Google Code Jam 2008

Hey Buddies! Google did announce yesterday that registrations for its popular world wide competition are already opened!

For those who don't know the competition:
"Google Code Jam is a coding competition in which professional and student programmers are asked to solve complex algorithmic challenges in a limited amount of time. The contest is all-inclusive: Google Code Jam lets you program in the coding language and development environment of your choice.

Google Code Jam begins in July and continues in August, when you will compete in online rounds against contestants from around the world. The Top 500 participants will advance to onsite competitions at a local Google office to compete against those in their region (Asia Pacific; Europe, Middle East and Africa; and the Americas). The Top 100 will participate in the final round at the Google Headquarters in Mountain View, California on Friday, November 14."

The competition is quite different this time, since they are not using the TopCoder system to run the competition anymore (as in the previous editions of Google Code Jam). Instead of it, Google is going to use its own brand new competition system, with a new format of contest.
In this new format, you are able to code in which language you want to! As long as the compiler or interpreter you used for that language is freely available and easy to download and use, you are free to use it.
Contests may vary in duration, ranging from 1.5 hours to 3 hours with the Qualification Round lasting 24 hours. Competitors are going to download the input of the questions and upload the output generated by their programs as well as their source codes. Once the input file is downloaded, the competitor is going to have a limited amount of time (4 minutes for small input files and 8 minutes for large input files) to upload the output.
This is really different from the usual ICPC or TopCoder competitions, which most algorithm competitors are used to.

Who is Eligible:
You are eligible if you meet the following requirements at the time of registration:

• You are 13 years of age or older (only those who are 18 years of age or older as of September 18, 2008 are eligible to attend the local onsite round and the onsite finals.)
• You are not a current employee/intern of Google Inc., an employee of any Google affiliate or subsidiary.
• You are not an immediate family member (parent, child, sibling, or spouse) of, or living in the same household as, a Google employee or an employee of any Google affiliate or subsidiary; and
• You are not a resident of any of the following countries or provinces: Burma (Myanmar), Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Quebec, Sudan, and Syria where prohibited by law. Burma (Myanmar), Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria are restricted by US export controls and sanctions programs and are therefore not eligible to participate in Code Jam.

Prize Overview
The top 500 scoring participants in Round 3 will receive a Google Code Jam t-shirt.

The top 500 participants in Round 3 will participate in the local onsites at a Google office in their region. Travel and accommodation will be covered by Google.

The Top 100 finalists from the local onsites will be flown to Mountain View, California to compete in the onsite finals. Travel and accommodation will be covered by Google.
All 100 finalists who attend and compete at the onsite finals in Mountain View will receive the following prizes:

Competitor(s)	Prize
1st Place	$10,000
2nd Place	$5000
3rd Place	$2500
4th – 10th Place	$1500
11th – 30th Place	$1000
31st – 50th Place	$750
51st – 75th Place	$500
76th – 100th Place	$25

In addition, if you are the 1^st place winner, you'll receive ten free lunches (for you and a guest) at Google. Whenever you are in a city with a Google office that provides lunch from November 14th 2008 to November 14th 2009, you can check out the office with a guest and be hosted for lunch (maximum of 10 visits).

Well, I'm really excited about this new format of contest and I'm looking forward to see how it is really going to work. Although it, unfortunately I cannot participate this time, since I'll be still interning at Google by the registration period.
I did participate in two previous editions of the competition, one world wide - in 2006- and one Latin America Edition - in 2007.
The world wide competition is really $#%$*@# hard. Definitely is not for me! But in the Latin America contest, I got up to the semi-finals, among the 250 top coders (only 50 went to the finals) and got at least the Google Code Jam t-shirt! hehe

You can register for Google Code Jam at http://code.google.com/codejam/contest/registration. Registration opens at 4:00 p.m. UTC (9:00 a.m. PT) on Tuesday, June 17 and you can register anytime until the end of the 24 hour Qualification, 11:00 p.m. UTC (4:00 p.m. PT) on Thursday, July 17. Advancement from the Qualification round is necessary in order to participate in Round 1.

For more information on rules, schedules and FAQ you can go to the Google Code Jam Web Site

Hope to see some friends when they announce the winners!
Good Luck!