INTERNET PIC 2000 CONTEST WINNERS

MAKING THE CONNECTION

It’s always interesting to see what people are doing with PICs these days and the Internet PIC2000 contest provided plenty of fine examples. Among the winners you’ll find several practical applications that demonstrate just how powerful a PIC can be in the hands of a skilled designer.

Of course, the good design ideas and practical applications weren’t limited to just the winners. Every entry to a Circuit Cellar design contest is worthy of mention because it takes more than just an idea to enter the contest—you have to mold and perfect your idea into an actual project. Each project that arrives is the direct result of the designer’s time, effort, and money.

And, just because a project doesn’t make it on the winners list, doesn’t mean that all of the designer’s time, effort, and money has been wasted. Read Steve’s editorial in the July issue of the print magazine and you’ll find out that the real motivation behind Circuit Cellar’s involvement in design contests is to find a new batch of Circuit Cellar authors. Whether you won the grand prize, didn’t make the prize list, or ran into overwhelming setbacks that prevented you from submitting the project on time, you’re always welcome to write an article about what it took to design your project. (Send your proposals to editor@circuitcellar.com.)

In the past, we’ve had design contests with a prize tier that contained 20 to 30 prizes. This year, the judges had their work cut out for them as there were only seven prizes to award. And to make things even more challenging, among the top entries was a group of projects that all had one thing in common—Edward Cheung. You’ll find his name on the Grand Prize-winning project as well as on the First Prizes in both the Internet Application and Internet Connectivity categories. My hat’s off to anyone who spends the time and effort to complete a project for a design contest, but anyone who goes through it all five times (as Edward did) is certainly worth mentioning!

Congratulations to all of the contest winners and all of those who participated in the Internet PIC2000 contest. And, if you don’t think you have the time to enter one of the upcoming Circuit Cellar design contests, just ask Edward Cheung if he thinks his time and effort was amply rewarded!