If you're an Android App developer, then you're going to love today's news; and if you aren't, then you have until November 5 to get crackin'. The reason? Ars Technica, WIRED, and Reddit have linked together to form a giant, Japanese robot of awesome... ok, not really, but close. We're running an Android App contest for developers, in partnership with Sprint. The idea behind the Sprint 4G App Challenge is straightforward: submit your app in one of five categories, and it will be judged by me, along with some folks from WIRED, Reddit, and Sprint.

Take a look at the prizes below:

$50,000 grand prize

an HTC EVO(TM) 4G with one-year of Sprint service (includes applicable taxes and surcharges)

a one-year membership to the Sprint Professional Developer Program (including 250 hours in the Virtual Developer Lab)

an invitation to WIRED's VIP party during the 2011 International CES in Las Vegas

If you win, you'll definitely want to blow part of that $50K on a trip to Vegas for CES to attend the WIRED party. Ben Kuchera, Ari Allyn-Feuer, and I all went last year and had a blast. (Although be warned: you'll want to eat dinner first, most likely. I didn't, and when I went to attack the hors d'oeuvres table I found that it was all candy. Serious: piles and piles of every kind of candy. So I did something that I haven't done since grade school--I ate candy for dinner.)

The contest starts today, and you have until November 5 to make your submissions. The winners will be announced on December 16 at an event at the WIRED store in NYC, and Ars editor-in-chief Ken Fisher will be on-site to hand out the prizes.

We're looking forward to seeing what you guys come up with, so head over to the contest site and make your submissions.

Update: Due to legal matters, this contest is only open to US residents. We're sorry about that. Also note that if you enter, you retain any and all copyright on your work and your code. (I.e., "The copyright in any Submission shall remain the property of the entrant...") We will have an update later today with more on the legal language, for those concerned.

Update 2: Indeed, your code is yours and yours alone. We've confirmed this with legal. The rights involved only relate to submission materials (which does not include the app itself).