Central Glass has been sponsoring the Central Glass International Architectural Design Competition every year since 1966. Judged by architects renowned for expertise in their field, the competition has sparked interest among students who aspire to be architects as well as among professionals working both at architectural firms and in the design divisions of general contracting companies. The competition became an international event in 1976, when overseas entries were first invited. This global perspective is reflected in the timely and appropriate theme selected for this year’s competition - the environmental zoo.

An environmental zoo requires more than just a design for animal shelters or a collection of all kinds of animals. To achieve a sustainable global environment, consideration should be given to a symbiotic environment that includes the activities of humans with animals. It would be acceptable to propose animals shelters in accordance with this outline, and also acceptable to advance ideas about facilities wherein we may dwell together with the animals. From the standpoint of architectural design, proposals are wanted for notions of an environmental zoo that begins to make desirable relationships between humans and animals, not only as abstract proposals but also as expressions of reality.

There is no registration. All entries must reach competition office no later than 25 July (Wednesday), 2007. Visit the site for further details.

The Jürgen Schönhut Memorial CIP4 International Print Production Innovation (CIPPI) Awards were established in order to recognize leading printer, publisher, or prepress services that have demonstrated uncommon leadership in their pursuit of process automation technology. The CIPPI award is named after the late Jürgen Schönhut of the Fraunhofer Institute in Darmstadt Germany. Mr. Schönhut was a founding member of CIP4 whose contribution was instrumental in creating both CIP4 and its predecessor, the CIP3 Consortium (More information on Jürgen Schönhut). Each year CIP4 awards one printer, publisher or prepress for their accomplishments in each of the following categories:

• Most innovative use of process automation technology in an implementation.
• Best cost/benefit realization as a result of process automation implementation.
• Biggest improvement in efficiency and customer responsiveness as a result of process automation.

Nominations may be submitted by the printer, publisher or a prepress service, or by one of their supporting vendors on their behalf. The award is given to the printer, publisher, or prepress service representative identified in the application and a certificate acknowledging the award is given to each vendor identified in detail in the award application. Applications for the awards are due to CIP4 not later than 22 June, 2007. Visit the sitet for details.

Patricia Holloway, of the NPPA’s Women In Photojournalism Conference committee, has issued a “Call For Entries” for the WIPC’s annual photography contest. This year’s photo contest theme is “Expanding Our Vision.”

“There are no categories, only your interpretation of the theme,” Holloway says. “You can represent your definition of the theme through people, places, actions, or a milestone event.”

This year’s Women In Photojournalism Conference is scheduled for August 17 through 19 in Austin, TX, at the Hyatt Regency Downtown Hotel. For more information please see www.womeninphotojournalism.org. Also, again this year there is one scholarship available for someone who may need assistance to attend the conference. More information on the WIPC scholarship.

The first annual Monument Valley Film Festival is announcing a call for entries to all Native American film makers. The festival will be held this July on the Navajo Nation in Kayenta, Arizona, the gateway to Monument Valley where so many popular films have been made over the decades. This year’s festival will be focusing on original films directed, produced or written by Native Americans.

The new Festival is the inspiration of Shonie and Andee De La Rosa of Sheephead Films. Three years ago, the De La Rosa’s held the very first and only film festival on the Navajo Nation at the Stars in the Desert Film Festival in Tuba City, Arizona. Because of the huge success of that event, many people have been requesting that another film festival be held on the Navajo Nation. After careful thought and planning, Shonie and Andee decided to hold this years festival in conjunction with the huge 4th of July Celebration held in Kayenta, which includes a rodeo and pow-wow. Because of the celebration in Kayenta and the thousands of tourist passing through on their way to Monument Valley and the Four Corners area attractions, attendance is expected to be quite high.

All Native film makers are encouraged to submit their original works. There is no entry fee and admission to the film festival will be free to the public. Deadline for submissions is 1 June 2007. Visit the site for details.

ECD Systems, the innovator in anti-piracy and copy protection software, announced that entries are now being accepted for the company’s second-annual Independent Game Developers Showcase, a contest that draws the best new and unpublished games from independent game designers and self-publishers.

A key addition to this year’s event is a new category for casual games, a growing segment that is particularly popular among female gamers. The casual gaming market in the US is projected to be over $2 billion by 2008 according to the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) and the added segment is intended to further raise the profile of casual games. ECD also has bolstered its support of women gamers and developers through a recently announced platinum sponsorship of the Women in Games International (WIGI) Regional Conference Series. Visit the site for total information. Entries due by 31 March.

Adapted from The Freelance Designer’s Self-Marketing Handbook.

If you have an interesting story to tell, a press release will help you to make newspaper editors aware of it.

Maybe you recently won an award. Maybe you stumbled upon some interesting information in the field you work in. Or maybe your design contributed towards some kind of achievement on behalf of your client.
Depending on the scale and content of your story, you can send your press release to marketing websites, marketing magazines, the relevant trade press, the regional press, and even the business section of the national press.
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The USGBC Emerging Green Builders NewYork (EGBNY) invite you to engage in “Project Earth Day�– a sustainable fashion show honoring this annual celebration of the environment. Flex your creativity! Participate in our student competition–design a runway piece made from eco-friendly fabrics.

The competition is open to current design students in any field or those who have graduated after April 2006. EGBNY requests the submission of the following requirements for participation: a sketch using, but not limited to materials suggested on the egbny.com site, a 100 word description describing how the design concept, and a brief biography of the designer(s).

Participants can work alone or in teams. Please include entire submission as one PDF file. Submissions will be accepted from 1 March through 14 March 2007. Participants will be announced 15 March 2007, and all completed designs are due 6 April 2007. Visit the site for details.

The USGBC Natural Talent 2007 Design Competition provides an applied learning experience in the principles of integrated design, sustainability, innovation, and social consciousness; all of which are components of the LEEDâ„¢ Green Building Rating System. Participants will compete to be one of five local finalists, the top winner of which will move on to compete for a national award at Greenbuild.

The Competition is open to all university level students (of any discipline and level) and individuals with less than five (5) years experience in the building industry. Both individuals and teams are permitted to enter, but multi-disciplinary and international teams are strongly encouraged. Teams are required to complete an online registration form by visiting the Emerging Green Builders national website at www.usgbc.org\egb; only one form per team.
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Creative Commons, a nonprofit organization that provides flexible copyright licenses for authors and artists along with the Creative Commons Developer Community released the ccHost 4.0 today. ccHost is an Open Source web-based media sharing software. This release builds upon ccHost’s novel support of collaboration, sharing, and storage of multi-media using the different Creative Commons licenses and metadata.

These features most notably show up and are tested in Creative Commons’ project, ccMixter (www.ccmixter.org), a popular on-line social network service that supports legal music sharing and remixing. ccHost is the Open Source Software engine powering ccmixter.org and which anyone may download, install, and use to freely build media sharing communities.
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Emily at Inhabitat is heading down to Biloxi to see first-hand just what Architecture for Humanity (AFH) has been up to as part of their hurricane reconstruction efforts in that city. She writes:

AFH has a variety of programs in the works to help displaced citizens rebuild their homes, businesses, and communities through a collaboration with architects, designers, and other local entities who understand the intricacies of FEMA guidelines and the area’s new building requirements.

Now listen to this: Architecture for Humanity has partnered with Hands On Gulf Coast to host volunteers in Biloxi, Mississippi and in New Orleans.You’ll get to work one-on-one with residents as you help them to design, repair and reconstruct their homes. Accomodation and two meals a day are provided. Participants can come down for as little as a couple of days or as long as several months. So, if you know how to handle a hammer (or more) and if you want to soak in how lucky you are, then volunteer for this incredible opportunity. Visit AFH to learn more.