Google Code-In starts today and Ubuntu is one of the participating organisations. Code-In is an annual coding competition hosted by Google. Students participate by contributing to a set of tasks outlined by the mentoring organizations. They are rewarded with certificates and t-shirts as prizes, along with grand prize winners who get a trip to Google’s HQ in California.

We’ve created a set of tasks for Ubuntu which cover coding, documentation, QA, outreach, and user interface designs. The tasks are designed for students of all interests and skill levels. If you’ve never been a part of an open source community before, now is your chance to learn more! Are you a high school student in the ages between 13 and 17, and curious about open source, Linux, or Ubuntu? We invite you to join us.

To sign up, head to the Google Code-In site and register as a student. From there, you will be able to select Ubuntu and browse through the tasks available. The contest will run until January the 25th.

Keeping in touch is easy via our mailing list or #ubuntu-google IRC Channel on freenode. You can find out more information at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/GoogleCodeIn.

We welcome additional tasks from the Ubuntu community which meet the criteria set out in the Code-In project. If you have any further questions or comments get in touch with the Code-In Ubuntu Organisation admins (Nicholas Skaggs, Alan Pope and José Antonio Rey).