Animated avatar site Meez has teamed up with Flash games broker FlashGameLicense to present a contest inviting Flash developers worldwide to compete for $20,000 worth of prizes by creating games using the Meez Inside Avatar API.

Launched in February, the Meez Inside Avatar API allows developers to create Flash games which can be hosted anywhere online and which enable users to import their customized 3D Meez avatars. Meez and FGL plan to run the contest from July 8 to September 8. Entries will be judged on their ability to integreate avatars with creativity, addictiveness, sound, graphics. and polish.

The grand prize winner will receive $10,000, while the second and third place winners will receive $5,000 and $2,500 respectively. Five Honorable Mention winners will be rewarded $1,000 each.

This competition follows Meez's mid-June launch of Meeznation, a new virtual world built specifically for its custom avatars. The new space accompanies Meez's virtual rooms application released for Facebook earlier this year.

Said Meez CEO Sean Ryan: “Gaming is a big draw for the Meez community, and we know that our personalized games are always the most popular ones. We’re pleased to be partnering with FlashGameLicense on this contest and excited to see what results from harnessing the creativity of the Flash game developer community to provide a personalized game experience for a wide range of gamers, not just those on Meez.”