Banana Pancakes,
We are pleased to announce that prizes for the July Algorithm Contest will be available for participants in the US.

What’s the July contest format?
The contest will begin on July 1st at 15:00 IST and end on July 13th at 15:00 IST. Although this is longer then the last 10 day contest, we wanted to give you that extra weekend. The contest will have 6 to 8 problems with one challenge problem (identical in format to our June and May contests).

Will participants in India and US be competing against each other?
…only in spirit. The contest problems and format will be exactly the same for all participants. The rankings will be combined, but the top 5 scorers in India will receive prizes and the top 5 scorers in the US will receive prizes.

blahbity blahbity blah, tell me about the Prizes already
Aright aright, here is the tentative prize breakdown (please note this is subject to change and will be finalized by July 1st).

US:
1st – $700
2nd – $400
3rd – $250
4th – $125
5th – $75

India:
1st – Rs. 35,000
2nd – Rs. 20,000
3rd – Rs. 12,500
4th – Rs. 6,250
5th – Rs. 3,750

What happens if there is a tie?
In the unlikely event of a tie, we will split the prize money across the participants. For instance if the 3rd and 4th place US participants tie, they will each receive ($250 + $125) / 2 = $187.50.

Wait a second I’m from [insert country that isn't US or India] does that mean I can’t participate?
Sure you can participate, though unfortunately you can’t win the cash prizes. If you make it to the top of the leaderboard we will be sending you some sweet CodeChef merchandise (we’ve got some dope new t-shirts in the works). We are exploring the idea of expanding into other geographies and will let you know as soon as we do.

Are you making any other new changes soon?
Yes, you will be seeing some big changes to the site in the next few weeks, we’ve received a lot of feedback in terms of how we can improve the site and are working on developing CodeChef 2.0. We will show you a sneak-peak of some of these new features soon.

A lot of people have complained that a 10-day contest it too long. Worry not CodeCheffers, next month we will also hold a shorter contest.

Anything else you want to tell us about?
Oh yeah, we also launched DesignChef last week, a non-profit, online graphic and user experience design competition. Check it out!

Best of luck to everyone! If you have any suggestions, questions or feedback please let us know on Twitter, Facebook, our Forums by posting your comments here.

Cheers,
El Chefarino