In the global marketplace, the business card continues to be one of the most popular and internationally accepted forms of communication and self-promotion, and designers are perpetually pushing the limits with their designs. With unique materials, illustration, and complex diecuts, they are able to create pieces that recipients want to keep for their sheer beauty and ingenuity. Rockport Publishers would like to celebrate YOUR winning graphic design in The Best of Business Card Design 8.

Send your most innovative business cards for consideration. Selected pieces will be featured in The Best of Business Card Design 8, a full-color, 240 page, 9 x 11-inch hardcover book brimming with great design. Slated for publication in the spring of 2008, this volume will present creative, top-notch business card designs created for clients large and small. Visit the site for details. Deadline has been extended to 16 March.

Enter Jewelry Television’s 5th Annual Jewelry Design Contest. Winners will have their design manufactured into jewelry. Plus the winners will receive an All-expense-paid trip to visit Jewelry Televisionâ„¢ where they can spend $1,500 (total) on a shopping spree.

Visit the site to read the rules.

The Plus International Design Exposition presents pioneering work by leading international typo / graphic designers through a five-day showcase in Birmingham, in the heart of the UK. Plus will feature national and international work by some of the most influential design agencies, freelancers, rising stars and students working in the areas of print, web, video and animation. Plus is not a trade show; it does however provide a platform from which the international typo / graphic industry can present its most dynamic, ground-breaking and inspired work.
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Moroccan accent lighting is the theme for this month’s interior design contest. The increasingly popular Moorish design trend has sparked a surge in demand for genuine handmade furniture, lighting, and other home décor. With its position as the leader in Moroccan imports, The Moroccan Bazaar is proud to sponsor the design concept and to open new doors to innovative interior designers and architecture professionals seeking unique design alternatives.

The competition is open to professional architects and designers, students of architecture or design, owner/builders, and builders. The contest winner will be required to be creative and recreate a Moroccan inspired space. The project may be a residential home décor project showcasing a bedroom, lounge, patio, living room or a commercial space such as a restaurant, bar hotel or a hookah lounge.
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ECD Systems, the innovator in anti-piracy and copy protection software, announced that entries are now being accepted for the company’s second-annual Independent Game Developers Showcase, a contest that draws the best new and unpublished games from independent game designers and self-publishers.

A key addition to this year’s event is a new category for casual games, a growing segment that is particularly popular among female gamers. The casual gaming market in the US is projected to be over $2 billion by 2008 according to the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) and the added segment is intended to further raise the profile of casual games. ECD also has bolstered its support of women gamers and developers through a recently announced platinum sponsorship of the Women in Games International (WIGI) Regional Conference Series. Visit the site for total information. Entries due by 31 March.

The USGBC Emerging Green Builders NewYork (EGBNY) invite you to engage in “Project Earth Day�– a sustainable fashion show honoring this annual celebration of the environment. Flex your creativity! Participate in our student competition–design a runway piece made from eco-friendly fabrics.

The competition is open to current design students in any field or those who have graduated after April 2006. EGBNY requests the submission of the following requirements for participation: a sketch using, but not limited to materials suggested on the egbny.com site, a 100 word description describing how the design concept, and a brief biography of the designer(s).

Participants can work alone or in teams. Please include entire submission as one PDF file. Submissions will be accepted from 1 March through 14 March 2007. Participants will be announced 15 March 2007, and all completed designs are due 6 April 2007. Visit the site for details.

Juried by a nationally representative jury of distinguished designers, art directors and photographers, each year’s Communication Arts (CA) Photography Annual features the best photography used for advertising, design, editorial and any other area of the communication arts. The judges of the photography annual are only judging the images, not the typography, design or art direction (entrants who want the design or art direction of their pieces to be considered should enter them in the CA Advertising and Design competitions). Each photograph is a single entry. Therefore, a piece with several images must be considered a series. There is a maximum of five images in each series; if a piece is entered and there are more than five images on it, the five that are to be judged must be marked in some way. Visit Communication Arts for details.

Juried by a nationally representative jury of distinguished designers, art directors and illustrators, each year’s Communication Arts (CA) Illustration Annual features the best work in drawing, painting, collage, electronic and three-dimensional illustration. The judges of the illustration annuals are only judging the images, not the typography, design or art direction (entrants who want the design or art direction of their pieces to be considered should enter them in the CA Advertising and Design competitions) Each illustration is a single entry. Therefore, a piece with several images must be considered a series. There is a maximum of five images in each series; if a piece is entered and there are more than five images on it, the five that are to be judged must be marked in some way. Many more directions are available at the site.

The Guru Awards are a special Photoshop competition just for conference attendees of Photoshop World (4-6 April 2007), and were created to honor and recognize the design, photography, retouching, and creativity of conference attendees. Since their humble beginnings in 1999, the Guru Awards have now become the most prestigious and coveted awards in the international digital imaging industry.

Any conference attendee may enter up to three pieces for judging in any one (or more) of the seven categories, including Artistic, Photography, Photo Restoration, Commercial, Photo Montage, Photo Retouching, and Illustration. There is no entry fee for conference attendees and only conference attendees may enter. To register for the award, visit the award page on the conference site. The deadline for entry is 15 March.

Architecture Week offers the opportunity for people to learn more about architecture and understand their own role in improving the environment through architecture. This high profile initiative attracts significant attention from the media and the public. Last year, several hundred different organisations took part across the country.

Whether you’re an architect, a teacher, an artist, or just passionate about the built environment, why not organise an event for Architecture Week? say the RIBA. - Architecture Week is an annual national celebration of contemporary architecture, now in its 11th year, and this year’s theme is ‘How Green Is My Space?’

Architecture Week is organised by the Arts Council England, Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and the Architecture Centre Network. It takes place from the 16th to the 25th June. Deadline for submitting your events 26 March 2007. Visit the site for details.