Who couldn't use some extra cash these days? Thousands of dollars in prize money is up for grabs as testers face off in Battle of the Browsers, a seven-day contest that starts today. Applications in the contest's arena are Google's Chrome, Firefox 3.1 alpha 2 and IE 8. To qualify, bugs must be previously undiscovered and unreported.

Testers can submit defects for any or all of the browsers. Two prizes of US$200 each will be awarded for each of the browsers; six browser-specific prizes in all. Prizes will be awarded for the "Top Bug" for each browser in terms of defect severity, accuracy of reporting and creativity; and "Best Feedback," which is described as "the feedback provided during the usability survey" in terms of feature, analysis, etc.

Contestants also will be vying for two overall prizes. A $1000 "Top Tester" prize goes to the person who reports the most valuable bugs and feedback, and to the "Top Novice," a beginner who shows the most promise as a software tester. Judging will be conducted by the uTest team as well as a few outsiders. "Entries will be judged blindly – with no knowledge of name or background (with the exception of experience for the Novice award)," according to the contest Web site. The emphasis is on "actionable learning" for each of the browsers, as opposed to feature comparisons between browsers.

The bug hunt is being organized by testing community organizer uTest, which boasts more than 11,000 testers in 144 countries doing on-demand testing for organizations in need. If you're not already a uTester, you'll need to register; it's free.