Overview

• Download Call for Entries (PDF)
• Contest Opens: February 10, 2011
• You can send entries from: March 10, 2011
• Contest Ends: May 10, 2011
• Maximum Number of Entries: No Constraint
• Entry Fee: None
• Entry Dimensions & Format: 70 x 100 cm, 300 dpi jpg
• Entries to be sent to: Email Link
• Follow us on facebook for latest news & updates: Hello Events
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• Background

India is the largest democracy in the world with a civilization more than five thousand years old that boasts of multiple cultural origins. India is truly a diverse nation—that’s why it is often referred to as a sub-continent. The diversity of the nation has posed tremendous integration problems since its formation, yet it is the very diversity that her population finds enormous pride and joy in. The diversity of the country may be found in its rich sociocultural fabric. It’s not limited to, but certainly includes the following:

• diversity of religions
• diversity of languages
• diversity of clothing & attire
• diversity in food habits
• diversity of cultures

A designer’s role is to communicate as well as to integrate. A designer borrows from one’s culture and communicates through it. This makes the design expressive and inclusive as it comes out of the viewer’s way of life. A design that can reflect upon the way of living and thinking is well received by its audience.

Message

There is unity in diversity in India. There might be seemingly contradicting viewpoints, traditions and customs in India but they together represent the country as a vivid and majestic land that has continued to amaze the world for centuries.

This is a great opportunity for you to showcase what you believe truly stands for ‘Indian Graphic Design’. 100 posters from India will be showcased along with 100 posters each from China, Italy and Lebanon.

Creative Brief
Design a poster that you believe can represent India globally. You can borrow from her rich cultural heritage to express visually her different aspects. Your poster could be iconic, symbolic or expressive. You are given the freedom to come up with your own metaphors that you feel can represent the nation.

The challenge here is to represent India as an entire nation and not as a certain region or part of the country. This will lead you to take a path where you’ll constantly need to integrate different values and symbols that epitomize India. As you go along the journey you will find yourself unifying the diversity of this nation.

We hope that in the process you’ll rediscover India and interpret her in imaginative and novel ways to show a fresh perspective of the nation to the world. Since you have an international audience you’ll need to reinvent your metaphors and come up with a symbology that can be interpreted by people who see India from the outside and not so much from the inside. You’ll need to zoom out a bit and view India as a part of a larger world and then communicate this bigger picture.

You are encouraged to visit your local library, browse the internet, meet people, travel, discuss and debate your ideas with friends before you start working on the poster.

Medium

Your poster can be hand-drawn and painted with inks & colors. You can also take photographs and create a montage. You can utilize a digital medium such as the computer as well. The medium is no way a constraint—you are encouraged to utilize any techniques or processes that exist or even invent your very own. Just make sure that whatever you create can later be scanned or photographed as we shall eventually ask you to send us a digital copy of your work.

Eligibility
All Indian citizens are eligible to participate. If you’re a foreign national but have been studying or working in India for more than a year then you’re also eligible to participate. In such a case you’ll be required to attach a proof that you’ve been staying or studying in India for the duration of a year or more.

You could either participate solo or as a team. If you participate as a team then kindly send the photographs and biography of all team members along with the entry.

Dates

The contest is open for competition from February 10, 2011.

The entries can be e-mailed from March 10, 2011.

The entries close on midnight May 10, 2011 (GMT time).

Entry Specifications

There is no restriction in the number of entries. There is no entry fee. Each entry to the competition must consist of three (3) parts:

A poster addressing the brief. All the entries must be 70×100 cm, 300 dpi jpg, previously unpublished.
A colored photograph of the author in 6×8 cm 300 dpi jpg format.
Either: a brief explanation from the author of the concept behind the poster or a short entry about the author’s thoughts or feelings about unity in diversity in India. This could take the form of a quotation or anything that inspired the author to produce the poster. This can be up to 800 characters long (spaces included).
Each entry must be sent separately to: Email Link

If an entry does not consist of all three parts, it will not be considered for competition.

Additional Information

Each entry must include the following information as a separate text / word file attached with the email. Kindly name the file as info.txt/.doc

• Name of the participant
• Date of birth (dd/mm/yy)
• Sex (m/f)
• Nationality
• Occupational Status (Student / Professional)
• Name of Design School or Institute (in case of a student) /
• Name of Organization or Business (in case of a professional)
• Course (in case of a student) / Occupation (in case of a professional)
• Address of Institute or College (in case of a student) /
• Address of Organization or Business (in case of a professional)
• Number of entries
• Title of Entries
• Selection

Any valid entry from an eligible participant will be considered for selection. A valid entry is one that matches all the technical and content requirements. Submitted posters must be relevant to the brief to be considered for evaluation. Posters not matching these criteria might be excluded from the competition, at the discretion of the jury.

Copyrighted Material
By submitting an entry you acknowledge that the poster has not been published prior to the contest and that the design is your personal work.

All Entries Must Be Anonymous
No poster submitted shall be signed by the author or bear any other distinguishing mark. Poster entry and personal data will be stored separately and reunited only after jury selection.

Awards & Certificates
All participants will receive a certificate endorsed by USIL in PDF via e-mail. There are no monetary prizes: The contest is free to enter and aims to improve social communication, thus it is endorsed by charities and NGOs rather than profitable businesses. The contest itself is not profitable, for this reason there are no monetary prizes for the entrants.

Exhibition & Publication
A total of hundred (100) selected posters will be exhibited in Lima, Peru during the 5th International Poster Exhibition in September 2011. All the posters will be included in the official event book. All posters will be exhibited with the author’s name. If a poster is used in promoting or for advertising the exhibition in digital or print media, the advertisement shall also include the author’s name.

Copyright
Participants agree to grant hellO and the social initiatives that are associated, an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, royalty-free, worldwide licence to use, copy, exhibit, publicly display and distribute their submitted entry for any non-commercial activity hosted by hellO or its partners.

Any other use must be specifically granted by the participant in the form of a written authorization, and can be subject to a fee or a royalty, as eventually agreed with the participant.

Every participant is granted and guaranteed the right to be credited every time their entry is published or displayed. The name and surname of the participant will be printed on the poster upon publication.