We’ve been planning this for awhile. Ever since we heard about Data.gov we have been planning a contest, and if you’re reading this blog post, that means Data.gov has finally launched.

I’m pleased to wave the green flag on Apps for America 2: The Data.gov Challenge. This is a development and visualization challenge to see who can come up with the best application and visualization for data from Data.gov.

These are exciting times for us– the walls between Government and Developers are starting to shrink, and we here in Sunlight Labs are terribly excited to get to work on doing great things with the data that’s coming out. Government has made a move in the right direction– now it is time for us to show them what we can do.

We’re happy launch Apps for America 2, this time with support from our friends. Google’s put in some prize money as has Craig Newmark, the founder of Craigslist. O’Reilly and Techweb have provided another wonderful incentive: tickets and table space to Gov2.0 summit for the winners.

Finally, we think that in building this community of technical talent, that we need not only developers but also talented and creative artists and visualizers. So we’ve created a special bonus “visualization and design” prize that will hopefully bring new ideas and talent to the table.

Take a look at our Apps for America 2 page for all the rules and details. This is going to be the best Apps for America yet.

Please, spread the word far and wide! This is the technical community’s first and best chance to show our federal government the kind of talent and creativity that we all have, and more importantly to show it what happens when it engages the technical community.

Let the Games Begin.