So you're not submitting any wallpapers, WindowBlinds or icon packs to the 2006 GUI Champs.  So you've decided you don't want to compete for some of the $12,000 in prizes.  But, you might be thinking to yourself "I wish there was some other way I could participate!"  Well, since you're letting me project my own assumptions onto you, let me tell you that you indeed CAN participate in the competition without drawing a pixel, without putting together a single bad Bryce render!

Each event in this years competition is going to have a fair number of entries.  More entries than our panel of judges will be able to go over to pick the winners from.  Heck, as of right now, the Wallpapers category alone has 140 accepted submissions!  That's way too many for the judges to sift through.  So what we're going to do is allow you, the user, vote on your favorite wallpapers.  The top ten for each event will be passed on to the judges, and from there, they'll pick the top three winners.  This means that you can help determine who gets a piece of our cash piles, maybe the XBox 360.

But how, oh how can you, my hypothetical friend, vote in the competition?  Why, again, I'm glad I pretended you asked!

Any user who has a valid Stardock.net account (i.e. an account on WinCustomize, JoeUser, GalCiv2 or any of our other community forums) will be able to cast their vote for their own favorites in each event.  Registering is 100% free, and we don't sell email lists to spammers, so your information is safe with us!  Once signed up (or logged in if you're already with us) you'll just need to wander over to the official GUI Champs website on one of the dates listed below to vote in the current event.  One vote per user, no stuffing attempts please.  We log and we will not hesitate to send our army of pipe-wielding monkeys after you!

So, come on out and help us pick the best GUI artists of 2006!

Coming up this Monday is Most Usable Wallpaper, so get ready!

User Voting Dates:

• Most Usable Wallpaper
  Monday, October 2nd - Wednesday, October 4th
   
• Most Original Wallpaper
  Thursday, October 5th - Sunday, October 8th
   
• Most Usable Icon Package
  Monday, October 9th - Wednesday, October 11th
   
• Most Original Icon Package
  Thursday, October 12th - Sunday, October 15th
   
• Most Usable WindowBlinds
  Monday, October 16th - Wednesday, October 18th
   
• Most Original WindowBlinds
  Thursday, October 19th - Sunday, October 22nd
   
• Best Overall Wallpaper/Icon Package/WindowBlinds
  Thursday, November 2nd - Sunday, November 5th