For the Canadians that wanted to get in on the WinPHP Challenge but couldn't because, well, where you live, there's good news (as pointed out by Stuart Herbert) - Mircosoft has announced the Ultimate Coder Battle event.

The premise is quite interesting: one student and one professional developer will be the chosen finalists, and they will battle head to head at the "Make Web Not War" conference. The winner walks away with substantial cash prizes - $5000 with another $5000 in bonus awards available. Entries close 3rd June.

Unlike in the WinPHP Challenge, you can use both a new application or a port of an older application as your entry. One application will be chosen for each of the two categories (Professional and Student) and prizes will be awarded to them along with the runners-up. Extra bonuses will be given out for developers that use .NET/PHP together the best as well as other various prizes.

You can get more information about the event from the main site or just head over and register right away. Remember, the deadline is June 3rd so hurry!