The “Speak New Words” Music Video Contest is available to U.S. high school and college students who are between the ages of 14-22. You must be a U.S. citizen and enrolled in high school or college in the United States. You must create an audio-visual video, no shorter than one minute and no longer than three and one-half minutes, in which you perform original (created by you) words (lyrics - spoken or sung) that will inspire your generation to greatness.

There are TWO $5,000 Grand Prizes, one for each category. Entrants must have Internet access and be a registered member with a valid YouTube account in order to compete in the Contest. Entries must be uploaded to YouTube no later than 11:59 PM EST on 9 September 2007. Visit the site for details.

The BBC News is offering various themes and deadlines in their Photographer of the Year 2007 contest. They are looking for attention-grabbing photos where the photographer interprets the themes as widely as possible.

The current theme is “blue,” and its deadline is 8 July 2007. You may enter up to three images per category. Following the closing date for each theme the 12 best pictures will be selected by the BBC picture desk and displayed in a picture gallery a week later. You will then have 48 hours in which to vote for your favourite.

The two photos that get the most votes will go forward to the final and one of you will be awarded the title of BBC News website Photographer of the Year 2007. Visit the site for details.

It appears that some illustrators have become irked over the illustration contest being held by a nonprofit German literature magazine. Why, I don’t know, as I don’t want to read posts written by cranky people.

Nonetheless, the illustration contest has some entries now with some favorable response by illustrators who are starting out and who want their illustrations to receive some public coverage. The contest also now has its own site, so go visit and try to be nice.

The Miami Herald’s ‘Great Cartoonist Search’ Contest (”Contest”) is open to individual cartoonists or teams of two (2) cartoonists who are U.S. residents. Contestants must be 18 or older. This Contest is sponsored by The Miami Herald Media Company, 1 Herald Plaza, Miami FL 33132-1693 (”Sponsor”). Employees of MHMC, The McClatchy Company, or their subsidiaries and affiliates, and their immediate families, are not eligible to enter.

Since all the rules are copyrighted (!), I’ll just send you to the contest page. Deadline 11:59 EDT on 24 July 2007.

The 123RF Flaunt It! Design Competition is a contest for the creative to showcase their artistic works and compete in 123RF’s friendly and supportive community. Anyone can join. Designs submitted must incorporate images from 123RF.com. This contest gives you the opportunity to express your creativity and win some fantastic prizes at the same time. Grand prize is 15″ 2.2 GHz Apple MacBook Pro (RRP. $1999).

Deadlines begin with round 1 period ending 15 July 2007. Visit the site for details.

At left: Oars by Edward Mole.

With over 12 million visitors a year, the Lake District has become one of the most popular British holiday destinations. With close on 1000 square miles of breathtaking countryside, it’s a photographers’ paradise and now, once again, photographers both professional and amateur are invited to take part in the second annual photographic competition held by the visitors’ website The Lake District Guide ( www.lake-district-guides.co.uk ).

Following the success of the website’s first photographic competition, the organisers are keen to encourage this year’s photographers to be as creative as possible and to keep an eye out for those more unusual shots of the Lakes. Although this is not to discourage the beautiful landscape shots on offer at every turn in one of the most photogenic areas in Britain, the unexpected photo can always bring a fresh viewpoint and a new appreciation of the familiar. The photographs can be of landscapes, people, places or activities. Indeed, anything associated with the Lake District is welcome.

Deadline is 31 October 2007. Visit the site for details.

Via: Digital Photography Now

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) invites college students from the arts, including industrial design, architecture, computer design, and the fine arts, to submit their work on the theme: Life and Work on the Moon.

The art contest gives students and faculty an opportunity to form an inter-disciplinary team to collaborate with science and engineering departments, either at their institution or other institutions, to produce the most well-informed art work possible. One suggestion is that the art project be a for-credit semester long effort and include consultations with science departments to develop the final entry.

Entries will be accepted in three major categories: two-dimensional, three dimensional, and digital. Each category will have pre-determined size limits. Contest opens in August 2007 and all entries are due no later than 1 December 2007. Visit NASA for details.

Surface Magazine announces a nationwide search for the best new fashion photographers to showcase in The 10th Annual American Avant Guardian Issue and Exhibition. The Avant Guardian Contest invites photographers working or studying in the U.S. or Canada, who have not published a fashion editorial before 2006. DEADLINE: July 9th, 2007. Simply stated, the Project LAUNCHES CAREERS. LAUNCH YOURS. Submit to The Avant Guardian Online. ENTER AT SURFACEMAG.COM and START TODAY.

The 8th Seoul International Film Festival is open for entries. Seoul International Film Festival Net Section is trying to introduce talented visual artists all over the world and their brilliant works and to lead the new audio-visual experiences based on the Internet and New Media.

The festival runs from 6 September to 31 December, and submission deadline is 13 July 2007. For the official competition, only works competed after January 2006 are eligible. Submissions should be creative works produced or adopted through digital technology. There will be no restrictions regarding the genre, length or subject matter of the work and all types of works, including fiction, documentary, experimental work, music video, animation, motion graphic, flash animation, game, web-art, etc. will be accepted. Visit the site for details.

VIA: networked_performance

The Royal Institute of British Architects’ Research and Development Department launched this new awards scheme in 2005 – the RIBA President’s Awards for Research – to reward and encourage outstanding research in architecture carried out by PhD students, academics and practitioners.

The awards will help to promote and champion high-quality research and encourage its dissemination and incorporation into the knowledge base of the profession. They will contribute to raise the profile of architects - practitioners and academics – engaged in outstanding research, and raise awareness of the need for research across the profession to foster innovation and strategic thinking.

Submission deadline is 30 July 2007. Visit the site for details and contact information.