MANILA, Philippines -- A software application for conserving water in farmlands designed by a group of college students from Australia won this year's Microsoft Imagine Cup.

The application, called Smart Operational Agriculture Toolkit (SOAK), bested other applications created by 124 teams from more than 60 countries which competed in the recent Imagine Cup finals held in Paris, France.

SOAK, which won first prize in the software design category, uses a visual interface that displays information for farmers as well as a subsystem that controls farm equipment such as sprinkler systems.

Meanwhile, a team from Singapore won the embedded design category for an application that sends real-time video and other environmental data for monitoring and analysis, such as pollution levels.

Both teams were awarded $15,000 each for winning in their respective categories.

A team from Ateneo de Manila University represented the Philippines in the software design category, designing an application that evaluates environmental-friendliness of commercial products based on predetermined parameters.

The annual Imagine Cup aims to promote innovation in schools by encouraging application development on the Microsoft platform.

Next year's Imagine Cup finals will be held in Cairo and Alexandria, Egypt and encourages students to develop applications that address poverty and the spread of HIV/AIDS.