finalists’ skills. Our panel of judges will evaluate the finalists to determine the winner of the $20,000 grand prize, and evaluate additional skills for the bonus prize categories. We will announce both the grand prize winner and the bonus prize winners on April 12, 2019.

Try the Finalist Skills and Get Inspired

Thank you to all who participated and worked hard to submit an entry to this challenge. We appreciate your passion and hard work. Try the finalists' skills and get inspired by how they used APL to create a rich and engaging voice-first multimodal experiences.

Related Content

• How to Design with the Alexa Presentation Language Components to Create New Voice-First Experiences in Your Alexa Skill
• How to Update Multimodal Alexa Skills in Java with the Alexa Presentation Language
• Best Practices for Using Imagery and Text in a Multimodal Alexa Skill
• How to Quickly Update Your Existing Multimodal Alexa Skills with the Alexa Presentation Language
• New Alexa Skill Sample: Learn Multimodal Skill Design with Space Explorer
• New Alexa Skill Sample: Learn Multimodal Skill Design with Sauce Boss