It's been 29 years since Scott Fahlman famouslycombined three keystrokes to create :-) and Carnegie Mellon computer scientistshaven't stopped working to improve interpersonal communications. The beststudent innovations are highlighted each year by the Smiley Award for Innovation inTechnology-Assisted Person-to-Person Communication.

The 2012 Smiley Award competition is open to graduate or undergraduate studentsfrom any part of Carnegie Mellon, or to small teams of students. In the tradition of theoriginal :-) invention, the judges value small, clever innovations as well asbig ones. The winning entry will receive a $500 cash prize, generously provided by the prize's corporate sponsor, Yahoo! Inc.