Personally I think the challenge themes that I have seen have been great - I really don't have any problem with an animation themed challenge - the only reason I didn't enter the last two was due to work. As long as the challenge has something to do maya then that's good enough for me, though I wouldn't mind seeing another high poly challenge and maybe some sort of interior modelling challenge as well.

Having a one month challenge sounds interesting and should definitely help motivate people to stick with it. Maybe we could do one month challenges with a two month challenge thrown in every now and again.

As for prizes I think that it's best to stick with cash for all of the reasons stated above. Hardware would be nice, but it seems like a lot of extra hassle.

I also think that getting the gallery up and running again would help get people motivated and also attract more people to the site. Sorry - I am sure you are sick of hearing about the gallery!

Anyway, thanks mtmckinley for keeping the challenge sessions going - they are a big help and definitely a big part of simply maya. :bow:

cheers!