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.

If you haven’t entered any CA competitions because you don’t know your competition, then it’s time to order a subscription so you’re prepared for next year. Communication Arts Magazine contains articles, technology reviews and resources, legal affairs, book reviews and available materials aimed at the professional artist. Plus, they put out occasional special issues and annuals on the subjects of photography, design, advertising and illustration (with features on the winners from those contests that you didn’t enter).