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"UPDATE:   Voting is over and the ballots have been counted. The first ever SEMA Award has gone to the Chevrolet Camaro for the &amp;quot;Hottest Car,&amp;quot; the Ford F-Series for the &amp;quot;Hottest Truck&amp;quot; and the Jeep Wrangler for the &amp;quot;Hottest 4x4-SUV.&amp;quot; Winners were chosen from the more than 1,900 exhibitors showcasing a huge assortment of performance and styling hardware during this year&amp;#039;s SEMA Show in Las Vegas, Nevada.   &amp;quot;A booth space is a ballot, and the models these exhibitors have selected represent their vote,&amp;quot; said Chris Kersting, SEMA president and CEO. There were certainly plenty of candidates to choose from, but few actual surprises once the results were tallied. The Chevrolet Camaro did manage to topple perennial muscle-car rivals like the Ford Mustang and Dodge Challenger. Yet the Ford F-Series and Jeep Wrangler seem fairly conservative choices, especially for anyone rooting for upstarts like the new Ford Fiesta, the Kia Soul, and the sleek-looking Hyundai Sonata sedan.    The annual SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) Show always fills the halls of the Las Vegas Convention Center with row after row of slammed compacts, snarling muscle cars, and trucks with stereos so loud the bass can be heard in outer space. SEMA is the world&amp;#039;s largest exhibition of automotive accessories built to make your car look cooler, go faster, and sound louder. About the only thing you won&amp;#039;t find at SEMA is an invitation to the general public to come and join in the fun. The world&amp;#039;s biggest automotive block party is strictly an industry-only affair.   But for the first time ever, automotive enthusiasts are being invited to vote for the cars they think will make the biggest impact when show opens on November 1. In this SEMA Challenge, online voting allows car enthusiasts to predict the coolest rides in three categories: Hottest Car, Hottest Truck and Hottest 4x4-SUV. According to the show organizers, the SEMA Challenge allows enthusiasts &amp;quot;an opportunity to test their auto savvy against SEMA Show exhibitors.&amp;quot; These exhibitors will ultimately determine the winners of the &amp;quot;SEMA Award&amp;quot; in each category.   Naturally, the ones taking home a SEMA Award will have all the bragging rights that go along with being a stand-out in such rarefied company. Yet, for those savvy voters who accurately predict the winner, there is the incentive of winning a five-day VIP trip for two to Vegas to attend the 2011 SEMA Show. Entrants are allowed to enter once a week during the month-long contest, which began October 1. Every correct vote in each category corresponds with another chance to win the grand-prize.   A complete list of vehicles can be found here (http://www.sema.org/challenge). While we&amp;#039;d never attempt to bias your vote\u2014or risk getting blamed for ruining anyone&amp;#039;s chance to win VIP access in Sin City\u2014there are some vehicles that look ready to challenge the likes of Liberace when it comes to legendary Vegas performances. And just like that pushy old lady, the one greedily blocking you from a row of &amp;quot;hot&amp;quot; slot machines, Ford Motor Company appears to be covering its bases more than most in Vegas.   Ford is promoting everything from its F-150 pickup, to the 2011 Fiesta, along with its perennial favorite with the tuning community, the Mustang coupe and convertible. If 350-bhp of forced induction in a Fiesta sounds fun to you\u2014and it sure sounds good to us\u2014then get ready to enter your virtual SEMA voting booth. Of course, cross-town rivals like the Chevrolet Camaro and Dodge Challenger won&amp;#039;t let Ford&amp;#039;s pony car or mighty-mite Fiesta steal the spotlight. The sport compact crowd is also fiercely competitive, and the Fiesta is far from the only fresh face at SEMA this year. The new Mazda2 subcompact, a revamped Scion tC coupe, the Kia Soul, and even the seductive-looking Hyundai Sonata sedan will be vying for the crowd&amp;#039;s attention\u2014not to mention the imagination (and dollars) of car buyers who crave customization.   Green engineering could also play an important role at SEMA this year. Competing in the Hottest Car category, the Honda CR-Z hybrid is proof the tuning community isn&amp;#039;t afraid of tackling any type of vehicle or powertrain. Chances are good that whatever modifications will be done to Honda&amp;#039;s fuel-sipping coupe, performance and handling will take a priority over mpg figures. Then again, given the creativity of the Honda tuning community, we could be proven wrong.   The winning vehicles will be announced on the opening day of the SEMA Show on Nov. 2, 2010. Voting has already begun, and runs until the day before the show opens. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-shows/sema-show/news/a16414/the-sema-challenge/>