The Twilio SMS contest has been running for almost a year, awarding prizes to over 100 developers who have created innovative applications using Twilio's cloud communications API. The winner of week #1 is Meet Gatsby, an application that introduces users to nearby people with shared interests through text messages, allowing them to meet and chat without revealing their cell numbers. Meet Gatsby was built in two weeks by its creators, who used a combination of Python, Django, and Twilio's SMS API to bring the concept to life. The developers praised Twilio's ease of use, documentation, and speed for sending and receiving messages, recommending it to anyone looking to build communication-based applications.