One of the events at every WWDC is the Apple Design Awards for “excellence in iOS and Mac OS X app design and development.” Introduced in 1997 as the “Human Interface Design Excellence,” it was thankfully Apple changed to the current name a year later. The winners get promotion on Apple’s developer site, a cube-shaped award that glows when picked up (see screenshot to the right), a MacBook Air, iPad 2, and an iPod Touch.

The popular technology site Ars Technica decided they would host an Ars Design Award competition for Mac OS X apps when Apple announced last year that they would only do it for iPhone and iPad apps. Eight staff members served as judges to pick the winners in five categories, including Bast New Mac OS X App and Most Innovative Mac OS X App. See the results after the jump.

Apple has announced the winners of the Apple Design Awards for the year of 2009 and posted the results on their website. According to the company, “The Apple Design Awards recognize technical excellence, innovation, and outstanding achievement in iPhone and Mac software development. Each year, winning products set new standards for usability, performance, technology integration and adoption. This year’s winners raise the bar even higher.”

Think you’ve got the best iPhone app out there? Best Mac OS X program? Well, if you’re an Apple Developer Connection (ADC) member or registered iPhone developer, from now through May 4th you can now submit your app for consideration in the Apple Design Awards 2009. The “best designed applications” will be honored at this year’s WWDC, to be held June 8-12 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, CA.

Every year, Apple gives out awards to some of the best designed and most innovative apps out there for their operating system, and this year was no different. Coming in from many different categories, there are a variety of apps on the list this year. The iLife has a complete gallery and live blog from more »