From the success of Comedy Central's hip new game show “Beat the Geeks” to the perennial popularity of Ted Koppel, it's clear that geeks are hotter than ever. So hot, in fact, there's even a pageant celebrating their widespread appeal.

The third annual Sexiest Geek Alive contest is scheduled to commence in Austin, Texas, on March 12, where it will run at the same time as the most definitely non-geeky South by Southwest music conference. Founded by Sexiest Geek Alive CEO Dave Richards, the contest features participants from across the globe and will be broadcast on TechTV and over the Web via peer-to-peer streaming service WebCast. The nine finalists, all selected based on their results from the demanding Geek Challenge quiz at www.sexiestgeekalive.com, will compete to assume the mantle currently held by last year's winner Ellen Spertus, a computer science professor at Oakland's Mills College and an MIT grad with three degrees.

“When I went to high school, being smart was like a death sentence,” said host Chase Masterson, best known to geeks for her starring role as Leeta on “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.” “The world has totally changed,” she said. “If you were a geek in high school, you're probably a CEO.”

This is Masterson's third year emceeing the event. When she first got wind of the contest she immediately asked to serve as host, saying the idea was the funniest thing she'd ever heard. And given her popularity among Trekkies, Masterson clearly was an ideal choice. “The geek market is right up my alley,” she said.

Houston-based Epic Systems, a vendor and distributor of remanufactured products from Sun Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard and Nortel Networks, is Sexiest Geek Alive's primary sponsor. “For a little company like ours, we get exposure all over the world,” said Craig Johoske, Epic's director of marketing and strategic relations. “The contest exposes the other side of this business. People have a stereotypical picture of a guy with a pocket protector and tape holding his glasses together, but that's not who these people are. They have real talent.”

Johoske said the contest's message is simple. “‘Brains can be sexy’ is what we're really saying. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”

Masterson agreed: “To me, smart has always been sexy. I've never been attracted to the same men as most women are. Smart is the sexiest thing a person can be — second to that is resourceful and savvy. And the rest doesn't hurt.”

In addition to her duties promoting the Sexiest Geek Alive gig, Masterson is also busy with her thriving independent film career and an upcoming CD of classic torch songs — so busy, in fact, that she missed the first scheduled interview with us. Her excuse? “I was at a Star Trek convention.