Qt Isn’t Just Cute
You may not recognize the term “Qt” but this framework development tool is used to create software that runs electronic devices and consumer items.

You’ll find Qt hard at work in products such as cell phones, coffee makers, laptops, printers, digital photo frames, touch screens, air traffic control systems and even special effects for movies.

The Qt (pronounced “cute” or “cutie”) Developer Days Conference 2010 is gearing up for its event to help applications developers learn more about the power and versatility of Qt.

The Qt conference will be held at two locations: Munich, Germany; and San Francisco, California; in October and November, respectively.

To help kick off the conferences the organizers are asking for submissions from designers to create an official Qt  t-shirt that will be passed out to the attendees.

The Contest Details
This contest is straightforward. The contest sponsors state:

“Whip out your watercolors, markers, crayons, digital design programs or whatever, and design a super-duper fresh 2010 Qt Developer Days t-shirt.

“If you win, your design/idea will be blasted on over a thousand t-shirts given away at this year’s Qt Developer Days event, and of course, you will get a free pass to this year’s conference.”

Basic Guidelines for Submission
The following rules are some of the guidelines for this contest. For a complete listing, see the information links in this article.

* Do not endorse any companies, firms or products etc. in ….your design that are outside of Qt and Nokia registered ….trademarks.
* Use only approved Qt logos if you are including this ….graphic in your t-shirt motif. Logo guidelines can be found ….by going to the Nokia.com site.
* It isn’t mandatory to use the official Qt logo for your ….t-shirt graphic.
* Incorporating the Nokia Qt brand colors is recommended ….but not required.
* Designs with profanity, religious or gang symbols will be ….disqualified.
* The winning design becomes the property of Nokia.

Contest Links and Information
For important information regarding this contest follow these links:

The Official Qt Contest Website
Complete Contest Rules and Guidelines
Official Qt Logos for Download
Brand Palette Colors
Contest Entry Form

This contest is open to all developers and designers. There is no entry fee. The contest deadline is July 30, 2010.

It Isn’t What it Used to Be
Wallpaper used to be commonly recognized as a product you could apply on the walls of a room to decorate and enhance its appearance.

But in today’s computer age wallpaper takes on a new meaning: a decorative image or graphic on computer monitor screens.

PixelGirl.com, a website that provides an assortment of icons and wallpaper for computer and mobile devices, is holding its PixelGirl Desktop Competition.

What the Contest Is About
Create wallpaper that incorporates vector graphics in some way. The theme for this contest is Cute Vector. The sponsor states:

“Your desktop must be able to fit into the theme. We are open minded about what is included in “cute” but it needs to at least be loosely associated with kawaii (cute) themes.”

Submission Guidelnes
The contest rules give specific guidelines for submitting your wallpaper. Some of them are:

* Original art only.
* Submissions must have vector components but do not have to be 100% vector.
* Up to 2 submissions per person.
* Entries will only be accepted in standard monitor resolutions (1280×1024, 1440×900, ….1600×1200, etc.)
* Your wallpaper must not have text.
* You must be over 18 to enter.

Complete guidelines can be seen on the official PixelGirl website.

Judging Criteria
According to PixelGirl, contest entries will be evaluated according to the parameters of:

Creativity: How well does the artist portray the theme of “cute?” Do they use vectors in a way that compliment the theme? How well does this composition work as a desktop?

Quality: How well is the desktop made? Does it appear high quality?

The Prizes

First Place:

* $50 gift card to iTunes
* $100 gift card to ShanaLogic.com
* $50 gift card to fractalspin.com
* Free promo code for Ramp Champ (an iPhone/iPod touch game)
* Free copy of Frenzic for Mac

Second Place:

* $25 gift card to iTunes
* $50 gift card to ShanaLogic.com
* $25 gift card to fractalspin.com
* Free promo code for Ramp Champ (an iPhone/iPod touch game)
* Free copy of Frenzic for Mac
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Third Place:

* $25 gift card to ShanaLogic.com
* $10 gift card to iTunes
* $10 gift card to fractalspin.com
* Free promo code for Ramp Champ (an iPhone/iPod touch game)
* Free copy of Frenzic for Mac

Final Details
Your entries must be received by July 31, 2010. The decisions of the judges are final. You must register with PixelGirl in order to participate in this contest.

Follow these links for additional information for this contest:

Free Registration Site
Official Contest Site
Submission Page (Registration needed to view content)

Into the Wee Hours of the Night
Many are the gamers who have pulled “all-nighters” in their quest to win their campaigns against the formidable races of the  Zerg, Protoss or Terrans.

To any serious PC gamer, StarCraft represents one of the finest RTS (real-time strategy) game franchises around. The gameplay is simple enough for virtually anyone to understand, while also allowing a surprising amount of depth for advanced players.

If you are a graphic designer or talented artist and are also a fan of StarCraft, you can put your skills to the test in Blizzard’s StarCraft II Poster Contest.

Create a “Propaganda” Poster
The embattled sentient races of the Zerg, Protoss and Terrans need help in creating posters that will help each of their respective military forces to generate local support for their war efforts.

Are you able to design a propaganda poster that can incite a call-to-arms for new recruits and rally the troops? If so, read on soldier!

The Details
Your poster theme should convey a sense of patriotism and support for one of the warring races, instill fear and suspicion of the enemy and gain support for the war against the adversary.

Your ideas need to be based upon Blizzard’s video game StarCraft® II: Wings of Liberty^TM.

Submitted entries should be no larger in file size than 5MB. The dimensions of your poster need to be 1024 x 768 in size.

Winner Selection and Prizes
Submitted posters that fulfill all contest guidelines will be displayed on the official contest Web site. The public will have an opportunity to vote for their favorite posters. The entries that receive the highest vote counts will be declared the winners. Eight runner up prizes will also be distributed.

According to the Web site the following prizes will be awarded:

Grand Prize Winner

* One Alienware M11x Laptop
* One Alienware OptX 2310 3D 120Hz LCD monitor
* One NVIDIA® 3D Vision^TM Kit
* One Razer Mamba^TM gaming mouse
* One Razer Sphex^TM gaming grade desktop skin

Second Place Winner

* One Alienware M11x Laptop
* One Razer Mamba^TM gaming mouse
* One Razer Sphex^TM gaming grade desktop skin

Third Place Winner

* One Alienware OptX 2310 3D 120Hz LCD
* One NVIDIA® 3D Vision^TM Kit
* One Razer Mamba^TM gaming mouse
* One (Razer Sphex^TM gaming grade desktop

Runner Up Winners (8)

* One  Razer Mamba^TM gaming mouse
* One  Razer Sphex^TM gaming grade desktop skin

Important Contest Links and Other Information
Go to these Web pages for additional details about this contest:

Official Contest Website
Poster Examples and Ideas
Contest FAQs
Complete Contest Rules and Guidelines

The deadline for this contest is July 8, 2010. There is no entry fee.

Do You Have a Graduate Degree?
Some graphic designers decide to take the next step in their higher education by pursuing a master’s degree. They do it for personal achievement and satisfaction or as a means to qualify for more advanced job positions.

If you have a graduate degree from a university or graphic design school you may qualify for the Emerge 2010 London Design Festival Contest.
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What the Contest is About
Up to fifteen winners will be assigned the job of designing posters for the London Underground—one of the largest metro systems in the world.

The publicity gathered through the display of these posters is sure to boost public and professional awareness for the winning designers.

The posters will be exhibited throughout various stations in East London Underground and may also present an opportunity for the designers to earn extra cash through the sale of their associated limited print editions.

How to Enter
In order to qualify for this contest you must have a master’s degree or MFA in graphic design from a graphic design college, university or online education center.

Go to the official contest Web site for the contest entry form and further submission details.

The design motif of your poster is up to you. Winners will be selected by a special official from the London Underground.
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Important Contest Links and Additional Information
Visit the following Web site links for information about this contest:

Emerge Contest Web site
Contact for Questions

The deadline for entries is July 2, 2010. There is no entry fee for this contest.

Campania Jewelry - Exquisite Designs
Polo Orafo Campano and the Italian Jewelry Awards are sponsoring an International Jewelry Design Competition for all jewelry designers 35 years of age or younger.

The jewelry design contest is held to inspire fresh ideas in the use of materials and fabrication methods that are applied in the fine art of crafting southern Italy’s Campania region style of jewelry.
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The contests sponsors state:

“Only few other territories across the world can match Campania’s strong identity in terms of materials, processes and production techniques used in goldsmithing.

“Coral, lava stone and shell stone are the DNA that make up Campania jewelry, entwined with cameo and intricate jewel crafting, bead setting or inlay works.”

The Contest Categories
The competition is divided into three major entry groups:

* Materials and Techniques of Campania Jewelry
* Shapes and Styles of Campania Jewelry
* New Uses of Materials and Techniques of Campania Jewelry

The detailed explanations for each category can be found by going to the official contest site.

Contest Requirements
There are several conditions that must be met in order to qualify for this competition such as including a brief summary of your design with included sketches, your contact info, and a CD containing the images of your creation in jpeg or tiff formats. Image resolution should be 300 dpi.

The specific requirements for artwork and other important guidelines can be downloaded as a PDF document by following this link.

Judging Criteria and Awards
According to the contest sponsors:

“Designs shall strongly be selected on the basis of originality, degree of innovation, ability to express forms, materials and techniques linked to Campania excellence in a contemporary style.

“The spirit of experimental designs shall focus importance, while blending with the more functional and ergonomic characteristics of all jewelry.

“Particular attention and appraisal shall go to a user-centered design, where design takes on a methodological role, straying from a pure aesthetic nature.”

There will be three cash awards:

First Place:      €2,000    (2,393.33 USD)
Second Place: €1,500     (1,795.08 USD)
Third Place:    €500         (598.324 USD)

Additional Contest Information
All entries must be received by July 5, 2010, noon. Please take this into consideration regarding the time factor in sending your entries via international mail. Check with your local post office for information on shipping times.

Send your entries via mail to:

Concorso Internazionale di Design Gioiello Campano/
Campania Jewelry International Design Competition
Universal Marketing sas
Viale Palmiro Togliatti, 1663
00155 Rome, Italy

Visit the official contest site for further information. This contest does not require entry fees.

Send your questions to info.ija [at] universalmarketing.it

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Calling All Designers
The Seoul International Design for All Competition is a unique opportunity for designers from a broad range of design backgrounds to compete for cash prizes and awards.

Seoul, Korea has been designated World Design Capital 2010 and is celebrating this honor with a design fair and contest.

The Design for All competition’s objective is to provide an open forum for all designers, regardless of their specific fields of expertise, to share and present their creations.
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The Entry Categories
According to the official website, designers may submit their work in the following contest categories and their respective sub categories:

* Product for All
- Product
- System
- Fashion
- Craft

* Communication for All
- Graphic
- Advertisement
- Moving Image
- Animation

* Space for All
- Interior
- Environmental Design
- Architecture

Awards
Various cash prizes totaling $26,000 USD plus contest award certificates will be given to the winners of this competition. According to the contest sponsors, the awards are:

* Golden Haechi prize: one winner, US $10,000
* Silver Haechi prize: three winners, US $2,000 each
* Bronze Haechi prize: five winners, US $1,000 each
* Iron Haechi prize: max. ten winners, US $500 each

* Honorable mention: within two hundred people, certificates for each
* People’s choice awards: twenty winners, certificates for each

How to Enter
Perspective contest candidates must first register at the official website. Submissions are to be uploaded to the entry website with a valid free account.

The deadline for submissions is July 13, 2010. There are no entry fees for this contest.