Prolific On Ruby [1] blogger Pat Eyler has teamed up with software development books publisher Apress [2] to sponsor a Ruby/Ruby on Rails blogging contest [3]. The contest will run for the first six months of 2007:

Sometime in the first week of the month, Pat will post, on behalf of an Apress author, a blogging challenge relating to a specific topic on Ruby/Ruby on Rails, and all programmers will be encouraged to post a thoughtful response on either his/her personal blog or on a public website. In order to be eligible, these must go up within 3 weeks of the original post, and the links must be posted as comments to Pat’s original post. The postings will be judged by a 3 person panel, which includes Pat Eyler, Apress Editor Keir Thomas, and a rotating guest judge. Within one week of the closing date, the judges will announce their decision, and the winner will receive his/her choice of 3 Apress and friends of ED titles.

A very cool idea that should generate some interesting material. The community as a whole will no doubt benefit. Nice going, Pat and Apress! Keep an eye on Pat's On Ruby blog [4] for the details throughout the contest.

Dan