A 10-day competition with $45,000 in prizes has been announced to promote the OUYA console and its ODK.

Game developers who backed OUYA's Kickstarter - and are therefore among the 1200 developers who already have one of the OUYA consoles - or who have subsequently pre-ordered one now that the OUYA Development Kit is available, are eligible to participate in CREATE.

CREATE is a 10-day game jam that is scheduled to take place online from January 14 to 23. It is also a contest for the best prototype games for OUYA with a Grand Prize of $20,000 for the game demonstrating the "highest level of overall excellence" plus a $5,000 bonus for completing the game and launching it on OUYA.

Category winners in the following five categories will win $5,000 plus a bonus of $1,000 for completion and launch:

• "Most Surprising" Award: For the game that does something new and unexpected
• "Four Bright Buttons and Two Joysticks" Award: For the game demonstrating the best controls
• "Most Immersive" Award: For best demonstration of how a game feels in your living room
• "Best Couch with Friends" Award: For the game that makes us most nostalgic for the days of all-nighters
• "Pop Your Eyes Out" Award: For the game that astounds, visually

Any developer or team, from anywhere in the world, can enter and as games don't have to be finished contestants are asked to  upload a YouTube video showing off their games. The judging criteria include community support for the game (i.e., YouTube likes, Tweets, Facebook likes) and this, together with the fact you need to invest $99 for an OUYA console that will not be delivered until April 2013, suggests that the main motivation for the contest is raising awareness of and support for the OUYA platform.