Not a philosophy, but it’s definitely Flash! You’ve been invited to display your skills in the play and in the development of this new game. Flashosophy was created by members of the Flash Player team at Adobe Systems San Francisco. Their goal is to provide a fun place for both Flash game players and developers. Players will be rewarded with cash prizes for achieving high scores, and developers will be rewarded with Adobe software for creating games with their engines.

All games and engines are free. The site was launched last week and the contest starts on May 1st. Top scores are rewarded monthly through cash dropped into your Paypal account. Developers will be rewarded every two to three months by entering in the game creation contests. Visit the site to learn more.

This year represents HOW Magazine’s 10th Annual Interactive Design Awards. Enter your work in this competition to win a slot in HOW’s huge April 2008 Design Annual and to receive a $100 discount toward registration for the 2009 HOW Design Conference. One ‘Best of Show’ winner will be prominently featured in the April 2008 Design Annual and will be a guest at the 2009 HOW Conference - including round-trip airfare within the U.S., hotel and registration!

Categories range from business-to-business Web sites to “Miscellaneous.” Work must have been created between 1 January 2007 and 15 July 2008. Deadline is 15 July 2008, so get cracking! Visit the site to learn more.

Microsoft will show its latest tools and platforms for creating and delivering rich interactive content for the Web at the annual CRE8 conference in Orlando in a special keynote session on 1 May, where hundreds of Web and interactive designers will be gathered. Microsoft will be showing its Silverlight platform, which delivers interactive content across various computer platforms, including Mac, PC, and mobile devices, making it a compelling technology for CRE8 Conference attendees. Brian Goldfarb, a group product manager from Microsoft will also be showcasing Expression Studio software tools, which allow Web design professionals to create next generation Web sites, interactive content, and video for delivery to different devices, platforms, and browsers using Silverlight and .NET.

Following the keynote, Microsoft is delivering a hands-on training session for CRE8 conference attendees. The sessions will provide a guided tour of the Expression Studio software tools for creating Web sites, interactive content, and streaming video delivered using Microsoft Silverlight.

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The annual YCN Design & Communication Awards exist to inspire, support and showcase emerging creative talent, and to connect it with the creative industries. The awards centre around a collection of Live Creative Briefs, written each year by partnering organizations, and spanning broad creative disciplines. Every Summer, an exhibition of all Commended work is hosted in central London. The event presents all work Commended as part of the most recent awards, alongside much
more besides. The intention, as ever, is to put Commended work in front of as many senior figures from across the creative industries as possible – with a big celebratory Private View.

Categories include artwork, films and animation, interactive work (Mac-readable format DVD or CD with full URL), and any accompanying scripts. Submissions are invited from anyone aged 30 years or under at the time of their entry, and not working full time in a creative department (i.e at a design or advertising agency). If you are undertaking work experience or a creative placement then you are welcome to enter. Submissions are welcomed from overseas, and there is no entry fee. If you are in full-time education, there are no age restrictions. The deadline for submitting work is 6pm on the 28th March 2008. Visit the site to learn more.

The Fuse Factory is inviting Ohio artists to submit works and projects that explore and reflect the convergence of art, technology, and science, with a focus on the interdependency and reciprocity of their respective developments and impact on culture and society. Works in the fields of interactive media, animation, net art, photography, video, film shorts, computer games, wearable technology, performance art, kinetic sculpture, transmedia, experimental electronics, and sound art will be accepted.

Deadline is 29 February 2008. Visit the site to learn more.

Works carried out by students usually disappear into drawers after presentation to a relatively small college audience. There the work remains invisible. :output, the biggest international competition for students in design and architecture, wants to change that. The works selected by the jury will be published in the yearbook :output. The Deadline for submission will is 15 February 2008. Visit the site to learn more.

Anyone who is currently studying communication design, product design, architecture, interaction design or film at a university or a college is eligible to participate. Students who have graduated within the last 12 months may also submit final degree works. Any work, which has been produced as a student project, is eligible for submission. The work may not be older than one year. The project does not have to be published. Work related to any area of design and architecture, such as: graphic design / architecture / product design / typography / photography/ illustration / typeface design / multimedia, moving image and television graphics / experience design is eligible for submission.

Latest date for submissions is 15 February 2008. Visit the site to learn more.

For nearly five decades, the Clio Awards has been committed to the mission of celebrating and rewarding creative excellence in advertising and design, honoring one of the most influential forms of communication and its impact on modern culture. The Clio Awards, part of Nielsen Business Media, receives more than 19 000 entries from over 60 countries in a broad range of mediums including Interactive, Television/Cinema/Digital, Content & Contact, Print, Poster, Billboard, Innovative Media, Integrated Campaign, Radio, Design and student work, and are judged by world-class juries made up of more than 100 top creatives from 65 countries. The culmination of the competition takes place each May at the annual Clio Awards Festival, in Miami’s South Beach, attended by an international who’s who of advertising and digital marketing.

Deadline for entry submissions is 15 January 2008 for all entries first appearing between 1 January 2007 - 31 December 2007. Deadline for entries that originally appeared in the first quarter of 2008 is 29 February 2008. The online entry system for the 2008 awards program is currently open at www.clioawards.com.

Entries are currently being accepted for I.D. magazine’s 2008 Student Design Review. They are searching for the best work from design schools around the world in industrial, graphic, interactive and “miscellaneous” design. One Best of Show winner will get US $1,000 in cold, hard cash. Plus, all winning projects may be posted on the I.D. website (www.id-mag.com) with links to winners’ online portfolios, and will be featured in the I.D. September/October 2008 issue.

The 2008 Student Design Review is open to any student enrolled in a collegiate-level design program (undergraduate or graduate), anywhere in the world. All projects entered must be the result of a classroom/academic assignment, and must have been designed/completed during the 2006-2007 academic year. Deadline is 1 February 2008. Visit the site to learn more.

Don’t miss the 18 January 2008 entry deadline for Professionals and the 31 January 2008 deadline for Students from the Art Directors Club. It’s your chance to win a Gold Cube in the 87th Annual Awards. Enter your Advertising, Design, Interactive, Photography and Illustration, even unpublished work in Playground. There are also breakout categories, ADC Hybrid and ADC Design Sphere, and sponsored awards from Corbis and Yahoo! Visit the site to learn more.

This competition is now going into its sixth year and open to full and part-time students in creative advertising, graphic design, interactive design, photography and illustration from any country. Work that has been entered in past competitions is not eligible.

In today’s highly competitive market, the challenge is how to get noticed. One of the best ways is to promote your talent to Canada’s creative community and potential clients as a winner in the country’s biggest and most important awards contest.

Winners receive exceptional year-round recognition in three high-profile vehicles:

• Applied Arts is North America’s leading magazine for visual communications, with 65,00 readers, most are potential employers, who will keep Awards issues as invaluable references and sources of inspiration.
• Entering the Student Awards is a good career move, offering great portfolio exposure and you could possibly get hired.
• See how your work stands according to the highest standards in the industry, and a chance to see what’s expected of you once you graduate.
• Year-round our site features the winners in the Student Awards Gallery, which attracts more than 200,000 unique visitors annually.

FURTHER EXPOSURE! All winning work will be displayed at the Awards Winners’ Exhibit, held Nov. 2008, in Toronto. This unique gallery show is expected to draw more than 1000 attendees. (Location to be announced.) Deadline is 4 April 2008. Visit the site to learn more.