On August 2nd, Elevator:2010 invited universities, industries and enthusiast groups to compete in engineering and build beam-powered climbers, serving as prototypes to real Space Elevator vehicles. The 200-feet vertical race will last about 1 minute, and the first prize is $50,000.

The Space Elevator is a thin ribbon, extending from a ship-borne anchor to a counterweight well beyond geo-synchronous orbit. Made out of Carbon Nanotube Composite, it is 62,000 miles long, about 3 feet wide, and is thinner than a sheet of paper.
The ribbon is kept taut due to the rotation of the earth.

Electric vehicles, called climbers, travel at a steady 200 miles per hour and ascend the ribbon using electricity generated by solar panels and a ground based booster light beam.

The competition will take place in the May-June 2005 timeframe in a San Francisco bay area location.

The NASA doesn’t seem to be involved in the competition.

There’s even a blog: Dangling Participle.
Via Nanoblog.
Related entry: NASA’s Millennium-Two Space Elevator.