“Raindrops keep falling on my head…”
That was the title song to the popular 1969 film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. The film is ranked #151 in the Top 250 movie list of IMDB.com by its members.

But raindrops are more than just lyrics in a song; raindrops are also crucial to the process of rainwater harvesting.

The IRHA (International Rainwater Harvesting Alliance) organization exists to educate and help the public to be aware of the benefits of harvesting rainwater by treating it as a sustainable resource.

In the words of the contest sponsor:

“The aim of this competition is to make the public, too often insufficiently informed, aware of the various advantages that rainwater harvesting offers by providing sustainable access to water.

“It is in this context that the IRHA invites photographers, professional and amateur, to present their vision on the benefits that this celestial resource can have for both humans and nature.”

Contest theme
The full title of this competition is “The Best Photographs on the advantages of the use of rainwater, Raindrops Geneva Award 2011.”

According to the contest rules your photograph may include the following ideas:

* Water is life, the essential element that supports human, animal and ….plant life
* Rain
* Sacred or ritualized use of water or the celebration of rain in spiritual ….ceremonies
* Thirst, scarcity and drought
* Water distribution, including the politics of water distribution, water as ….a commodity.
* The role of harvested rainwater for satisfying needs where ….water cannot be piped.
* Rainwater harvesting, the best tool for adaptation to the climate changes (storms, floods, ….drought)
* Rainwater collection, simple technologies at work, water purification

General submission guidelines

* Winners of the contest must provide a minimum 2000 pixel image in ….300dpi.
* Files must be submitted in either JPG or TIF (unsharpened)
* Photographs may be submitted in portrait or landscape mode
* Entries may be in black and white or color
* Photoshop or image touch-ups are limited to standard darkroom techniques
* Over processing or use of digital effects on images will be grounds for ….disqualification
* No images shot in a studio will be eligible for this contest

Upload your submissions to raindropsaward [at] irha-h2o.org (replace [at] with @)

Prizes

* First Place: 1000 Swiss Francs ($1,034)
* Second Place: 600 Swiss Francs ($620)
* Third Place: 400 Swiss Francs ($413)

Links and other contest information
All submissions must be accompanied by a fact sheet. See the official rules for more details.
This contest has no entry fees. The deadline for submissions is April 30, 2011. Follow these links for more contest information:

Official contest site
Contest rules and guidelines
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Graphic design school and you
If you are thinking about entering the Raindrops Geneva Award contest you probably have a good eye for images and composition.

But you can always improve your talents by taking classes at a graphic design school to learn more about photographic techniques, lighting methodology, and digital equipment.

Speak with a graphic design college representative and find out what sort of classes and educational opportunities are available to you.

Got art?
It’s time to clean out your desk because the old sketches or long forgotten brainstorm images you created for fun may be good candidates for an art competition.

You may be a professional in the graphics industry, an artist or just someone who likes to draw and create images, but whatever your station in life the More Glory Contest is seeking your best work.

The More Glory Contest sponsors state:

“Each of us has artwork laying around at home - like university, freelance or spare time stuff - that we are really proud of but may have never gotten the chance to present to anyone.

“Just choose your favorite / best / craziest / most innovative work that you have done so far and submit it. Done.”

What to submit
This is an open ended contest with no specific theme. The only request is to submit your best and brightest work.

You may send in any of your works in virtually any category of media such as:

* Photos
* Graphics
* Illustrations
* Installations
* Videos
* Animations
* Ads

Prizes
Every idea that Jovoto decides to license will receive £50 (80 USD) and a free flight for the winner to New York or Berlin and a night out with the crew of Jovoto.

General contest rules

* This is an open contest and anyone may participate
* If your piece was a joint creation please list the others as co-authors
* You need the rights to publish your work if they have been ….previously published elsewhere
* All participants need to have a registered account on Jovoto

Contest links and other information
There are no entry fees for this contest. The deadline for entries is March 10, 2011.

Follow these links for more contest information:
Official website
Registration site

Graphic design school and talent
If you are thinking about entering the More Glory contest, you probably have a good grasp of graphic design principles and layout.

But you can always improve your talents by taking a few classes at a graphic design school to learn more about the wonderful world of design.

Speak with a graphic design college representative and find out what sort of classes and educational opportunities are available to you.

It’s really surreal
Surrealism, most notably represented by the works of Dali and Magritte, can warp your senses and delight you at the same time. Its main tool is to use juxtaposition with objects, people or perspectives.

The Hugo Create 20: Surreal Appeal contest wants to see new concepts in surreal art by including its widely recognized icon, the Hugo Man bottle, into your creation.

Hugo Boss states:

“…the brief for the newest Hugo Create challenge is to create a design inspired by the least limited of the artistic genres, surrealism. Interpret it in a progressive Hugo way.

“What should surrealists be doing today? Should you be twisting the minds of Dali and Miró? Or should you revolutionize surreal to make it really real? Show how surrealism should work today, and include the Hugo Man bottle in your design.”

General contest rules

* Anyone 18 years or older may enter this contest
* All submissions must be in digital form and uploaded
* Files should be no larger than 500kb
* Image files should be in JPG format
* Image designs should be at least A4 or larger and 300 dpi
* You may submit up to 5 pieces

Prizes
10 winners will be selected for this contest. An announcement of the winners will be released in the early part of April 2011.

* Each winner will receive a cash award of $500.
* One overall winner will be featured in the Hugo Create blog
* The overall winner will be featured in the prestigious magazine, i-D
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Contest links and information
There is no entry fee associated with this contest. The deadline for submissions is February 28, 2011.

Official contest site
Contest theme and guidelines
Contest gallery
Submission upload site
Design tool kit (zip file)
Online design generator

Independent living
People who have disabilities must face the daily challenges of how to live in a world which is not necessarily geared to their specific circumstances and needs.

The Papworth Trust Photography Competition: Independence is a contest where photographers can address the overall theme of being independent.

The contest sponsor states:

“Papworth Trust is passionate about supporting disabled people to have more equality, greater choice and increased independence…Independence means different things to everyone, but interpretations could include:

* Not relying on someone or something
* Running your own life without interference”

General Contest Rules
You may submit either photographic prints or images in digital format. Send photographs to:

Papworth Trust Photography Competition,
Bernard Sunley Centre
Papworth Everard
Cambridge CB23 3RG

* Minimum size for prints is 5-by-5 inches
* Maximum size is 10-by-10 inches

Please note that prints will not be returned to contest participants. Make sure you send in a copy or have the original negative of your photograph with your entry form.

For those who wish to submit their images digitally:

* Digital photos may be in black and white or color
* All digital images must be in JPEG file format
* The maximum file size for entries is 3MB
* Resolution for digital images should be 300dpi
* Winners will be asked to submit hi-res versions of their images

Prizes
The top winner of this contest will receive a Sony Handycam DCR-DVD 115E and be featured on the cover of the Papworth Trust’s 2011 Annual Review.

Other winners will receive various items that have been donated by local businesses and firms.

Contest Links and other information
Anyone may enter who is 16 years or older. If you are 16 years of age you will need the consent of a parent or guardian in order to participate in this competition.

You may enter up to 3 photographs and may implement minor changes to your images to enhance them (i.e. contrast, clarity, color). However, excessive manipulation of your images will be grounds for disqualification.

This competition ends on February 25, 2011 and has no entry fees associated with it.

The following links provide more contest information:

Official contest site
Contest rules (Word document)
Contest entry form (Word document)

Design a great t-shirt for Firefox
If you can read this you may be one of the many who use Firefox as the preferred browser for surfing the Internet. You now have a chance to help celebrate the coming release of Firefox 4.0 by creating a cool t-shirt.

Mozilla, the developers of this free browser states:

“Create a unique t-shirt design that captures the essence of the upcoming release of Firefox 4. You’ll be designing for the front only, as the back will already have the Firefox word-mark printed.”

Things to consider before designing the t-shirt
Mozilla strongly recommends designers to familiarize themselves with several aspects of the Firefox brand and what should be considered when creating their images:

“* Mozilla has given the browser a completely fresh new look, and loaded it with cutting edge new features….

* At its core, Firefox is about people and is powered by an amazing global community of individuals working together to make the web a better place for everyone.

* You’re highly encouraged to interpret the above themes in creative, abstract and interesting ways. Please don’t be literal. For example, note how the Firefox 3 t-shirt design embodies the concept of community in a creative way.

* It’s not a requirement to use the Firefox logo in your design.”

General contest rules

* The best placement for the design is a 10-by-10 inch square on the front of the t-shirt
* Be sure to describe what colored t-shirt your design will be on
* Do not submit t-shirts with designs on them. Send in only images
* Your images should be in hi-res (300 dpi)
* Graphic files should be saved in either PNG or JPG (keep your original)
* Your originals should be created in a SVG format (Illustrator, Inkscape, etc.)

The winning design will be used for the printing of the official Firefox 4 Launch t-shirt. The t-shirt design will be listed in the Mozilla store and will be distributed to Firefox fans and contributors.

The winner will have bragging rights as the sole winner of this contest.

Other information and contest links
The deadline for this contest is March 13, 2011. This contest is free to enter. The following links provide more contest information.

Official contest site
Previous contest design examples
Registration site

Sackboy or Sackgirl to the rescue!
The LittleBigPlanet games are a wonder to behold as gamers solve mind-bending puzzles and perform death defying leaps, jumps, and aerobatics. Sackboy and Sackgirl are the heroes of the game.

One of the most popular features of this game franchise is the ability to make and design your own game levels and share them with others.

The LittleBigPlanet 2  Game Level Creation Contest wants to see the best original level design ideas from gamers, artists, and anyone who loves the LittleBigPlanet series.

What the contest is about
DeviantART.com provides the needed graphic assets you’ll need to create your best game level concepts. You can incorporate these assets or use them as a springboard for inspiration.

Entries may originate in digital form, clay sculpture, a collage of various graphics and any medium you feel best represents your new game level concept. However, all submissions must be a digital file.

Contest submissions will be judged according to the following criteria:

* Creative Use of Assets Provided
* Sense of Fun
* Technical Skill

Contest prizes
Because this contest is for game level design, it only makes sense to gear the awards and prizes to gamers. According to the contest sponsors the following will be issued to the winners of this contest:

First Place:

* A Sony PlayStation 3 (320GB)
* A copy of LittleBigPlanet 2 Collector’s Edition
* $600 USD
* 12,000 deviantART Points
* A deviantART shirt of winner’s choice (depending on ….availability)
* A one year Premium Membership to deviantART

Second Place:

* A Sony PlayStation 3 (120GB)
* A copy of LittleBigPlanet 2
* $400 USD
* 8,000 deviantART Points
* A deviantART shirt of winner’s choice (depending on ….availability)
* A one year Premium Membership to deviantART

Third Place:

* A Sony PlayStation 3 (120GB)
* A copy of LittleBigPlanet 2
* $200 USD
* 4,000 deviantART Points
* A deviantART shirt of winner’s choice (depending on ….availability)
* A one year Premium Membership to deviantART

General contest guidelines
For complete rules, see the links below. The general contest guidelines are:

* You must be 13 years old or older to participate in this contest
* Submit digital entries as a PNG or JPG file
* Do not include any signatures or identifying marks on your artwork
* You may submit more than one entry
* Only digital images will be accepted for this contest, not hard copies
* You must have a registered (free) account with deviantART.com to enter

Contest links and other information
This contest is free to enter and ends on February 18, 2011. Winners will be announced on March 1, 2011. Follow these links for more contest details:

Official contest site
Complete contest rules
Contest asset packs for contest
Contest art gallery
Registration site for contest