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ECS Elitegroup, the formerly extreme motherboard company with the purple motherboards, is launching a new product category into the North American market. The ECS LIVA PC is one of the smallest computers on the planet that can run a full Windows 8.1 install. And the company wants to give their new product a push with a new contest known as the “Design Your Own LIVA” competition.

The event kicks off today, and is geared towards the college and design school crowd, although anyone that wants to participate can sign up and submit a design. The contest has had some success overseas, with the winning design (pictured above) being completely out there. I know I wouldn’t have thought “BBQ” when it came to designing the tiny little box that houses the LIVA PCs Celeron Bay Trail SoC internals. But it does give you a frame of reference for just how far you should go to take the coveted price of $1000 US in cold hard cash.

Designers can submit up to three designs to the contest, and you can even participate as a group. Round one runs from September 1st to 30th, which will be judged via Facebook likes. The top 10 entries that make it to round 2 will be given LIVA PC cases, to implement their designs in real life, and will have from October 1 – 31st to turn in those designs. The finalists will then be judged and the winner will be announced on November 7th. Cash prizes will also be awarded three deep, and all other places in the top 10 will receive parting gifts.

Ultimately, it looks like ECS wants designs that can be turned into reality, so make sure when you’re putting together your designs, that you can REALLY put together that design.

The full press release is below with additional details on how to get in on the action. You can find additional information right here on their Facebook Page. So go ahead and get designing!

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Design Your Own LIVA Competition

1 September 2014, Fremont, USA – ECS USA is proud to announce the kick off of its “Design Your Own LIVA” competition in North America. All the participants are able to vote for the entries for the opportunity to win grand prizes. Starting September 1, 2014, ECS will be searching for the most creative person of the year.  The Grand Prize winner will win US$1,000.  ECS will be promoting the competition via its media partners and local colleges and universities in Northern California including: College of San Mateo, Mills College, San Jose City College, De Anza College and Foothill College.

How to enter:

  1. Participants:

(1) Group or Individual (assign one representative if group type, Max. 3 people at on one team).

(2) Entry number  – Max 3 pieces.

  1. Contest: Design your own LIVA case

Round 1 (September 1, 2014 to September 30, 2014 – design draft audition: Participants submit a soft copy of design draft via Facebook.  The 10 participants with the most “likes” will advance to the next round to be evaluated by judges.

Round 2 (October 1, 2014 – October 31, 2014) – Real entry audition: participants make the actual LIVA case based on their design draft (ECS will provide white cases to Top 10 participants nominated in Round 1.  Participants must send their photos by October 31, 2014 to be considered by our judges to enter the final contest.

Final contest – November 7, 2014: ECS’ judges will pick a 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners to win cash prizes.  Places 4 – 10 will receive parting gifts.

Cash prize:

Final
Champion: US$ 1,000 (one winner)
Second place: US$ 500 (one winner)

Third place: US$ 300 (one winner)

Honorable Mention:  other prizes such as SWAG and giveaways (7 winners)

How the participants are judged:

Round 1: Top 10 participants with most likes are selected.

Round 2: participants will submit photos of their submission before close of round

Final: Judges will pick up top 3 winners.  Other 7 participants will win parting gifts.

How the participants are judged:  Creativity: 40%, Feasibility: 30%, Design: 30%.

Entry spec:

Round 1:

Participant needs to do a design based on LIVA front side view /back side view, 2 side view/upper side view/ 45 degree three- dimensional view, and follow up LIVA spec and dimension to make this design artwork real (118*70*55 mm).

Document submission: (1) product 3 view photos (2) product 45 degree three-dimensional view (3) the image to show the best view of their entry .

Participant needs to send their entry to ECS by September 30, 2014.

Round 2:

ECS will send white cases to the top 10 participants.

Participants need to use the case to come out the actual entry based on their design

Final – November 7, 2014.

Participant needs to send their entry to ECS by October 31, 2014.

Participants must reside in United States or Canada.  No purchase necessary.

To find out more about the contest, head to www.facebook.com/elitegroup.usa

About ECS

ECS, Elitegroup Computer Systems, was established in 1987. In recent years, ECS’s main focus has expanded from motherboards to All-in-One PCs, notebook computers, graphics cards and other mobile products. ECS is strongly committed to developing cutting-edge technology in order to create innovative products under environmentally friendly designs. ECS’s comprehensive quality control system ensures all of ECS products can be counted on for stability and reliability. Visit http://www.ecs.com.tw to learn more.

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