SCION is a modern-thinking brand on the forefront of youth culture and innovation, known for engaging its consumers in an interactive quest for creative ideas. One of SCION’s trademarks is its support of organizations that also seek to connect with children and young adults in expressive, artistic ways.

In its mission to advocate community outreach and foster creativity in the younger generation, SCION now joins forces with Cut&Paste in the FRESHLY SQUEEZED WEB DESIGN CHALLENGE (”Contest”). The website design competition will benefit J.U.i.C.E., a non-profit weekly after-school program that allows the underprivileged youth of Los Angeles to express themselves artistically through dance, music, visual arts, and MC skills workshops.

As J.U.i.C.E. focuses its resources on programming and operations, they need your help: SCION’s new online competition, the FRESHLY SQUEEZED WEB DESIGN CHALLENGE summons all web designers, illustrators, graffiti connoisseurs, coding geniuses, hip-hop enthusiasts, and creatives all around to help J.U.i.C.E. refine their online presence with a brand new homepage design. Web designs submitted for the competition should embody J.U.i.C.E.’s urban aesthetic and youthful spirit, while adding to the site’s functionality as a user-friendly vehicle for communication.

So, help city kids, put $5K in your pocket, and get your work seen. Submit your designs for a new and improved Web site for J.U.i.C.E., a nonprofit hip-hop arts program for LA’s urban youth, and you’ll be entered to win five grand, courtesy of SCION. All entries must be submitted no later than 11:59 p.m. Pacific Standard Time on April 10, 2009. Visit the site to learn more.

Sorry for all the photo contests today, but it seems that contests run in waves. A month or two ago it seemed that the only thing that arrived in my email box was information about film contests. So it goes…

If you want to hunt down a place to take some great photos, you might try one of the Top 20 (Inexpensive) Nerd Getaways at Free Geekery. I don’t know about you, but I’m about ready for a soak at the hot springs in Ouray, or possibly a trek with Earthwatch.

Have a great weekend. I’m going to play “Can you see me now?” with Pinky until he passes out.

The VH1 Save The Music Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to restoring instrumental music education in America?s public schools, and raising awareness about the importance of music as a part of each child?s complete education.

Since 1997, the VH1 Save The Music Foundation has provided more than $34 million worth of new musical instruments to over 1,400 schools in 80 communities, affecting the lives of move than 800,000 public children.

The VH1 Save The Music Design Contest is open to designers of all ages from the US. Deadline: Midnight CST 20 June. Visit site for details.

The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators offer ongoing contests at their site. The most recent contest is the “Wacky Wedding” where illustrators need to send in thier version of an unconventional wedding.

The prizes are small but important to children’s books illustrators. The artwork must be original artwork created for this contest (i.e., it must be from an unpublished, non-contracted children’s book, or a freelance illustration that fits in with the contest theme). Any media can be used for the image — digital, paint, pencil, cross-stitch, paper, pastels, and so on. But it must be submitted electronically. Deadline: 1 June. Visit the site for details, and note that I’ve added the homepage for this site below right under “nonstop design competition” links.

The Hollywood Film Festival® and the Hollywood Film Awards® were created to discover emerging independent filmmakers. To be eligible for the Hollywood Film Awards® competition, submit a completed FEATURE, DOCUMENTARY, SHORT SUBJECT or MUSIC VIDEO. Submissions are accepted monthly. Submissions to the Hollywood Film Awards® competition are accepted monthly; the submission deadline is 30 April 2007 (postmarked).

The Hollywood Film Festival® prefers paperless entries submitted via The International Film Festival Submission System (BrigitFest) – on the Web at Withoutabox.com. Visit the contest site first to read about all the details on categories, etc.

Honest Technology Co., Ltd., a leading developer and marketer of digital video software technology for multimedia contents on PCs, recently introduced the newest version of its Honestech Fireman CD/DVD Burner 3.0. Burning at surprisingly fast speed, Fireman 3.0 enables PC users to easily create multi-session data CD/DVDs, audio CDs, MP3 CDs, video discs and ISO images.
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