The Fake Leopard Screenshot Contest is off on a spectacular start, thanks to an incredible amount of publicity from the Macintosh media and an equally incredible amount of generosity from sponsors.

As you know, the bounty on the winning fakes was valued at just under $900 per winner. Today, I’m pleased to announce that with the addition of 7 new sponsors, the bounty has now been pushed to well over $1000. Thanks to the following developers for adding their software to the list:

• EarthDesk ($12.95), Xeric Design, Inc
• Mountain Tanks ($14), Battery Acid Games
• Speed Download ($25), Yazsoft
• Pixadex ($18.95) and CandyBar ($12.95), Panic & The Iconfactory
• DockStar ($8), Ecamm Network
• Painter’s Picker ($15.85), Old Jewel Software
• iFinance ($15), Synium Software
• Wallet ($14.95), Waterfall Software

Hopefully this boost to the prize package will get even more of you entering. I’ve already seen at least 15 entries submitted or in the works, and it’s only been two days since the announcement, which is pretty nuts. Entrants have come up with some pretty crazy updates to Aqua, 3D finders, distributed software updates, advanced tagging, album art browsing in iTunes, split safari windows, and more. I’ll be displaying a couple of early entries in a few days, so keep on visiting!

In addition, I’m getting a little tired of the Fake Leopard Dogcow for the contest image, so I’m holding a mini-contest with this post for its replacement. Just post your entry in the comments section over the next couple of days, and I’ll announce a winner on Friday, 12:00 in the afternoon EST. The prize for this one will be a copy of xScope ($16.95), Menuet ($12.95), Picture Framer ($5) and To Do Tracker ($5), DomainTracker ($24.95), ShapeShifter ($20) and WindowShade X ($10), and NotePad ($7.95). That’s over a hundred bucks of software for a small graphic, so hopefully you guys will come up with some neat stuff! (And thanks again to the sponsors.)