Submissions are being accepted through Dec. 8 for the annual Student Design Contest, jointly sponsored by the Design Automation Conference (DAC) and the International Solid State Circuits Conference (ISSCC).
The contest accepts designs for analog, digital or programmable circuits and systems. Submissions can be embodied as ICs, reconfigurable processors, system-on-chips (SoCs), platform-based or embedded systems designs.

Submissions are open to full-time graduate and undergraduate students in three categories: operational, which means that an IC design was built and tested; system design, which focuses on FPGA or other programmable architectures; and conceptual, where a project was designed and simulated. The design must be part of the students' course or research work at the university and must have been completed within 18 months prior to the Dec. 8 submission deadline.

The total prize money is expected to be close to $15,000, shared between first, second and third place winners in each category. Winners will be notified prior to the DAC in July and offered travel assistance to attend.

The contest is made possible through the contributions of corporate sponsors who are encouraged to provide financial support for this year's contest. An award ceremony will be held here during DAC. In 2005, the Student Design Contest had 48 submissions from 14 countries and 34 schools.