If you think you’ve got a bright idea for using LED lights in an interesting and novel way, the LED Emotionalize Your Light Contest wants your entry.

The competition is sponsored by Osram, a manufacturer of cutting edge technology in products related to lighting for home, business, and personal applications. Osram wants ideas that provide emotional LED solutions. Osram defines this as:

“…a special form of LED illumination designs which create an atmosphere that not only positively affects our wellbeing but also gives rise to moods and emotions…In turn, this energizing promotes health and wellness.”

Some recent entries have emphasized LED lighting for large scale use such as window and room lighting while others have gone the portable route with small devices that generate pleasant lighting patterns and colors.

The sky is the limit for your ideas and concepts. Entries do not have to be necessarily assembled or working, but can be conceptual in scope.

To send in your entry, click here to go to the registration website. The contest is conducted in two phases. Winning entries are selected in the first round by the judges and are critiqued on the quality, creativity, originality, and their feasibility in regards to following contest rules and parameters.

The following steps must be followed in submitting ideas for this contest:

1. Work out your idea for new LED light solutions
2. Upload your design and describe your idea
3. Add emotion tags and pictures
4. Upload additional attachments
5. Submit your idea

Rules and guidelines for the LED Emotionalize Contest can be found by clicking here. Cash prizes are awarded for first place, second place, and third place totaling 5,000 Euros ($7,076).

The deadline for phase one entries is June 25, 2009.

Welcome back to the Webware 100!

It worked before, so we’re doing it again: Today Webware is launching its second Webware 100 Awards, honoring the people’s choice for the best Web 2.0 apps and services.

In our 2007 awards, more than half a million votes were cast to determine the most the popular Web apps. This time, with more apps available and even people using Web 2.0 apps, the contest should be even more intense.

There are 10 categories for awards in the Webware 100. Each category will have 10 winners in it. We’ve freshened the category lineup for this year:

Audio: Music, podcasts, audiobooks.
Browsing: Browsers, start pages, RSS readers, widgets, runtime engines.
Commerce and events: Retail, auctions, travel, real estate, concerts, conferences.
Communications: E-mail, chat, voice.
Productivity: App suites, to-do lists, groupware.
Publishing and photography: Blogging, content management, photo sites.
Search and Reference: Search engines, encyclopedias, mapping.
Social: Social networking, family sites, recommendations, online worlds, contests.
Utility and Security: Infrastructure providers, storage, online protection.
Video: Video storage, playback, streaming, editing, and animation.

Nominations are open

Today we are opening up the awards with the nomination phase. If there’s a site that you want people to vote on, nominate it now using this form on www.webware.com/100. Nominations will close on January 25, 2008.

You all know the routine by now. Register for the Red Bull Art of Can exhibition in Houston and complete the forms before midnight 6, April. You receive email confirmation once your registration is received, and you’ll then need to submit a Transfer Agreement Form with your artwork. Artwork will be accepted from 29 March - 6 April at The Winter Street Studios in Houston.

Ok - what’s the first step? That’s right. See you at the application form.

Notice that the deadlines for application and for the acceptance of artwork in Houston are the same (6 April) - if I were you I’d fill out that application ASAP.

The Caribbean Advertising Federation (CAF) has announced their call for entries for the 2008 ADDY Awards. The annual competition recognizes creative advertising excellence in the Caribbean in all media — print, broadcast, multi-media, online, out-of- home and public service advertising.

The ADDY Awards competition is a three-tier local, regional and national competition, conducted annually by the American Advertising Federation (AAF). Local winners from the CAF will compete in the American Advertising Federation’s 4th District competition in Florida. The winners
of that competition will then be eligible for the ultimate prize — a National ADDY Award, announced in June 2008.
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Collins College is hosting an “Animation Sketch-Off” and a Q & A session with professional comic and animation artists Shannon Denton and Jay Fotos. The winner of Collins’ “Animation Sketch-Off” will receive four complimentary passes to Phoenix Cactus Comicon 2008, Arizona’s largest comic book, anime and pop culture convention 26-27 January. To RSVP for Collin’s “Animation Sketch-Off” and Q & A session, call 480-966-3000 or visit www.contactcollins.com. Participants need to be present to win.
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With a prize pot of more than £25,000 cash and vouchers and a purpose-built, stunning outdoor exhibition of the top 100 images, to be seen by hundreds of thousands of viewers at the world famous Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, throughout the summer, this competition promises to be the world’s premier garden photography show.

Competitors are invited to enter single images or themed portfolios in the following categories, Trees, Plant Portraits, Garden Scenes, My Garden and Life in the Garden, and there’s also a Young Garden Photographer competition.

BUT HURRY! Entries close on 31 January 2008. For more details and “How to Enter”, please visit www.gpoty.org.