We hope your TV isn’t ugly, but if it is, ZVOX want to know about it.

More specifically, the manufacturer of the Z-Base 550 home theater system is looking for setups with the biggest mess of wires in the back of the TV.

“TV wire hairballs are a growing problem in our society,” says ZVOX founder Tom Hannaher. “It started out 30 years ago with a simple VCR hookup, but now there are cable boxes, Xboxes, Blu-ray players and multi-speaker surround-sound systems. It’s a real mess.”

Email your entry photographs to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) with “Ugly TV Contest” as the subject line in the email, and you could wind up winning a Z-Base 550. Entries must be received by no later than April 30, 2010.

After you snap a few pictures, use the following tips to beautify your big-screen.
—Cable covers. Hide the cabling inside a plastic tube. A number of companies offer inexpensive plastic enclosures for cabling. Styles in include tubes, channels that attach to the wall and units that resemble baseboards.
—Furniture. Replace your entertainment cabinet or stand with a unit that features an internal cable management system where the wiring can be routed inside the hollow legs of the stand, for example.
—Equipment closet. The more equipment you keep with your TV, the more cabling there is. You can cut down on the cabling in your living room by locating the Blu-ray player, A/V receiver, cable box and other components in closet.

Lisa Montgomery - Contributing Writer

Lisa Montgomery has been writing about home technology for 15 years, with a focus on the impact of electronics on a modern lifestyle.