The AIA Committee on Design (COD) invites architects, students, and allied design professionals to submit sketches to the international 2009 COD Ideas Competition. In this unique sketch competition, submitters are asked to explore the legacy of modernist design, through a concept design problem.

Winners will receive funding to attend the COD Spring Design Conference in Boston and have their work exhibited at the 2009 AIA National Convention in San Francisco. Selected entries will be displayed on the AIA Web site.

Registration deadline is 13 February 2009. Visit the site to learn more.

Calling All Creatives!
MyToons.com Bumper Blastoff Animation Contest - With $7,000 in Cash Prizes - Now Accepting Entries Through Feb. 28
Online Animation Community’s Bumper Blastoff Contest Calls for Animators to Create Animated Bumpers and Compete for Prize Money

SAN ANTONIO - In response to positive animator feedback, MyToons.com, the world’s premier online animation community, is now accepting entries for Bumper Blastoff, its newest international animation contest, through February 28, 2008. Contestants are asked to create original animated bumpers lasting 30 seconds or less, for a chance to win their share of $7,000 in cash prizes. All animators, from students to professionals, are invited to enter Bumper Blastoff at MyToons.com.

Special Student Category:

Six “Rising Stars” in the student category will receive $500 each. One of the student winners will also be crowned “Supreme Rising Star” and will receive a professional portfolio review by INTERspectacular, Victor Newman of Freestyle Collective, and Michael Waldron of Nailgun.

Everyone else is invited to compete for one of MyToons.com’s three “Super Star” Awards. Winners will receive $1,000 each, with one “Supreme Super Star” grand prize winner being awarded an extra $1,000. In addition to these great prizes and worldwide exposure, MyToons.com will award limited edition T-shirts to randomly selected contestants on a weekly basis.

“The Art & Animation Community is our number one priority,” says Stacey Ford, chief creative officer of MyToons, “We are constantly looking for fun and creative ways to engage our members and promote their amazing skills. Bumper Blastoff will help us achieve this goal by empowering and rewarding the hard work and talent of animators everywhere.”

Animations entered into Bumper Blastoff will be judged by leading industry professionals Luis Blanco and Michael Uman, founders and creative directors of INTERspectacular in New York City. The nine winners will be announced on March 12, 2008.

“We’ve seen that students and beginning animators have tremendous talent and great ideas,” says Luis Blanco, one of the key creative directors of INTERspectacular, the award-winning New York-based design and concept studio. “We want to ensure that these amazing artists have equal opportunity to share their ideas and be rewarded for their dedication and creativity,” agrees Michael Uman, co-creative director of INTERspectacular. “The Rising Star category in Bumper Blastoff offers students a much-deserved and challenging opportunity to shine.”

Animators from across the globe are expected to participate in MyToons.com’s second worldwide contest. MyToons’ first contest attracted animators from countries as diverse as Australia, Brazil, France and Germany.

Winning selections will run as pre-rolls and bumpers on MyToons.com and on MyToons’ partner websites. This amazing opportunity will provide the winning animators with great exposure to the millions of people who enjoy MyToons.com. For more information, visit MyToons.com/blastoff.

About MyToons.com
Based in San Antonio Texas, MyToons.com was established in 2006 as the premiere online resource and entertainment destination for professional animators, students, artists and animation fans. Founded by industry leaders Paul Ford, Dan Kraus and Stacey Ford, MyToons.com empowers animators and animation fans everywhere by providing a platform for interaction and world wide exposure.

MyToons is a trademark of MyToons, Inc. All rights reserved. Other trademarks belong to their respective owners.
For more information, press only:
MyToons Inc.
Jessica Beers
(210) 227-8666

Reader contact:
MyToons Inc.
118 Broadway, Suite 316
San Antonio TX 78205
(210) 227-8666
(210) 227-8667 fax
www.mytoons.com

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 »

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 »

Seventh Generation and TreeHugger present Convenient Truths: A Green Video Contest. It’s all about Climate Change. If you don’t just talk the talk but walk the walk and leave a barely visible footprint…Catch it on camera, inspire them, and win PRIZES! Submit a video to us that shows us practical, easy and inspired ways to reduce your carbon emissions. But hurry - deadline is 28 February. Grand prize: An all-expense paid trip to the Alaskan wilderness from Alaskan Wildland Adventures, travel gear from Patagonia, and carbon offsets for the full trip. Visit Treehugger for details. It’s worth a trip to the site to view contest entries…

In response to growing unease over our culture’s rates of consumption and the notion of peak oil and its implications, THAW 2007 challenges designers of all fields to consider a world without oil and the consequences it would have for our design solutions and how these adaptations would, in turn, directly impact our lifestyles and immediate communcitys.

Designers of all fields are asked to submit designs and concepts for their respective homes and immediate communities, taking into consideration the implications of the “end of oil” on our culture, industries and lifestyles. No vague concepts accepted. Processes, social implications, material information and relevant research required. Visit the site for details. Deadline above is submission deadline.