It's long been official, but it's now safe to say that the fintech industry has infiltrated the mortgage industry.

The quest to discover the best products is heating up and competitions are highlighting some of the best and brightest. 

LendingTree, an online loan marketplace, recently announced it will sponsor an award that will be given to a selected fintech startup company at LEND360.

LEND360 is an event that gathers online lending professionals, wanting to connect with influencers shaping the fintech industry.  

The LEND360 Startup Innovators Program will highlight startup organizations with the most cutting-edge solution, awarding the best performing startup a $10,000 prize.

Competitors will be judged based on a number of factors including innovation, market opportunity, company differentials, go-to market strategy and more.

LendingTree Senior Vice President of Corporate Development Bruce Cook, Middlemarch Partners Founder Sasha Grutman, Chicago Innovation Innovators Connection Program Manager Avery Stone Fish and Keen Advisors and FinTEx Advisory Board Founder Randy Rivera will the judging the contest.

The three-day event will begin on October 8, 2018 and end on October 10, 2018. During this time competitors will present their solutions to a panel of judges.

LendingTree aims to announce a winner on the afternoon of October 9, where the solution will be presented to LEND360 attendees and leaders in the fintech space.

Notably, this is not the first fintech competition to reach headlines this year.

In June, Movement Mortgage launched its inaugural Movement Crowdsource Challenge, a competition to develop a new mobile operating system for loan officers.

Ten technology firms were given the opportunity to win $25,000 prize, and a contract to co-develop the solution into a full-scale commercial product.

As more lenders begin to leverage fintech solutions and products, the industry is bound to see more of these competitions.