Sun has announced call for submissions to the fourth annual Duke's Choice Awards, which celebrate extreme innovation in the world of Java technology. Duke's Choice award selection is based on the innovation and creativity of the Java technology-based applications and services, including: web applications and tools, mobile applications and services, games, and card-based applications. Winners will receive a statuette of "Duke," the Java technology mascot and be recognized for their achievement at the at the 2006 JavaOne Conference.

Deadline for submissions is March 15, 2006 and the winners will be notified by April 7, 2006.

A new twist on this year's contest is that one of the Duke's Choice award winners will be chosen from the many applications featured on java.com. Five finalists were selected based on the first round of voting. In addition, Sun announced that out of more than 1,400 submissions, approximately 180 sessions have been accepted for the 2006 JavaOne Conference. The JavaOne Conference is one of the leading events for Java technology
developers.

Some of the sessions, include:
• Java-based Technology Techniques for Developing AJAX Applications -- Bruce Johnson, Google
• Bi-Fi: Just Like Your Doctor -- Shahin Farshchi, Vista Integrated Systems and Kiran Patel, Sun Microsystems, Inc.
• Spring Framework Update -- Rod Johnson, Interface21 and the "father" of Spring
• A Robotic Dune Buggy Named Tommy -- Paul Perrone, Perrone Robotics, Inc.
• Eight Ways to Be More Productive Developing Swing Applications – Ben Galbraith, Consultant
• Java Persistence -- Linda DeMichiel, Sun Microsystems, Inc.

The press release states that members of the Sun Developer Network (SDN) can start preparing for the 2006 JavaOne Conference by reviewing the sessions from last year's conference. SDN members get full access to JavaOne Conference multimedia sessions and PDFs. Due to the large number and the high quality of the submissions for the 2006 JavaOne Conference, the SDN will also be hosting some virtual sessions as part of this year's event.

The JavaOne Conference is one of the leading events for Java technology developers.