Our previous Jams had first, second, third - but they were all rated on the same thing - "best game". We found this was very limiting, both to entries and when we were judging. There were games that did one thing particularly well, but didn't win because they did other things less well than the other entities.
The Tech Jam has multiple, varied categories. We're hoping this is more inclusive in as much that even non-programmers stand a good chance of winning one. We've tried to keep them as vague as possible, so there's room for interpretation.
This feels right. It's something we'll be doing in all our future Jams.