Since the start of August, Google has been running the 'Android Developer Challenge 2', inviting developers of Android software to submit their previously unreleased applications for judging. The judging process itself has been carried out both by a panel of Google selected judges and by Android users via a special ADC2 judging application, made available from the Android Market.

This morning Google have announced the winners of the challenge - each of whom will receive between $25,000 and $250,000 in prize money. The winners are split into 1st, 2nd and 3rd in 10 categories, out of which 3 'overall winners' are chosen.

I'm delighted to see two of my personal favourite applications included in the top 3 overall winners, 'WaveSecure' and 'What the Doodle?!'.

WaveSecure is an application that allows you to remotely secure your phone in the event of loss or theft. It allows you to track your phone's location and who is using it, lock down your phone remotely and wipe out your data remotely as well as providing backup and restore functionality.

What the Doodle?! is best described as online phone 'Pictionary'. After launching the application and choosing a difficulty level, the player enters a room with 4 other players who take turn to draw pictures of words for the other participants to guess. It works fantastically well and is seriously addictive!

The third top placed application is 'SweetDreams', an application for managing your device's settings at night. After setting an overnight period, you can configure your phone to be silent, with WiFi, Bluetooth and similar services disabled, saving battery power as well as preventing your beauty sleep being interrupted!

The full list of winners is online now at the Android Developer Challenge 2 website. Did you vote? Which were your favourites?