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Rumors of an Apple tablet have been around in one form or another for well over a year now. Are you tired of the speculation? So is Valleywag. The difference between you and them is they’re willing to pay to prove the tablet’s existence once and for all. Pay quite a bit, actually, although their definition of “proof” may vary from yours. No shaky Bigfoot, Loch Ness Monster or UFO footage, please, they want quality video…or the device itself.

From their website:

Apple has said absolutely nothing about its tablet, but everyone expects it to be unveiled in San Francisco on Jan. 27. So, that gives you to two weeks to play in Valleywag’s Apple Tablet Scavenger Hunt: If you can find the first genuine photos, video or—the holy grail—the actual messiah machine itself before then and they’re exclusive to us, we’ll give you a cash prize.

Anonymity of both the winners and losers is important to us: We’ll go to spycraft-level lengths to prevent anything being traced back to you. And, of course, found any other authentic evidence of the Apple Tablet that we didn’t mention? We’re interested.

The image above shows how much they’re willing to pay disgruntled Apple employees for the content. And of course, there are some catches:

Here are the catches: given that PhotoShop exists and how it’s already been used to make fake Apple Tablet pictures and videos, we’re the final arbiters of whether your pics are legit. For that reason, we’d highly recommend that they be well-lit and hi-res. Second, we’re not paying out any prizes until after Apple’s announcement. If your pics are fake, no money. We encourage you to stay within the bounds of the law and our standard contest rules apply. We reserve the right to limit, or restrict upon notice, participation in the Contest to any person at any time for any reason. Void where prohibited. Good luck and happy hunting.

Heck, for $10,000 I’ll spend a few hours in Photoshop and hope I just get enough of it right to take the cash. If not, it was just a wasted afternoon. Your other option, of course, is to convince your friends at Apple to slip you some images and split the reward. What would be hilarious, though, is if Steve Jobs himself were to take the tablet to Valleywag one hour before the press conference. Or, wait. That wouldn’t work, thanks to this:

We reserve the right to limit, or restrict upon notice, participation in the Contest to any person at any time for any reason.

Well, that sure is convenient. “We restrict your participation for the reason that we don’t want to pay you $100,000.” Ah, legalese, how we love you.

Read [Valleywag]