The Freedom to Create Prize is a celebration of the courage and creativity of artists, and the positive influence of their work to promote social justice and inspire the human spirit.

Every two years, Ilustrarte is an opportunity to see the world’s best illustration and to bring together in Lisbon illustrators, writers and readers of all ages. Ilustrarte 2012 is already the 5th edition. Children’s books illustrators from all over the world are invited to take part on the competition sending 3 original illustrations, unpublished or published after January 2009.

This summer Channel 4 is celebrating British street culture with some quality new programmes dedicated to the different elements of street-level genius, focusing on: street dance, urban sports, spoken word, hip hop and street art. Street art and graffiti is going to be represented by the TV premiere of Exit Through the Gift Shop and a new documentary focusing on the UK scene which will include writers like Robbo. Channel 4 wants to find new talent too, to help promote Street Summer across the UK in the only way which makes sense; with massive pieces!

We’ve been receiving warm support from all over the world since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. It wasn’t just people in Japan who were affected, people in many countries showed their warmth and support through various creative initiatives, making new connections and bonds across the world. We are proud to introduce ARIGATO project, founded in association with Tokyo Award, an art and design TV show in Japan and Design Association NPO.

Cultural Association Tapirulan, with the sponsorship of Centro Fumetto Andrea Pazienza, Associazione Illustratori and Sarmede – Paese della fiaba, is proud to announce the seventh edition of the contest for illustrators. Purpose of the competition is to select the forty authors to be included in the exhibition «Gli illustratori di Tapirulan» (The illustrators of Tapirulan), to be held in Cremona (Italy) from December 3 2011 to January 29 2012. After Tony Wolf, Milo Manara, Silver, Sergio Toppi and Guido Scarabottolo, the jury is now directed by another famous cartoonist: Roberto Innocenti.

IxDA 2012 Interaction Awards is open for entries. The award is the first of its kind, designed to recognize and celebrate examples of excellence in interaction design across domains, platforms, environments and cultures. The awards will recognize and promote recent outstanding works across domains, platforms, and cultures, highlighting the best examples of interaction design.

The American Academy in Rome invites applications for the Rome Prize competition. One of the leading overseas centers for independent study and advanced research in the arts and the humanities, the Academy offers up to thirty fellowships for periods ranging from six months to two years. Rome Prize winners reside at the Academy’s eleven-acre center in Rome and receive room and board, a study or studio, and a stipend. Stipends for six-month fellowships are $14,000 and stipends for eleven-month fellowships are $26,000.

The 38th International Humor Exhibition, organized by the National Center for Graphic Humor of Piracicaba (Brazil), is now calling for entries.

Political sloganeering used to be the realm of overpaid 'creatives' who wear black rimmed glasses and play table football most of the time before doing lots of cocaine and churning out something like 'We're all in this together.' Well times-they-are-a-changing because according to Radio 4 we are living in the Golden Age of the Placard, meaning everyone is coming up with their own political messages.

The main idea behind the festival and the competition is to promote modern art as the form of dialogue with the public and to encourage young artists to create art engaged in the reality. The artwork is supposed to be a creative response to this year’s competition theme: "Reality or fiction? Let’s pretend it’s not there."