Hackathons give birth to potential new products such as Facebook’s Timeline. Now it’s time for Facebook’s second annual Hacker Cup to put a new wave of hackers to the test.

Facebook is hosting the second annual Hacker Cup starting on January 20 and culminating in the top 25 hackers competing at Facebook’s new Menlo Park campus.

Any and all hackers from around the world are encouraged to enter the Hacker Cup starting January 4. They will be tasked with solving algorithmic problems while being based on speed and accuracy.

The competition will start with a 72-hour qualification round on January 20. All the competitors will be given three problems to solve. Solving at least one problem will advance the competitor to online round 1.

There will be three online rounds with each round presenting more difficult problems with less time to solve them. All in all, there will be only 25 competitors left on February 11 when online round 3 ends.

Facebook will fly the top 25 competitors to Menlo Park to compete on March 17. The first place winner will receive $5,000 with second place receiving $2,000 and third place receiving $1,000. Fourth through 25th place will receive $100.

Any aspiring entrants to the 2012 Hacker Cup should follow the Hacker Cup page for more details as the date for the start of the Facebook Hacker Cup approaches.