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).

Juried by nine leading creative directors, art directors and writers, the Communication Arts (CA) Advertising Annual displays 250 pages of the best in consumer and institutional print ads along with posters, television and radio commercials. Everything is reproduced in full color. You can actually read the fine print. The full television and radio commercial scripts and a complete index are included for reference. All work must have been printed, published or aired for the first time between June 3, 2006 and June 1, 2007. Publication means an ad appeared in a form of mass media exposed to a substantial audience. Entries may originate from any country, but CA needs an English translation for the jurors. Submission of entries acknowledges the right of Communication Arts to use them for publication and exhibition. Visit the site for details.

Juried by nine top design professionals and attracting entries from 20 countries, each year’s Communcation Arts (CA) Design Annual features 250 pages of the best work in posters, brochures, packaging, trademarks, corporate identity, annual reports, catalogs, letterheads and signage, and is fully indexed for reference. All work must have been printed, published or aired for the first time between June 3, 2006 and June 2, 2007. Publication means an ad appeared in a form of mass media exposed to a substantial audience. Entries may originate from any country, but they need an English translation for the jurors. Submission of entries acknowledges the right of Communication Arts to use them for publication and exhibition. Visit the site for details.

It is a testament to the growing global reputation of D&AD that they have been able to secure this list of speakers from around the world. This spring you can hear out some of the biggest international influences in product design, advertising, interactive design, typography, branding and graphics:

• Vince Frost: 21 March in London
• The Branding and Environmental Issues Forum: SOLD OUT - WAITING LIST ONLY (28 March London)
• Wim Crouwel: 3 May in London
• Dan Wieden + David Kennedy: 21 May in London
• Pentagram: 22 May in London
• Hillman Curtis: 5 June in Manchester

D&AD is a not-for-profit organization donating all of its generated funds back into the creative community through education and enterprise programs. Visit the site for further information about the lectures and on how to book tickets (early is a good idea - they tend to sell out early).

NOTE: Deadline Extended to 16 April.

Looking for fame? Enter your great web designs in STEP’s Best of Web competition, sponsored by JupiterImages Unlimited, and get the recognition you deserve. As a winner, you will be interviewed and prominently featured in STEP’s 2007 Best of Web Annual.

In addition, the Grand Prize winner will receive a one-year subscription of multimedia resolution images to JupiterImages Unlimited-a $2500 value! Enter your Entire Website, Advertising (web banners, pop-ups, etc.) or Motion Graphics works in any of these categories: Consumer, Business, Self-Promotion, Nonprofit/Public Service. Visit the site for vitals.

UPDATE: If you plan to enter the “Envisioning Gateway” competition, the following information might help you to refine your competition entry:

The National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), Van Alen Institute (VAI) and Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation (GSAPP) today announce the launch of an international public design competition to create a new vision for Gateway National Recreation Area, a 26,600-acre national park located in New York. “Envisioning Gateway: A Public Design Competition for Gateway National Park” is being underwritten by The Tiffany & Co. Foundation.

“The public design competition is a dynamic forum for civic engagement,” said VAI Executive Director Adi Shamir. “With the announcement of Envisioning Gateway, architects, landscape architects, ecologists, planners, and urban designers worldwide are invited to generate innovative and compelling proposals that reflect the transformative power of public participation and celebrate the unique potential of this urban national park.”
Read the rest of this entry »

Individuals and groups, regardless of age, nationality, or occupation, and regardless of whether someone is a student, are invited to enter a rather complicated yet challenging design competition that is sponsored by SANYO Electric Co., Ltd. and supported by DESIGNTOPE, Inc.

The focus is on the “everyday-life product ideas and the freshness of the image designs,” the Grand Prix and the Awards for Excellence will be decided in final judging using the mockups and panel displays of the submitted data. Awards are substantial.

Everyday-life product = “A product that people come into contact with on an everyday basis and that is part of an everyday living environment such as that of homes, offices, commercial facilities, etc. There are no particular limitations on the actual size or economical efficiency of the product, but SANYO will verify the technical aspects.”

Date noted above is the deadline for the initial phase for this contest, the entry application period. Visit the site to view the details, the categories, and all the deadline dates for this competition.

An invitation is extended to all people interested in the design and development of better, more integrated, healthier and more innovative forms of privately developed residential communities to participate in an internationally open design competition for a site located north of Johannesburg, South Africa.

The competition will be open to local, national and international designers, and will not be restricted to qualified professionals, but to individuals or teams who feel they can contribute to the debate around the way people live in Joburg.

The winner will be chosen this year and the project will be completed in 2009 when the complex is officially opened. Registration for the competition closes on 30 April at midday. Information on eligibility, deliverables, site information and judging criteria will be available on the Jozi Style website.

The Fort Lauderdale Anime & Animation Convention will hold three events this year. The first event - Anime Supercon - is already moving along and will be held at the Inverarry Hotel on 13-15 April. Second event is the South Florida Comic Book, Sci-Fi, Animation & Anime Convention on 22-24 June. The final event, Florida Supercon 3, will be held on 7-9 December.

Each event has screenings or applications for various levels of participation. Visit the Anime Supercon site first, and then sign up for emails so that you can received updates on all events.

I want to give a shout out to folks in who have clicked in here from Adobe News Aggregator at http://weblogs.macromedia.com/. The couple above thinks that you all are the cat’s meow.

The top viewing numbers this past month come from: 1) New York; 2) Los Angeles (who held the #1 spot until yesterday); 3) London; 4) Chicago, and; 5) San Francisco. Toronto held a steady #5 all month, but they’ve dropped off the top ten stat list entirely. Instead, Calgary has climbed from out of nowhere to #6.

It will be interesting to see the top five cities at the end of March now, won’t it? Tell your friends about GDB and boost your city’s ratings…While you do that, you might note the following:

• Adobe has released their Photoshop Lightroom 1.0.
• It was a record year for entries to the Webby - go to the site to sign up for the next Webby announcements.
• The Ukraine Anti-AIDS poster competition deadline has been extended to 31 March. It appears that anyone can enter, but you might want to hurry to account for postal time frames.

Now excuse me while I pull the cat off the dog so I can finish reading the paper. Have a great weekend!