CAMBRIDGE, MA — Among every travel agent’s talents is the ability to plan an itinerary without going over budget. And now, agents and other travel planners can be rewarded with tons of cash for simply doing what they do best.

A group of MIT brainiacs has launched an exciting new contest built around their newly built flight search engine and interactive map called Escape. Using data from other flight comparison tools like Skyscanner, Escape is able to calculate the cheapest and quickest flights from any destination in the world.

To test just how good their search engine really is, the MIT engineers has launched the ‘Great Escape Challenge’, which encourages participants to create the cheapest round-the-world trip.

The rules? They have to use Escape to find their flights, include at least one city in every continent (except Antarctica), fly back to their point of origin, and then share the itinerary with at least one friend.

What’s at stake? A whopping US$10,000 in grand prize money. Plus, 25 runners-up will be awarded with a free flight, worth up to $500.

To keep the spirit of friendly competition alive, a leaderboard will continually be refreshed to display the top 25 players. This also means that if a participant doesn’t see their name on the list, they can re-enter as many times as they want, with a revised – and cheaper – itinerary.

The competition is open until March 15 and is open to everyone around the world. You can enter here. The race is on – good luck!