Can Microsoft coding contest revive U.S. pride?

A team of Virginia Commonwealth University students will represent the United States this summer in an international software design contest -- giving American computer science students a chance to polish their tarnished image.

Microsoft, the contest's organizer, selected the group from among 30 U.S. teams competing for a spot at the finals in Yokohama, Japan. The Imagine Cup 2005 contest, in its third year, rewards innovative software development that uses Microsoft technology. The winning team will take home $25,000.

Money's not all that's at stake though. National pride is on the line too after the University of Illinois in April tied for 17th place in a global programming competition organized by the Association for Computing Machinery. It was the country's worst showing in the contest's 29-year history -- a fact that has caused some hand-wringing in Silicon Valley.

The Microsoft contest isn't as prestigious, but it's something. The design that won the Virginia students a trip to the finals and $8,000 was a Tablet PC converted into a kind of super fancy Speak & Spell.

On July 27, they'll compete for first place with 34 other student teams from around the world, including groups from Brazil, Bulgaria and China.