Anthony King and Jacob Thomason, owners of the Web site MacMod, have announced their first annual “Great Mod Challenge.” The contest, which kicks off Aug. 1 and runs until Aug. 31, invites entries in one of four categories: Internal, which covers changes to motherboards, video cards and other internal components, as well as over-clocking the processor; External, which encompasses any modifications made to a Mac’s case; Peripheral, which applies to everything from mice to iPods to AirPort Base Stations; and Software, which includes custom OS installations, drivers that allow unsupported hardware to be used with a Mac and more.
Submissions, which may be entered in more than one category, must be in the form of guides that explain in detail how the mod was accomplished. Judges Shawn King (“Your Mac Life” host), Gene Steinberg (owner of the “Mac Night Owl” Web site), Ilene Hoffman (Spymac senior editor), Jonathan Bell (MacMod columnist) and “Powermac99” (MUGNetwork.com) will judge each entry on its level of originality, difficulty, aesthetic attractiveness, functionality and integration, as well as how clearly the guide was written. Winners will be announced Sept. 6, and the prizes include a Revision D CRT iMac and a MacMod.com T-shirt for the first, second and third place finishers as well as an AirPort Express Base Station for the winner and a Bytecc Aluminum 3.5-inch FireWire hard drive for the runner-up.