Juried by a nationally representative jury of distinguished designers, art directors and photographers, each year’s Communication Arts (CA) Photography Annual features the best photography used for advertising, design, editorial and any other area of the communication arts. The judges of the photography annual are only judging the images, not the typography, design or art direction (entrants who want the design or art direction of their pieces to be considered should enter them in the CA Advertising and Design competitions). Each photograph is a single entry. Therefore, a piece with several images must be considered a series. There is a maximum of five images in each series; if a piece is entered and there are more than five images on it, the five that are to be judged must be marked in some way. Visit Communication Arts for details.

Juried by a nationally representative jury of distinguished designers, art directors and illustrators, each year’s Communication Arts (CA) Illustration Annual features the best work in drawing, painting, collage, electronic and three-dimensional illustration. The judges of the illustration annuals are only judging the images, not the typography, design or art direction (entrants who want the design or art direction of their pieces to be considered should enter them in the CA Advertising and Design competitions) Each illustration is a single entry. Therefore, a piece with several images must be considered a series. There is a maximum of five images in each series; if a piece is entered and there are more than five images on it, the five that are to be judged must be marked in some way. Many more directions are available at the site.

The 2007 Women’s Jewelry Association (WJA) DIVA design competition has gone platinum with help from Platinum Guild International. This year’s theme, “2 People, 3 Platinum Rings,” challenges women jewelry designers to depict one engagement ring and two wedding bands in platinum. In addition to a cash prize of $2,000 from WJA, the winning design will be manufactured by Lieberfarb, Inc., and displayed at the Platinum Pavilion during the JCK Show ~ Las Vegas 2007.

PGI is providing a packet of platinum benefits valued at $15,000. It includes a private two-hour consultation with Jurgen Maerz, PGI director of Technical Education and copies of all platinum technical materials produced by PGI. In addition, the winning design will be displayed on the PreciousPlatinum.com and on EngagementGuide.com. Read the rest of this entry »

Dare to be Digital, the UK’s premier computer games design competition for students, has launched its eighth groundbreaking season with a call for entries from Scottish and Irish university students.

The contest, hosted by Abertay University in Dundee, Scotland, is back for 2007 stronger than ever and now firmly established as the leading international event in its field. The organisers are planning for 60 to 80 or more talented young game developers from across the UK and Ireland to take part this year - almost twice as many as in 2006.

This year, for the first time, Dare to be Digital will be hosted in more than one location across the British Isles. Four teams from Scotland will be selected to spend the first nine weeks of the 10-week competition based at Abertay University designing and building a fully functioning prototype of their video game idea. Read the rest of this entry »

It was only last year that the one-day Event Apart event was held at Bell Harbor, and the Event Apart folks can’t wait to return to this wonderful location. Situated smack dab on the waterfront of picturesque Puget Sound, the Bell Harbor auditorium is beautiful, the food is delicious, and the chairs are Aerons.

But good as all that is, it’s nothing to the talent they’ve assembled for this special two-day show. Think: Tim Bray, father of XML and Director of Web Technologies at Sun Microsystems; Jeff Veen, Product Director for Google’s Measure Map; Andy Budd, Managing Director at Clearleft and well-known user experience designer; Khoi Vinh, Design Director at NYTimes.com; Shaun Inman, the brains behind Mint, sIFR, and some great design; Mike Davidson, CEO of Newsvine and web standards provocateur; Jason Santa Maria, the visual wizard behind the A List Apart redesign and many others; Eric Meyer, CSS expert and author of CSS: The Definitive Guide and Eric Meyer on CSS; and, of course, Jeffrey Zeldman, godfather of soul and author of Designing With Web Standards. Interested? Visit the site to learn more. Date above marks the end of the early bird registration special.

SIGGRAPH 2007 today announced the launch of FJORG! (pronounced FORGE), a new international computer graphics animation competition to be held at SIGGRAPH 2007, the 34th International Conference and Exhibition on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques held 5-9 August 2007 at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, CA, USA.

Sixteen three-member teams will be selected to compete in FJORG! for an intense, 32-hour competition held before a live audience at SIGGRAPH 2007. Each team will be challenged to create a character-driven animated sequence (of at least 15 seconds in length) based on a specific theme provided by the judges.

Competing for the coveted title of “FJORG! – 2007 Viking Animator,” teams will not only test their animation skills, but must also withstand multiple staged distractions in a test of skill, talent, creativity, and physical endurance. The winning team will be chosen by an elite panel of judges from throughout the entertainment industry based on judging criteria set forth in FJORG! Official Rules at http://www.siggraph.org/s2007/presenters/fjorg/. Winners will be announced at a special ceremony during SIGGRAPH 2007, and will receive various prizes as well as recognition as the first ever SIGGRAPH Viking Animators. Read the rest of this entry »

The Guru Awards are a special Photoshop competition just for conference attendees of Photoshop World (4-6 April 2007), and were created to honor and recognize the design, photography, retouching, and creativity of conference attendees. Since their humble beginnings in 1999, the Guru Awards have now become the most prestigious and coveted awards in the international digital imaging industry.

Any conference attendee may enter up to three pieces for judging in any one (or more) of the seven categories, including Artistic, Photography, Photo Restoration, Commercial, Photo Montage, Photo Retouching, and Illustration. There is no entry fee for conference attendees and only conference attendees may enter. To register for the award, visit the award page on the conference site. The deadline for entry is 15 March.

UPDATE: You might note the comment from Tom Gibbons below, and follow his link to read more about this contest, especially if you’ve already entered. Note that GDB does not endorse any contest on this site - the contests are posted merely for your convenience (see my About page for that notice).

Los Angeles Center For Digital Art (LACDA) announces an open call for their juried competition featuring digital art and photography. Entrants submit three JPEG files of original work. All styles of 2D artwork and photography where digital processes of any kind were integral to the creation of the images are acceptable. This call is international, open to all geographical locations.

Forty winners will be selected. The selected winners recieve one print up to 24×36 on museum quality paper to be shown in an international group exhibition in their gallery from 9 March - 1 April 2007. The show will be widely promoted and will include a reception for the artists. Read the rest of this entry »

The Foundation “Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Mangiagalli e Regina Elena” of Milan announces an International single-phase Design Competition for the redevelopment of the Foundation area in Milan. The objects of the Competition are the preliminary design of portions of the hospital complex and the definition of the overall urban design in line with the objectives and goals laid out in the PDD. Visit the site for details.

Groundview Films, in association with The Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture, is pleased to announce the Call For Entries to The Negotiated View Film Festival. Festival Updates and Announcements will be posted on the Groundview page and PDFs of all announcements will also be available for download from the “Download” page, so visit the site often.

Films submitted for consideration should deal with issues and ideas of place and landscape. Films that directly relate to the themes of the conference will be given special consideration. Visit the conference page to learn more.