If an Austinite should win that “hot VIP weekend at an exclusive live music event in Austin, TX,” the prize will be missing one of its biggest components, which is round-trip airfare for two to Austin, Texas. Left as consolation prize for that lucky winner if an Austinite will be only two nights at an unnamed hotel, two all-access concert passes, a portable mp3 player (brand not named), and a supply of Sharpie mini permanent markets to use for collecting autographs.

Here’s an excerpt from the rules: “VIP tickets to include access within the South by Southwest Music Festival venue as decided by Rolling Stone and does [sic] not include interaction with concert talent. Hotel and airline to be determined by Sponsors. All meals, taxes, gratuities and other expenses not specified herein are the sole responsibility of the winner. Airline carrier’s regulations and conditions also apply. A Grand Prize winner who lives in the Austin metropolitan area (as determined by Sponsors) will receive local transportation between winner’s home and the concert in lieu of any air transportation (no cash balances will be awarded).”

So out-of-town friends should be alerted and, even without that plane-ride, we here in Austin are likely to find it a worthwhile investment of time to log in at the gateway website for this contest sponsored by Rolling Stone and (obviously) those fine folks who make Sharpies. Austin, with all its politicians and others here possessing varying degrees of celebrity and constantly needing to autograph photos and the bare skins of their admirers, must have one of the higher per-capita Sharpie sales figures outside D.C., L.A., and N.Y.C.

Time’s running out. Mail-in entries are due by midnight on February 15; on-line entries must be submitted by midnight on February 10.