The Clarks, Rusted Root, Brownie Mary ...

They all made a name for themselves in Pittsburgh through a battle of the bands.

That one was live.

This one is virtual.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and post-gazette.com are launching Pittsburgh Rocks -- an online battle of the bands in which voters decide the winner.

The first prize: Headline performance on the Three Rivers Arts Festival Stage on Sunday, June 22 (time TBD), and a professionally produced music video by award-winning Post-Gazette videographers Steve Mellon and Matt Freed. Once completed, it will be published at post-gazette.com, which averages nearly 43 million page views a month, and then given to the band for its own publicity purposes.

The second- and third-place finishers will get to open that Arts Festival show.

To enter, register here between today and May 29. We ask that you submit a photo of the band and an mp3 file of an original song.

Entries must be received by 5 p.m. May 29.

Bands will be judged on musicianship, songwriting and originality. Songs from the top 10 bands will be made available for the public to vote for their favorite (one vote per e-mail address) from June 3 through June 13.

For more details on Pittsburgh Rocks, see the ad today in the Post-Gazette's Summer Times publication on page ST-31.