A design competition between the euro mints has resulted in the pre-selection by the Mint Directors of 5 designs.

To celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the launch of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and the creation of the euro, all euro-area countries will issue a commemorative 2-euro coin with a common design. It will be available at the beginning of 2009.
A design competition between the mints of the euro area has resulted in the pre-selection by the Mint Directors of 5 designs, presented here. The final winning design will be selected exclusively by your votes via this web page.

The selection is open to all EU citizens and residents. Each person may only vote once. A prize of a set of high-value euro collector coins will go to a participant chosen at random from those who voted for the winning design. Voting will be closed on 22 February 2008.

Please visit the site for more details.

The premier design and interactive media competition for higher education students from around the world. The Adobe Design Achievement Awards celebrates student achievement reflecting the powerful convergence of technology and the creative and interactive arts.

The competition honors the most talented and promising interactive, motion and video, and traditional media created by students.

Prizes awarded include a trip to the Adobe Design Achievement Awards in New York City, over $60K US in cash and Adobe software prizes.

12 categories in 3 Media Areas

Interactive Media Categories
Browser-Based Design
Non-Browser-Based Design
Designer/Developer Collaboration
Mobile Design
Installation Design
Motion and Video Categories
Animation
Live Action
Motion Graphics
Traditional Media Categories
Illustration
Packaging
Photography
Print Communications

For more info, please visit the site.

The Nielsen Norman Group is conducting a design competition to identify the world’s ten best application user experiences. The top ten winners will be announced in September 2008.
Did you design a vertical-market application that’s great for, say, dentists, but you’re tired of never having anybody but dentists see your work? Or did you design a mission-critical enterprise app that’s making your company big bucks, but nobody outside the firm ever heard of it? It’s time for the people who design great practical applications to share the limelight. Enter your work for the award. Winners will get substantial publicity and recognition from being honored in the Application Design Annual.

Eligible designs: Applications are defined as providing features, commands, and functionality, especially to the extent that they allow users to access or manipulate complex or mission-critical data. (Thus, we exclude pure-information websites and intranets where the only user commands are to navigate. We also don’t consider games for this award.)

For more info, please visit the site.

MochiAds today announced that they are launching the “Flash Rock Star Games Contest” with Gaia Online. The contest is designed to recognize new talent among Flash game developers. Winners will be determined by Gaia’s community as well as a panel of judges over a three-month period. The winners will be awarded game development contracts from Gaia and receive over $25,000 worth of cash and prizes.

“This contest is a unique opportunity for Flash game developers to get the exposure they deserve,” said Mochi Media CEO Jameson Hsu. “There are a lot of talented developers out there, and we’re excited to bring them tools that increase community interaction with their games.”

The Gaia Audience Prizes will be determined during the month of April 2008. Contest entries will be showcased to members of the Gaia online community, who will play and vote on their favorite games. The games with the highest community score will determine the Audience Prize results.

Please visit the site to enter.

The “Call for Entries” is out for the best developed games Independent game developers have to offer. Now in its’ third year, this year’s contest promises to big bigger and better than ever beforewith more games and prizes. There are two catagories for game entries - General and Casual. The Winner of each catagory will receive a specially configured game development workstation and there are several prizes for Fianlists and Semi-Finalists. Also, to celebrate our upcoming generation of game developers, ECD Systems has added a special recognition award for student entries. Winner of the “Best Student Entry” will receive a cash scholarship award.

Voting begins March 14, 2008 so get your game entered early and help “Fuel the Fun”. If last year is an indication of what to expect, several million unique visitors will be coming to the site every month to play games and experience the latest and greatest developments of the Indie game development community. You see, the Indie Game Contest is not only a competition, it is an opportunity for Indie developers to showcase and promote their games and talents.

ECD Systems looks forward to assisting you and working with you. We truly wish you ALL the very best!

To submit a game, please visit the site

Call for entries
The Royal Institute of British Architects is once again on the lookout for potential RIBA Stirling Prize winners. Following on from the success of David Chipperfield’s Museum of Modern Literature in Germany in October, the search has begun to find the best examples of new British architecture. Practices up and down the country are urged to submit projects of architectural excellence to the 2008 RIBA Awards scheme.

The RIBA awards programme, supported by The Architects’ Journal, is largely unchanged following the successful introduction of a new pyramid structure in 2007.

RIBA Awards |are judged and presented locally. The next level is the RIBA National Awards |which are judged and presented nationally.

The RIBA Stirling Prize |shortlist is selected following further visits to winners of the RIBA Awards and of RIBA European Awards |for buildings in the rest of the EU.

From 2008, the RIBA Stirling Prize goes back to its roots as a ‘built or designed in Britain’ prize, for which only RIBA Award-winning buildings in the UK by RIBA chartered members and International Fellows, or buildings in the rest of the EU by practices whose principal office is in the UK, will be considered. The move will strengthen the British connection with the prize, while maintaining the competitive edge that buildings in Europe have always provided. Eligibility for all awards up to the RIBA Stirling Prize remains unchanged.

Now in its third year, the Lubetkin Prize |shortlist is drawn from winners of RIBA International Awards for buildings in the rest of the world. Supported by The Architectural Review, the Lubetkin Prize will be presented to the most outstanding work of architecture outside the UK and the European Union by an RIBA member. The Lubetkin Prize will be judged by a jury which will visit the buildings on a shortlist drawn from winners of the RIBA International Awards|.

Awards ceremonies
The RIBA Awards will be presented at local ceremonies; the RIBA National, European and International Awards, the Lubetkin Prize and the award for RIBA Client of the Year, will be presented at a dinner to be held at the Hilton Hotel, London on 27 June 2008. Winners of RIBA National Awards and RIBA European Awards will be eligible for the RIBA Stirling Prize (given the above proviso) and for the Stephen Lawrence Prize|. All RIBA Award winners will be eligible for a series of special awards to be presented at the RIBA Stirling Prize Dinner in Liverpool on 11 October 2008.

Commitment to sustainability
Once again the RIBA’s commitment to sustainable architecture is reflected in its awards programme, with all entries requiring a description of the building’s performance in use with particular reference to energy use. Energy performance statistics, signed by an environmental engineer, are highly desirable for all entries and mandatory for those projects with a contract value over £1 million.

To download the entry forms, please visit www.architecture.com/awards