The Labor Day holiday in the U.S. was created as a way to celebrate and highlight the struggles of the American worker for organized rights.

The way we work, the workforce, and what work even means has changed so much over the years that it almost calls for an entirely new definition.

I’ve been asked to judge what I think is a pretty clever Labor Day related contest from the folks at Elance. First off, the grand prize winner gets healthcare coverage for 2010

The event is being called Labor Day 2.0: Online Workers and Elance Celebrate “New Way to Work” and it’s an opportunity for self-employed professionals and their clients to showcase working online. Recent research estimated that there are 37 million American workers who are independent contractors, part-time or temporary staffers, or self-employed and pioneering a new way to work — completely online.

The “New Way to Work” contest begins on Labor Day, September 7, 2009 and ends with the winner announced on December 11, 2009. The contest will give the broader world of online workers and their clients an opportunity to earn their moment in the spotlight.

To take part in the contest, participants need to:
1. Showcase their “new way to work” through any medium they choose, be it photography, a blog article, a Web page, YouTube video, tweet, cartoon, art installation, song, haiku, or any other means to demonstrate their point.
2. Publish and promote their example to capture the attention and imagination of a broader online community.
3. Notify contest judges of their effort via Twitter (use #new-way-to-work) or by posting a link on Elance’s Facebook fan page.

Get more info on the contest on the Elance blog

Throughout the contest, Elance will highlight the most creative, compelling, innovative and inspiring entrants on the Elance blog. After narrowing the contestants to a set of finalists, the Grand Prize winner will be selected by Elance and a panel of judges including Tim Ferriss, bestselling author of The 4-Hour Workweek, technology investor, and productivity expert; Tory Johnson, career expert, founder and CEO of Women For Hire and New York Times bestselling author whose latest book is Fired to Hired; and John Jantsch, author of Free to Choose: How to select any 80 hours a week you want to work (soon to be not so best seller).