Calls for entries:Upcoming design competition deadlines

All of the following competitions deadlines present great opportunities to showcase your design efforts, market your work on an international scale through the published books, and "toot!" your own horn to clients, peers and the media:

American Package Design Awards
(Graphic Design USA - USA)
Deadline: 12 December 2008
Entry fees charged

H2O
(Index Book - Spain)
Deadline Extended: 15 December 2008
No entry fees charged

HOW Poster Design Awards
(HOW Magazine - USA)
Deadline Extended: 15 December 2008 - with late fees
Entry fees charged

Best of the Web #1
(CMYK Magazine - USA)
Deadline Extended: 17 December 2008
Entry fees charged

American Advertising & Design 25
(formerly American Corporate Identity)
(Graphics Books - USA)
Late Entry Deadline Extended: 29 December 2008 (Late fees)
Entry fees charged

Creative Offices
(Crescent Hill Books - USA)
Deadline: 30 December 2008
No entry fees charged

I.D. Annual Design Review
(I.D. Magazine - USA)
Deadline Extended: 31 December 2008 - with late fees
Entry fees charged

1000 More Graphic Elements
(Rockport Publishers - USA)
Deadline Extended: 1 January 2009
No entry fees charged

Charts & Diagrams
(maomao publications - Spain)
Deadline: 2 January 2009
No entry fees charged

Free Fonts
(maomao publications - Spain)
Deadline: 2 January 2009
No entry fees charged

1 & 2 Colors
(maomao publications - Spain)
Deadline: 5 January 2009
No entry fees charged

Communication Arts Interactive Competition
(Communication Arts - USA)
Deadline Extended: 5 January 2009
Entry fees charged

Chaos & Order: Innovative Grid Systems
(maomao publications - Spain)
Deadline: 5 January 2009
No entry fees charged

1000 Ideas for Creative Reuse
(Rockport Publishers - USA)
Deadline: 9 January 2009
No entry fees charged

Project Never
Deadline: 16 January 2009
No entry fees charged

Aspiring Creatives #44
(CMYK Magazine - USA)
Deadline: 19 January 2009
Entry fees charged

Design Annual 2010
(Graphis - USA)
Deadline: 19 January 2009
Entry fees charged

Interactive Annual 2010
(Graphis - USA)
Deadline: 19 January 2009
Entry fees charged

The Big Book of Green Design
(Crescent Hill Books - USA)
Deadline Extended: 20 January 2009
No entry fees charged

88th ADC Awards
(The Art Directors Club - USA)
Deadline Extended: 23 January 2009
Entry fees charged

Summit Creative Award
(Summit International Awards - USA)
Deadline: 26 January 2009
Entry fees charged

My Own Business Card
(Index Book - Spain)
Deadline: 31 January 2009
No entry fees charged

The Mini Book of Great Logos
(Crescent Hill Books - USA)
Deadline: 1 February 2009
No entry fees charged

New Styles in Graphic Design
(maomao publications - Spain)
Deadline: 2 February 2009
No entry fees charged

Press Kits: Design & Packaging
(maomao publications - Spain)
Deadline: 2 February 2009
No entry fees charged

Point of Purchase Design
(Crescent Hill Books - USA)
Deadline: 9 February 2009
No entry fees charged

Advertising Annual 2010
(Graphis - USA)
Deadline: 16 February 2009
Entry fees charged

European Design Awards
(EDAwards - Greece)
Deadline: 14 February 2009
Entry fees charged

Designing for the Greater Good
(Crescent Hill Books - USA)
Deadline Extended: 27 February 2009
No entry fees charged

Basics: Logos
(Index Book - Spain)
Deadline: 28 February 2009
No entry fees charged

Wine Labels
(Index Book - Spain)
Deadline: 28 February 2009
No entry fees charged

PRINT's Regional Design Annual
(PRINT Magazine - USA)
Deadline: 2 March 2009
Entry fees charged

Handmade Graphics
(Rotovision - UK)
Deadline: 2 March 2009
No entry fees charged

Communication Arts Illustration Competition
(Communication Arts - USA)
Deadline: 6 March 2009
Entry fees charged

Communication Arts Photography Competition
(Communication Arts - USA)
Deadline: 6 March 2009
Entry fees charged

Best of Business Card Design 9
(Rockport Publishers - USA)
Deadline: 9 March 2009
No entry fees charged

Photography Annual 2010
(Graphis - USA)
Deadline: 16 March 2009
Entry fees charged

HOW Promotion Design Awards 2009
(HOW Magazine - USA)
Deadline: 20 March 2009
Entry fees charged

Best Bio Packaging, Volume 1
(Design & Design - France)
Deadline: 31 March 2009
Nontry fees charged

New Talent Annual 2010
(Graphis - USA)
Deadline: 11 May 2009
Entry fees charged

Annual Reports Annual 2010
(Graphis - USA)
Deadline: 11 May 2009
Entry fees charged

Communication Arts Design Competition
(Communication Arts - USA)
Deadline: 1 June 2009
Entry fees charged

Communication Arts Advertising Competition
(Communication Arts - USA)
Deadline: 9 June 2009
Entry fees charged

Communication Arts Interactive Competition
(Communication Arts - USA)
Deadline: 5 October 2009
Entry fees charged

(To make sure you are reading the latest bLog-oMotives design competition update click here.)

You may want to read my article about participating in design industry competitions: A Winning Strategy. It has appeared on the Creative Latitude and NO!SPEC web sites.

Design competition calendars are also available at Icograda and Workbook. Lürzer's ARCHIVE also has an impressive online list of competitions sponsored by international magazines and organizations. Dexinger also posts competitions of great value to industry professionals - however designers need to be aware that some of the listings are for "spec" work as a requirement for submission. Requests for new, or speculative, work as a condition of entering a "contest" are much different than legitimate design competition "calls for entries," in which previously created works are judged for possible awards, exhibition, or publication in an annual or other book.

My own work appears in nearly 100 graphic design books. Many of those inclusions are the result of design competitions, or requests for submissions, like those listed above.

For the perspective from the other side of design competitions, I wrote a bLog-oMotives entry about judging the 2007 Summit Creative Awards.

Good luck!

© 2008 Jeff Fisher LogoMotives