Win free Maker Faire passes from CNET News

The Neverwas Haul, a mobile, steam-powered Victorian house, on display at Maker Faire 2008. You could join the crowd at the 2009 edition of the DIY celebration in San Mateo, Calif.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET Networks)

During the past few years, the world has rediscovered the joys of do-it-yourself (or DIY) projects, and everywhere you look these days, you can see people building things themselves rather than buying them from others.

A big part of this revolution has been Make magazine, and its Maker Faires, festivals--which celebrate the DIY spirit in all its manifestations--which take place each year in San Mateo, Calif., and Austin, Texas.

To date, I am not really a maker myself, though that's something I regret and am ever exhorting myself to change. But I have been to four Maker Faires, and I've seen some of the wonderful things that people show off there: Steam-powered mobile Victorian houses, incredibly soft Flying Spaghetti Monsters made from felt, wooden iPods, watermelon-launching trebuchets and much, much more.

Well, Maker Faire is coming back to San Mateo on May 30 and 31, and you could be there.

The event's organizers have given me 20 passes to award CNET News readers. And all you have to do to win one is tell me, in 150 words or less, how you would use DIY to remake America (the event's theme).

It's a broad topic, I admit, and I'm sure there are an infinite number of ideas that could win. But in order to pick the best 20, I'm going to turn to my celebrity judge, Make magazine senior editor Phil Torrone.

So, send your 150-words-max ideas to me at daniel(dot)terdiman-*at*-cnet(dot)com by May 8 (please include the words "Maker Faire contest" in your e-mail subject line, as well as your full name in your e-mail), and maybe I'll be seeing you at Maker Faire.