The Design Green Project is the first of its kind to honor and reward designers’ creativity from around the world for their excellence in designing ‘Green’ for a better planet – in the disciplines of art, branding, environments, fashion, packaging, photography, print, design green, and now interactive.

All designers who participate in this unique competition will be part of the solution to the Global Warming Crisis by replacing one of their old light bulbs with a compact fluorescent light bulb provided by The Design Green Project. Additionally, there will be a tree planted in their name and 50% of all proceeds will be donated to the StopGlobalWarming.org fund, just for entering.

This is an international competition with various caveats to entries, so be sure to visit the site to learn more about the guidelines and the creative categories. Deadline is 15 December 2008.

Got a project to show off to the world? Want your work recognized by a distinguished panel of architects? The Western Red Cedar Lumber Association and the Cedar Shale and Shingle Bureau invite entries in the Western Red Cedar Architectural Design Awards program honoring design excellence and architectural accomplishment using western red cedar.

Deadline is 31 October 2008. Visit the site to learn more.

Design For The Children is an open, international design competition asking architects and designers from around the world to develop a sustainable, culturally responsive, pediatric clinic model for East Africa. Fight for the Children staff will work with local residents at the proposed site in East Africa to build the clinic based on the winning design, using local materials and building techniques. Fight for the Children staff will train and work with local doctors and nurses, who will in turn train other area residents.

Registration deadline is 15 October 2008. 15 January is the submission deadline (only the registration date will be noted on the calendar). Visit the site to learn more.

School of Visual Arts (SVA), New York City, in partnership with Giraldi Media, announces the first annual Out of Hand International Festival, a showcase for innovative digital content created by students and intended for playback on mobile phones and other wireless or handheld devices. The festival invites aspiring artists, designers, filmmakers and creative thinkers worldwide to enter original work into competition using the online submission form by December 31, 2008. A public showing and awards presentation, awarding cash and other prizes to the top submissions, will take place in New York City in March 2009. Details to come.

Visit the site to learn more.

Enter the most prestigious design competition for interactive media, the 15th annual Communication Arts Interactive Design Competition. Any interactive project created for digital distribution on the World Wide Web, CD-ROM, interactive kiosk or handheld device is eligible. Selected by a nationally representative panel of distinguished programmers, interface designers and creative directors, the winning entries will be published in the 2009 Interactive Annual of Communication Arts and on our Web site. Over 70,000 copies will be distributed worldwide, assuring important exposure to the creators of these outstanding projects.

Deadline is 15 December 2008. Visit the site to learn more.

Turning the spotlight on environmentally responsible forestry, DESIGN 21: Social Design Network, an online platform founded by Felissimo and UNESCO to inspire and promote design for the greater good, is proud to announce a new set of environmentally conscious initiatives in the form of a competition and a challenge. Developed by DESIGN 21 to benefit The Nature Conversancy and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), Wood, Paper, Checkmark is a competition for its international base of 13,000 members to formulate an awareness campaign for sustainable forestry. As a companion initiative, DESIGN 21 members FSC-US and The Nature Conservancy, are hosting Going with the Grain–a challenge to conceptualize an object using only one sheet of sustainable wood.

By running these two initiatives simultaneously, DESIGN 21 is hoping to utilize the creativity of both established and emerging designers to combat the large-scale eco-challenges of illegal logging and deforestation. As director of DESIGN 21, Haruko Smith, states, “DESIGN 21 is pleased to be able to offer this complementary package of a visual communications design and product design that will promote the use of sustainable wood, especially because the process itself will help to educate many people about the need to protect our valuable natural resources.”

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Rock is more a way of life than just a genre of music, according to Ink Fruit. So they thought it’s time to do it justice. Now they want you to make some rockin Tees. Make sure you’ve got some awesome music playing while you design for this contest. They’ll know if you don’t!

To make sure that the people who make the most Rockin Tees feel real special, they’ve got prizes worth $30,000 bucks (not shabby!). Ten designs will be selected as the winners, so plenty of you are gonna be mighty happy by the end of it - and all the others will find some mind blowing t-shirts to buy…

Deadline is 1 October 2008. Visit the site to learn more.

This is the second annual Cleveland Design Competition, entitled, “Project 2008: Interplay.” This is an open, anonymous, single-stage, ideas competition founded as a tool for generating ideas around under-utilized sites and showcasing the talent of emerging designers on Cleveland’s built and unbuilt environment. Through the generous and sustained support from competition partners and sponsors, the 2008 Cleveland Design Competition hopes to build on the excitement generated from last year’s challenge; becoming an increasingly useful tool for implementing ideas for these sites and others like them.

Registration deadline is 7 November 2008. All interested parties, including multi-disciplinary teams, are invited to enter unless specifically excluded. Entrants may submit as an individual or as a member of a team. Visit the site to obtain maps, details, brief.

Tricky Women is the first and only festival of animated film that is dedicated exclusively to animation by women. Since 2007 it has been held annually in Vienna each March. The festival offers an international competition of animated short films realised by female artists and produced in 2007 or 2008. Each filmmaker, producer or distributor may submit as many films as they like. Each film submitted must be accompanied by an entry form and sent on a separate tape or reel. No films entered in prior Tricky Women Festivals shall be admitted.

The deadline for applications for the preliminary selection is 14 November 2008. Visit the site to learn more.

The AIA Committee on Design (COD) invites architects, students, and allied design professionals to submit sketches to the international 2009 COD Ideas Competition. In this unique sketch competition, submitters are asked to explore the legacy of modernist design, through a concept design problem.

Winners will receive funding to attend the COD Spring Design Conference in Boston and have their work exhibited at the 2009 AIA National Convention in San Francisco. Selected entries will be displayed on the AIA Web site.

Registration deadline is 13 February 2009. Visit the site to learn more.