This year’s Apple Design Awards will be awarded to developers whose iPhone, iPad, and Mac apps are currently on the App Store and demonstrate technical excellence, innovation and outstanding design.
Design: Well designed apps are delightful, elegant, intuitive, engaging, exciting, compelling, and reliable.
Innovation: Innovative apps are revolutionary, inspirational, unique, and do things in completely new and exciting ways.
Technical excellence: Technically advanced apps have excellent performance and make extensive use of the latest Apple technologies to deliver innovative, platform differentiating, and advanced features.
More info: http://developer.apple.com/wwdc/faq/#ada