Happy Birthday, :-)

File this under Bet You Didn’t Know This: :-) turns 25 today.

Twenty-five years ago, Carnegie Mellon University professor Scott E. Fahlman says he was the first to use the horizontal smiley face in a computer message.

To mark the anniversary of the emoticon, Fahlman and his colleagues have started an annual student contest for innovation in technology-assisted, person-to-person communication.

The Smiley Award, sponsored by Yahoo Inc., will carry a $500 cash prize.

Neato.