Barclays and Arts Council England today launched a nationwide art competition for football fans - ‘Barclays: Finding Fan Gogh.’ In a celebration of the on-pitch artistry and invention football fans see, plus their passion for playing the beautiful game themselves, fans are invited to show ‘what football means to them.’ From the grit of grassroots to the Barclays Premiership elite, supporters can choose the aspect of football that inspires them and convey this in art form - drawing, painting, photography or collage (PS - the ball shown here is the ‘football’ that these folks are talking about - not the pigskin).

The winner will receive £10,000 and have their artwork displayed on a giant advertising board near their local Barclays Premiership team. Five runners up will receive £1,000 each. The competition is in aid of NCH – The Children’s Charity and a selection of the final entries will be used to produce art that will hang in a number of NCH projects where many of the vulnerable children and young people that NCH works with, may be able to appreciate them. The only thing missing from this press release is the dealine, but there’s an email to contact the parties. Visit the site to learn more.

United Creators is proud to announce its first annual online competition to discover, recognize and honor excellence in the global visual arts. We are currently accepting online entries for the 2006-2007 United Creators Online Competition that will result in a ‘live’ offline 2007 planned exhibition in New York City for the winning entrants. United Creators will aggressively market and promote this exhibition event that will place the winning entrants in high public visibility. This is an excellent opportunity for artists to showcase their artwork in a global arts platform and have it be reviewed by a panel of notable judges; globally renowned leaders, professionals, and visionaries from the Arts and Business fields.

The competition is open to all global artists working in applied media such as: painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, printmaking and digital art. The competition is not open to film/video, crafts or any artworks created for any commercial application or assignment (i.e. advertising, print editorial, packaging, commercial illustration, etc.). All entrants must be 18 years of age or older to apply. Proof of age and identity must be furnished upon request. All entrants must submit a biography and/or artist’s statement for review. Entries may be submitted by any business involved in representing an artist(s) and their work, granted proper permissions are obtained and copyrights are observed. All entries must be final versions. Visit the site for details.

The National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) today announced its call for entries to the second annual Photoshop User Awards – the only worldwide competition exclusively for Adobe® Photoshop® users.

“Photoshop artists, photographers, and designers from around the world will have an opportunity to gain international recognition, celebrate their very best work and share their vision and creativity with the worldwide Photoshop community,” said Scott Kelby, president of NAPP and best-selling author of computer and technology books worldwide. Read the rest of this entry »

Well, it’s summer Down Under, and no better way to celebrate the warm weather than to enter an underwater photography contest sponsored by OZtek 2007. The OZTeK’07 Underwater Imagery competition welcomes entries from within the Asia/Pacific Region. Entry will be by digital file and will be accepted over the Internet as well as by post. For this third annual meeting, you can also enter a video. The Video Category allows entries of up to 5 minutes on any subject and will be judged on creativity, videography skills and editing (!). All entries must have been made within the past three years. Deadline: 28 February 2007. Visit the site for details.

Digital Artist’s Space in Troy, NY is looking for Digital Art for their upcoming exhibition. In this context, digital artwork is defined as work that has been digitized either by scanning or by being photographed digitally, work that has been created or opened in any image-editing software such as Photoshop, or work that has been printed digitally. The digital image can be one component of a multi-media piece. Deadline: 22 December 2006; Notification of acceptance: 29 December 2006. Works must be framed for exhibit. Visit the site for more details.

This one’s for all you valiant dragonslayers…Each year Arms of Valor, Ltd. designs and produces many of their own swords. For 2007 they would like to give one lucky person a chance to have their sword design made into a real sword. The sword will be forged by Generation 2 with a high carbon spring steel blade and razor sharp edge. Sketch, draw, or paint your design, and scan it. Then use the form at Arms of Valor to file your submission. Please include as much detail as possible – front, side, and top view as well as the measurements. What do you receive if you win? Why, one of the swords, of course!

Along with your design you can also submit a short story or history that goes with your sword. When the sword is produced our artist will create a print of the sword in action (based on your story) that will be included with each sword. You’ll need to email them for the deadline, as none was posted. Visit the site to learn more.

In 1999, Architecuture for Humanity (AFH) hosted an international design competition to develop transitional housing for returning refugees in Kosovo. At the launch they held a press conference at the Van Alen Institute in New York. Around an hour before the conference, Ilja von Nagel and Cameron Sinclair, executive director and cofounder of AFH, quickly scrawled together a competition poster and logo. Suddenly they had a graphic identity and it has stayed the same ever since.

But now it’s time for a change. The ten top designs will recieve the book, Design Like You Give a Damn, and the top team will receive $1000. Plenty of concise guidelines on the site. Deadline is 15 December 2006.

BTW - AFH is looking for a person to serve as Interim Managing Director in Sausalito, California and another to serve as a Project Manager in Biloxi, Mississippi. The second position pays a stipend to the right person. Visit the jobs page at AFH.

If you work for a newspaper, you might dig this news - The Pulitzer Prize Board has established new rules allowing newspapers to submit a full array of online material such as databases, interactive graphics, and streaming video for its journalism awards. An assortment of Web 2.0 elements will now be permitted in all awards except for the competition’s two photography categories, which will continue to restrict entries to still images. Read more about the Pulitzer Prize Board changes at Online Journalism News >>>

The Jolt Product Excellence Awards recognize the most innovative, trend-making, ahead-of-the-curve products. Jolt-award winners are the software products, books and websites that developers should be using today. You may submit a 5-minute Flash video, PowerPoint or webinar consisting of 5-10 examples of your product’s most salient and standout functionality. The examples may be illustrated with static screenshots, real-time animation or an application demo. White papers, customer testimonials and other information may also be made available to the judges. While the supporting product information is not a requirement for submission, it does help for the judges to see what your product does and aids in finalist selection. They highly recommend that you submit any supporting information that is available, as judges only examine and evaluate “actual” products in the Finalist phase.

The deadline for nominations is 15 December 15, 2006. Eligible books and products must have been published or had a significant version release in the calendar year 2006. Visit the site for more information.

Reflecting the tremendous growth of the Mobile Internet, The Webby’s are proud to announce the launch of The Webby Mobile Awards presented by dotMobi, the first and only address dedicated to users who access the Internet through their mobile phones. The Webby Mobile Awards will feature three categories: Listings & Updates, News & Entertainment, and Mobile Marketplace, (which will honor sites selling products and services). Naturally, all entries will be judged on mobile devices.

The deadline for mobile entries is 15 December. Winners will be honored at the 11th Annual Webby Awards Gala in June in New York City. Visit the site to enter.