Competition Brief

Create the poster for 2010, International Year for the Rapprochement of Cultures; a competition to promote better communication and understanding between all peoples and cultures.

OVERVIEW

The United Nations General Assembly has proclaimed 2010, International Year for the Rapprochement of Cultures, and has defined three main dimensions: dialogue, mutual understanding, and cooperation.

UNESCO, as a specialized agency of the United Nations entrusted with the mandate to build “the defences of peace in the minds of men," has been designated as lead agency of the Year within the UN system.

Let us recall that the quest for dialogue among civilizations, cultures and peoples is deeply entrenched in UNESCO’s Constitution (1946) as one of the best guarantees of peace in the world and constitutes an overarching objective of the Year 2010.

Furthermore, one of the major aims of the Year will be to demonstrate the beneficial effects of cultural diversity recognizing the importance of transfers and exchanges between cultures through implicit or explicit dialogue that underlines how all cultures and civilizations are interlinked and contribute to the progress of humankind.

The strategy of the International Year consists in mainstreaming the above-mentioned principles in all policy-making at local, national, regional and international levels through the involvement of the greatest number of relevant stakeholders. The activities carried out under the International Year focus on:

Promoting reciprocal knowledge of cultural, ethnic, linguistic, and religious diversity
Building a framework for commonly shared values
Strengthening quality education and the building of intercultural competencies
Fostering dialogue for sustainable development.

Participants of the competition are invited to express their vision and understanding of the “Rapprochement of Cultures” by designing posters that creatively emphasize the importance of exchange and dialogue among and between cultures in ensuring social cohesion and harmonious coexistence.

To learn more about the International Year for the Rapprochement of Cultures, visit the website at: http://www.unesco.org/culture/en/dialogue/rapprochementof_Cultures2010

DESIGN BRIEF

Design a poster that celebrates “2010, International Year for the Rapprochement of Cultures".

Entries are limited to text and images only.

Designers have complete creative liberty, and may freely use in their design the title of the Year ("2010, International Year for the Rapprochement of Cultures") in any of the following six languages that they are most comfortable using: English, French, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Arabic.

Entrants are free to play with the title in more than one language, but should not use a language they do not write fluently (for example, Chinese, Arabic, Russian).

Please verify the proper spelling of the full title of the Year as shown here.

NOTE THE FOLLOWING STIPULATIONS:
Incorporating the title of the Year in your poster design is optional, not mandatory.

Entrants must keep in mind the international nature of UNESCO and the celebration of the Year and avoid any reference to a particular country, region, culture or religion.

The final printed poster will be A1-sized (59.4 x 84.1 cm or 23.4 × 33.1 in). Although the online entry provisions do not allow for the full A1 dimensions, your entry must include at least one image showing the entire poster design scaled to A1 proportions. Note the “Entry Provisions” section outlined further down the page.

You must not include any logos on your design but instead use a placeholder. The final printed posters will include the UNESCO/UN logos + the official Logo of "2010, International Year for the Rapprochement of Cultures". To accommodate these in the poster design, entrants must save a place in their design where the official logos would be positioned in the event that your design is selected as one of the 50 to be showcased. The placeholder should be scaled to 9cm x 9cm relative to an A1 poster, and be positioned in the upper left hand corner of your poster. Click here to download the placeholder example. Since screen resolutions are different across computers, if the placeholder we have supplied does not measure 9cm x 9cm on your screen, you may recreate it to the 9x9cm dimensions.

Any person submitting a design within the framework of the competition certifies and warrants that his/her proposal does not violate the rights of a third party or any copyright.

All entrants must consult and agree to the competition Rules (see the Rules tab).

ENTRY PROVISIONS

Entries should be submitted in the format of a web-resolution jpeg of 72dpi. See the “How to Enter” section in the competition Rules for more details on image and file sizes.

Additionally, entrants should have their design readily available in a 300dpi print resolution PDF in case their poster is selected as one of the 30 to be printed. If your design is chosen to be printed, and you have verified in writing your acceptance of the usage terms, you would need to add the official logos (mentioned above in the "Design Brief") which would be supplied to you by UNESCO. (See "Proposed Usage of Winning and Selected Designs," below, for more details).

Each design submission should be accompanied by a description (French or English only, 400 words maximum) describing the design and what it intends to illustrate.

Entries that direct users away from the DESIGN 21 website will be disqualified.

PROPOSED USAGE OF WINNING AND SELECTED ENTRIES                                                   & ACCEPTANCE FOR SELECTION

50 posters will be selected for display in an online gallery linked to UNESCO’s website dedicated to the celebration of the International Year 2010.

From 50 selected posters, 30 posters will be printed for an exhibition to be held at UNESCO HQ in May 2010 in the framework of the UNESCO International Festival of Cultural Diversity. The designs of these posters will not be altered, nor used for commercial purposes.

The designers of the 30 chosen posters (or in the case of a submission with co-authors, the person submitting the entry) will be contacted directly by UNESCO. In order to be “chosen,” the designers must agree, in writing, to allow UNESCO to use their posters for promotional purposes and future activities related to the objectives of the Year 2010 and to grant UNESCO all reproduction rights. The designers of the 30 posters will benefit from the high visibility of their design; the artists’ names and nationalities will be included on the poster.

PUBLIC VOTE

As the official judging begins, all members of DESIGN 21 will have the opportunity to vote for their own favorites during a public voting period. During this phase, entries will appear randomly to ensure that all entries have equal chance of being viewed. You can vote for as many entries as you like, but you can only vote once for each entry. The entry with the most votes will be recognized as the Most Popular and will move on to the final round of judging. There is no obligation on the jury to award the Most Popular a prize unless they deem that entry worthy of the prize. All results will remain confidential until the conclusion of the judging period.

SUBMISSION DEADLINE

Tuesday March 9, 2010 at 6pm UTC
UTC stands for Universal Coordinated Time – which is dependent upon time zone so be sure to check what time that means to you. LATE ENTRIES WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED so do not leave your entry upload until the last minute in case you experience problems. Dates may be subject to change, check the website for updates.

Judging Criteria

In addition to the general judging criteria of Overall Effectiveness, Creativity, Practicality and Aesthetics, which apply across our competitions and are stated in the competition Rules, the judges for this competition will be looking for the ability to graphically and visually communicate the message of Rapprochement of Cultures in a compelling and easy-to-understand way.

The following principles will also be key:

How clearly does the design articulate principles of universality and plurality?
How well does the design promote a positive and diverse notion of “rapprochement?”

Your design should not include or make any reference to any particular region, culture, religion, conflict, politics or commercial entity, nor should it pose or connote negative sentiments or imagery.

Entries with logos or with negative or undesirable content such as those described above will be disqualified.

Entries that direct users away from the DESIGN 21 website will also be disqualified.

The judges' decisions are final.

Prizes

30 posters will be selected for printing and showcasing at UNESCO Headquarters during the International Festival of Cultural Diversity in May 2010. See “Proposed Usage of Winning and Selected Entries" outlined above for details.

From the 30, UNESCO will select an Overall Winner who will receive a $2000 cash prize plus an invitation from UNESCO to attend the poster exhibition at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris in May 2010. The winner’s trip (airfare, accommodation and per diem) will be paid for by UNESCO. The trip may not be substituted for cash payment.

In addition, two DESIGN 21 Advisory Board members will select their individual Judge’s Pick with a prize of $500 each.

Jury

2 experts from the Advisory Board of DESIGN 21 (names to be announced end of January) will choose their individual Judge's Pick. Their selection will be conveyed to the final judging panel.

2 people to be designated by UNESCO (names to be announced end of January) will select the 50 posters to be showcased, the 30 to be printed and exhibited at the Festival, and the Overall Winner. 

Competition Rules and Regulations

Prepare to qualify! General rules and a step-by-step guide on how to compete.

You should also read the competition rules and procedures contained in the Brief. Wherever the general Rules and the Brief conflict, the Brief rules and procedures supercede the general Rules.

Who Can Enter

The DESIGN 21: Social Design Network™ competitions are open to all registered members of the Network who are at least 18 years of age as of the date of entry.

How to Enter

Choose a competition you're interested in and note the submission deadline. You can enter as many competitions as you're interested in, and if you have more than one idea for a single competition, you can also submit more than one entry – however, we advise you to keep variations of one idea to ONE entry. Do not create multiple entries for multiple variations of one concept. Entry is free!

Once you select Enter, you will be taken to a page where you can upload your image, video or sound files. Read the individual competition description to know if there is a particular submission format for that contest.

Technical Requirements:

Photos must be jpeg only, resolution 72 dpi, with maximum picture dimensions of 550 x 550 pixels and a file size no greater than 1 MB (uncompressed). You can upload up to six images.
Videos and sound must be in the mpeg4 format with picture dimensions no larger that 480 x 320 pixels and a file size no greater than 10MB (uncompressed). Please be patient while video files upload.
Your entry must include a project description in English with a maximum of 400 words. Jurors will be reviewing multiple entries so remember to keep your description as concise and readable as possible.

Upload your images in the that order you wish them to be displayed. The first image in the series will be turned into a thumbnail image for display in the gallery. See the Gallery display of past competitions for examples.

Create tags (keywords) for your entry so that it will appear in the search terms for those tag names.

If you created your entry with other individuals, list their names in the Co-Authors field.

Check your entry carefully prior to submitting as there is no way to retrieve your entry once it has been submitted.

Accept the Rules & Regulations contained in the Brief and the general competition Rules and hit Send.

Submission Deadline

Please make sure that your entry is in working order and on time.

All deadlines are listed in UTC (Universal Coordinated Time) on the date specified in the Submission Deadline section of the Brief. UTC means a different local time for every timezone, so check what that means for you.

No responsibility is assumed on our part for late entries or corrupted files. Incomplete entries or entries that do not comply with the above format specifications will be automatically disqualified.

Note: Due to the high volume of last-minute entries, and the technical problems can that arise, WE STRONGLY ADVISE YOU to submit your entry well in advance of the submission deadline.

Dates may be subject to change. Any change of date will be posted to the website News section and to the specific competition Brief.

Public Voting and Judging Period

Once all submissions have been received, the judging and public voting phases for the competition will begin. Check the individual competition briefs for the dates.

Judging Process and Criteria

In all our competitions, the more aware your choices are, the better: everything from materials to execution to long-term impact is part of what we think makes good design.

A distinguished panel of design and media professionals and field experts from around the world will judge the competitions. Our general judging criteria are:

Overall effectiveness: How well does the solution provide an answer to the design problem?
Creativity: How innovative or inventive is the thinking behind the design?
Practicality: How successfully can the design be produced or put into practice?
Aesthetics: How strong is the design in terms of overall form and presentation?
Ecology: How well does the design respond to environmental concerns through considerations such as choice of materials, production techniques, life-span, recycle or re-use factors?
The degree of importance for each judging criteria is at the discretion of the jury depending on the nature and scope of the competition. There may also be additional, more specific judging criteria relating to each competition – check individual competition briefs for details.

Public Vote

While jurors are selecting their favorites in the initial phase of judging, all members of DESIGN 21 will have the opportunity to vote for their own favorites during a public voting period. During this phase, entries will appear randomly to ensure that all entries have equal chance of being viewed. You can vote for as many entries as you like, but you can only vote once for each entry. The entry with the most votes will be recognized as the Most Popular and will move on to the final round of judging. There is no obligation on the jury to award the Most Popular a prize unless they deem that entry worthy of the additional prize. All results will remain confidential until the conclusion of the judging period.

Prizes and Benefits

The distribution of prize money may vary across competitions – check the competition's brief for the details. Jurors may also award a placement to more than one entry, in which case the prize money will be divided equally between the recipients.

Prize winners may also receive a special version of the Allumonde Ring and a certificate from UNESCO.

DESIGN 21 may select a number of finalists to receive the DESIGN 21 Award of Excellence. The number of recipients of this award is at the sole discretion of DESIGN 21 and may vary across competitions.

As we develop our network to include corporate and government members, there will also be exposure to organizations that may be interested in implementing or adopting winning designs.

All prize money is subject to 30% U.S. federal tax withholding. Prizes are not transferable or redeemable for cash unless otherwise stated in the prize description of the Brief.

Display of Results

Entries will not be displayed until after the entry submission deadline when the public voting phase begins. Once judging is complete and all results have been determined, all entries will be displayed in the competition Gallery. Check the individual competition briefs for the announcement dates for each competition.

All prize winners and award recipients will be revealed in the Winners section of the gallery along with all remaining finalists.

All entries will be attributed to the entrant's username. Any names that were listed in the Co-Authors field of an entry will be listed in the detail view of the entry. The full names of the winners and their location will be published in the jury comments.

Notification of Winners

All prize winners and award recipients will be contacted by email at the conclusion of the competition.

Publication & Copyright

All entries will appear on the website for voting, judging and promotional purposes. DESIGN 21: Social Design Network™ assumes all entries are original and are the works and/or property of the entrant with all rights granted therein. DESIGN 21 is not liable for any copyright infringement on the part of the entrant. Winners will be notified and may be asked to provide high-resolution scaleable vector graphics version of their submission. Winners will not be asked to provide a prototype.