The Wolfram Demonstrations Challenge has run its course, and you have participated in droves. It’s time to pick the winners.

We do things our own way at Wolfram Research. We don’t pull slips of paper from a hat or ping-pong balls from a barrel for prize drawings. We write Mathematica programs to tell us who the winners are. Of course.

I wrote the program, but not wanting to expose myself to accusations of improperly influencing my laptop, I didn’t run it myself. Stephen Wolfram did and sent me the results.

And the winners are…

Congratulations Andrew VanZwieten, our grand prize winner! A copy of Mathematica Professional and a $300 ThinkGeek gift card are on their way to you. And congratulations to Håkon Gabrielsen, William Rummler, and Mike Von Stein, who will each receive $100 ThinkGeek gift cards. We also congratulate the first 100 people who submitted correct entries; their mailboxes will soon be graced with paper Spikey sculpture kits.

Thank you one and all for participating. We hope the Challenge has helped you to discover the joys of Demonstrations. We apologize if your afternoons are now lost to running radial engines and exploring guilloché patterns.

Due to the overwhelming response, we are considering running another Demonstrations Challenge. To be the first to know when the next contest launches, click this button: