SANTA MONICA, Calif. — Edmunds.com, a vehicle information site, is now accepting applications for its second annual Hackomotive event, which will be held Feb. 25-27, 2014, at the vehicle information site’s headquarters there.

The company will award $35,000 in cash prizes to the participants who present the best products and ideas that promote a better car shopping experience.

The 2014 event is open to companies, individuals and teams of individuals working to bring a new car-shopping product or service to the market. Participants selected through the application process will come to Santa Monica for three days of talks, networking opportunities and brainstorming sessions to further develop their products or ideas.

Participants will present their products or ideas in a “Shark Tank”-style format to a panel of judges, who will award a $20,000 grand prize to the first place winner, $10,000 for second place and $5,000 for third place. Edmunds may also select a winning product or idea for acceleration.  

The deadline to submit an application is Feb. 7, 2014. Companies, individuals and teams interested in learning more can visit http://www.hackomotive.com/ and follow @hackomotive on Twitter.

Over 120 consumers, dealers, automaker representatives, designers and technologists participated earlier this year in the inaugural Hackomotive, in which $28,000 was awarded to the creators of the top four ideas. The two grand prize-winning teams proposed social media sites that would help car buyers identify and work with salespeople whose expertise and specialties best fit their needs. Details on last year’s winning prototypes can be found at http://www.hackomotive.com/hackomotive2013/results.html.