Well folks, now is the time to start the real countdown to this years GUI Championships, the largest GUI customization competition around,  and to give some more details about the competition.  Let me first start off by thanking all our sponsors for this years event, I have no doubt this will be the best one yet!

The GUI Champs ‘08 will officially start on Monday, October 13th. 

The judging and more detailed schedule will be posted soon, but this is when we will start accepting entries.

Prizes (as of 9-15-08)

• Video Cards from AMD
• Camtasia Studio 5, and SnagIt 9 from TechSmith
• Subscriptions to WinCustomize.com and DeviantART.com
• 32GB iPod Touch
• Subscriptions to Object Desktop from Stardock
• Cash $$$
• Autodesk is sponsoring a copy of a high-end 3D application
• and more!

As it stands now, we have well over $10,000 in cash and prizes for this years event so far.  I say “so far” because we are still talking to a few great folks about additional prizes, and I will post more info as it comes in.  More details about prize distribution for categories will also come later.  Just be assured we have a great prize lineup already.

The current GUI Champs ‘08 categories are:

1. WindowBlinds Skins
   1. Most Original
   2. Most Usable
   3. Best Overall
2. IconPackager Sets
   1. Most Original
   2. Most Usable
   3. Best Overall
3. Animated Wallpapers (.Dreams)
   1. Most Original
   2. Most Usable
   3. Best Overall

So that is the Pre-Kickoff, and more info will be along shortly.  There’s plenty of time to get the skins going before the official start, so get to work if you haven’t already.  Also, be sure to visit this post that details more of the rules for this years event.