Finally, today Google has announced the winners of the Android Challenge. A number of developers took home some big cash and  the privilege to call themselves an Android Challenge Winner.

From the Android Developer's blog...

Since we started the first Android Developer Challenge late last year, we all have been eager to see who the winners of $275,000 and $100,000 would be. All 50 applications that emerged from Round 1 of ADC I showed great promise, and these teams have been working intensely for the past several months to polish their apps for the final round.

Similar to round 1 we sent laptops preconfigured with the judging environment, emulator, and all entries to each of our seven judges. In this round, each judge reviewed all 50 applications, took collaborative notes and gave initial scores. Then, all judges met together over conference calls to discuss and debate these applications, finally coming to consensus on which applications should receive $275,000 and which should receive $100,000.

We're pleased to present all of the winners and finalists in our detailed ADC gallery.

Out of 50 teams of finalists, 10 teams received a $275,000 award each and 10 teams received a $100,000 award each.  See here for all the winners.

Interesting to note a large number of LBS applications making the grade... congrats to developers taking advantage of the Android location API! these include:

Cab4Me - ab4me enables you to easily call a cab to any location worldwide. You do not need to know the number of the local cab company. You do not need to enter or even know the address you want to be picked up at. You do not need to place a call.

Ecorio allows the user to accurately calculate their travel carbon footprint.

Locale allows you to create Situations, which specify Conditions under which your Settings should change.  Locale allows users to manage and create locations using an intuitive interface based on the Maps API.

With Softrace people around the world meet online to compete against each other in different physical activities. Races can take place in real time, just like traditional races.

Wertago is the mobile application nightlifers have been waiting for—a single application that shows you up-to-the-second information about what venues are hot, helps you coordinate plans with all your friends

Phonebook 2.0 is a secure, contextual and social mobile address book. Inspired by instant messaging, social networking and live streaming applications, it combines all three into an easy to use, all-in one mobile application

Pocket Journey is the mobile application for delivery of, and the marketplace for, high quality, location-specific multimedia.

Beetaun helps you view the world from another point of view. As a geo-related service Beetaun is a collection of unique and exciting stories and locations that can be found in the city you visit or live in. As a social network Beetaun allows the user to search for new friends, share stories, comments and photos of visited places, and share emotions.

Commandro revolutionizes the mobile experience, enabling users to work with location-sensitive information in new ways while fostering real-life communication. Powerful Android Google Maps integration features allow Commandro to display map-based content by creating a truly revolutionary map-browsing experience.

FreeFamilyWatch encourages and empowers individuals and families with technology-enabled information so that we can be diligent and stay vigilant about our personal and family safety.

Many of these applications, and others, will likely be made available to users via the coming Android Market - the open content distribution mechanism that will enable users to search and download content to Android-enabled devices. See more