the Third Annual OU Kosher Essay Contest

It’s baaaak! Building on the success and enthusiastic response to the previous contests, the Third Annual OU Kosher Essay Contest for grades 7-12 is now open for entries from students across North America, with the deadline for submissions being March 24, 2011. The competition is geared to intensify a deeper appreciation of kashrut on behalf of participants.
Once again the prizes will be $50 gift certificates from Eichlers.com, a leading Judaica website. Winners will have their essays published online at oukosher.org, and Grand Prize winners will be invited to record their essays on OURadio.
As an indication of the national interest in the competition, winners and participants in the previous contests came from New York, California, Florida, New Jersey, Maryland, and Connecticut.
According to Rabbi Eliyahu Safran, Vice President of Communications and Marketing at OU Kosher, the contest is an additional component of OU Kosher’s educational outreach to schools and yeshivas. This program includes visits by OU Kosher rabbis across the country. Scheduled for the coming weeks are visits to Mir Yeshiva in Brooklyn, NY; Bais Yaakov, Far Rockaway, NY; Soille Day School in San Diego; and at UCLA in Los Angeles, as part of the OU‘s Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus program.
Among the suggested topics in the essay contest are: “How Does Eating Kosher Enhance Your Jewish Identity?” “What Does the Kosher Symbol on the Label Mean to Me?” “Is Eating Kosher More Than Just A Way of Eating?” “Kashrut and Kedushah – A Connection?” Essays should range from 750-1000 words.
This year, in addition to the writing contest, grade 12 is invited to participate in a class contest to produce a 15-minute video/DVD entitled Going Kosher – What Do I Do? How Do I Do It? The DVD’s focus is to educate and guide individuals or family looking to become kosher, Rabbi Safran explained. The DVD must include both hashkafa (philosophy) and halacha (Jewish law), as well as practical suggestions and instructions on how to accomplish the goal. Deadline for DVD entries is March 1, 2011. The prize-winning DVD will be posted on ou.kosher.org and the winning school will receive $150 worth of OU Press books for its library.
Rabbi Safran noted that he “hopes that the quality of the winning DVD will be such that it will be able to join with the high caliber series of OU Kosher DVDs previously released, which are being used in schools, yeshivas, seminaries and kollelim throughout the world.”
For further information and clarification, contact Rabbi Safran at Safrane@ou.org.

Design a great t-shirt for Firefox 2011

Design a great t-shirt for Firefox
If you can read this you may be one of the many who use Firefox as the preferred browser for surfing the Internet. You now have a chance to help celebrate the coming release of Firefox 4.0 by creating a cool t-shirt.
Mozilla, the developers of this free browser states:
“Create a unique t-shirt design that captures the essence of the upcoming release of Firefox 4. You’ll be designing for the front only, as the back will already have the Firefox word-mark printed.”
Things to consider before designing the t-shirt
Mozilla strongly recommends designers to familiarize themselves with several aspects of the Firefox brand and what should be considered when creating their images:
“* Mozilla has given the browser a completely fresh new look, and loaded it with cutting edge new features….
* At its core, Firefox is about people and is powered by an amazing global community of individuals working together to make the web a better place for everyone.
* You’re highly encouraged to interpret the above themes in creative, abstract and interesting ways. Please don’t be literal. For example, note how the Firefox 3 t-shirt design embodies the concept of community in a creative way.
* It’s not a requirement to use the Firefox logo in your design.”
General contest rules
* The best placement for the design is a 10-by-10 inch square on the front of the t-shirt
* Be sure to describe what colored t-shirt your design will be on
* Do not submit t-shirts with designs on them. Send in only images
* Your images should be in hi-res (300 dpi)
* Graphic files should be saved in either PNG or JPG (keep your original)
* Your originals should be created in a SVG format (Illustrator, Inkscape, etc.)
The winning design will be used for the printing of the official Firefox 4 Launch t-shirt. The t-shirt design will be listed in the Mozilla store and will be distributed to Firefox fans and contributors.
The winner will have bragging rights as the sole winner of this contest.
Other information and contest links
The deadline for this contest is March 13, 2011. This contest is free to enter. The following links provide more contest information.
Official contest site
Previous contest design examples
Registration site

r the Chelsea International Fine Art Competition

Agora Gallery is now accepting entries for the Chelsea International Fine Art Competition. This is the 26th year of the well-known annual competition.  The Chelsea International Fine Art Competition is open to visual artists worldwide over the age of 18.
All media is accepted with the exception of video art, film, performance art, jewelry and crafts.
Awards with a total value of $38,000 will be distributed to selected artists. The awards are chosen to help artists advance their careers and to maximize their exposure to collectors and the New York art scene. They include participation in the renowned Chelsea International Fine Art Competition Exhibition in the heart of Chelsea, New York, review by an art critic, cash prizes and exclusive internet promotion. The exhibition of the work of the selected artists will take place August 19th 2011 through September 9th 2011.
The juror of the 2011 competition is Elisabeth Sherman, Curatorial Assistant at the Whitney Museum of American Art, where she conducts research into contemporary artists.
There is an entry fee of $35 for up to five images, with an additional charge of $5 for each additional image. Submission is online, and artists are encouraged to have their contact details, information about the relevant artwork and high quality images in JPG format available when they begin the process.
Agora Gallery is a fine art gallery, established in 1984 and located in the heart of New York City’s Chelsea art galleries district. It is famous for showcasing a spectacular array of talented artists from around the world and around the corner, while providing quality and original art to collectors. Gallery II, an elegant adjacent gallery space, gives artists the ideal area for a solo or group exhibition of their own, organized and publicized by Agora Gallery. The gallery also publishes ARTisSpectrum Magazine, a bi-annual art magazine that is distributed to museums, galleries, art institutions and art schools around the world. It provides artists, collectors, museums, galleries, art organizations and enthusiasts with access to the work of international talented artists as well as feature articles, reviews and interviews. Agora Gallery is also the sponsor of ARTmine, one of the most comprehensive resources available worldwide to view and purchase fine art. The gallery also runs Agora Art Blog, a blog designed to provide helpful information and advice for artists while providing a forum for artists to help one another by sharing their experiences and thoughts.

Contest Prize & TERMS

Prize Details: 15-20 artists will participate in a collective exhibition at Agora Gallery 530 West 25th Street, Chelsea, New York

Cash - $1000 will be awarded to three (3) artists; each receiving $500, $300 and $200 respectively.

Internet Promotion - Six (6) artists will be awarded placement of 6 images on ARTmine for a period of one year

Review by an art critic - One (1) artist will be awarded a one-page review with two (2) color images in ARTisSpectrum Magazine.

Eligibility: All visual artists worldwide 18+

Copyright: All of the images that you will be submitting are images of original artwork created by yourself or it is artwork created by an artist who authorized you to submit the images on his/her behalf and the images do not violate the privacy rights, publicity rights, copyright rights, or other intellectual property rights of any person or entity. You may not post, distribute, or reproduce in any way any copyrighted material, trademarks, or other proprietary information without obtaining the prior written consent of the owner of such proprietary rights. It is the policy Agora Gallery to terminate all relations with any artist who infringes copyright upon prompt notification to Agora Gallery by the copyright owner or the copyright owner's legal agent without limiting the foregoing.

Usage Rights: Participation in the renowned Chelsea International Fine Art Competition Exhibition in the heart of Chelsea, New York

The Cellardoor Cinema Screenplay Contes

The Cellardoor Cinema Screenplay Contest accepts narrative, fiction short screenplays and narrative, fiction feature screenplays for consideration into the festival. Applicants may submit multiple screenplays at one screenplay per entry. Previous winning authors are eligible for entry into the next years screenplay contest. Screenplays will be reviewed by the contest panel and winning screenplays will be announced at the conclusion of the contest. The Grand Prize winning screenplay will be produced by Cellardoor Cinema and submitted to festivals. Grand Prize winning screenplay can come from either short or feature screenplay competitions. Top category winners will receive Cellardoor Cinema’s Screenplay Recognition Awards.
Earlybird Deadline – Mar. 15, 2011
Regular Deadline – Apr. 15, 2011
Late Deadline – May 15, 2011
Early Fee: $15 (up to March 15)
Regular Fee: $20

Teen Video Challenge 2011 (Deadline: 3/7/11)

You are Here (Teen Video Challenge 2011)
New Hampshire is participating in the national “You are Here” Teen Video Challenge 2011, and YALS (the Young Adult Librarians of NH) is sponsoring this contest at the state level.  Please visit the YALS website page for more information about the contest at http://www.nashua.lib.nh.us/YALS/CSLP2011.htm  
The winner of the state contest will receive $250; the associated winning library will receive $100.
Good luck, teens!  Let’s have an Atkinson winner!
DEADLINE: March 7, 2011

The 2011 Futuristic Car Design Competition

The Korea Institute of Design Promotion has launched a car design contest open to design students which asks to create a vehicle for the future. The submission deadline is 9 March 2011.

The 2011 Futuristic Car Design Competition was organized by the Korea Institute of Design Promotion (KIDP) in partnership with the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association (KAMA).
The contest is open to university design students from all over the world and asks to design a “future-oriented” car.
The first two winning entries will respectively receive KRW 3,000,000 (about $2,600 USD) and KRW 2,000,000 (about $1,700 USD) cash prizes.
Other 17 selected entries will win smaller cash prizes, and many others will receive with a certificate of award.
The finalist projects will be on display on next April at the Seoul Motor Show.
The deadline for submission is March 9, 2011.
For more information visit global.designdb.com.

Narrative Magazine Winter 2011 Story Contest, deadline March 31

Our winter contest is open to all fiction and nonfiction writers. We’re looking for short stories, short shorts, essays, memoirs, photo essays, graphic stories, one-act plays, all forms of literary nonfiction, and excerpts from longer works of both fiction and nonfiction. Entries must be previously unpublished, no longer than 15,000 words, and must not have been previously chosen as a winner, finalist, or honorable mention in another contest.

Prior winners and finalists in Narrative contests have gone on to win other contests and to be published in prize collections, including the Pushcart Prize, Best New Stories from the South, the Atlantic Prize, and others.

As always, we are looking for works with a strong narrative drive, with characters we can respond to as human beings, and with effects of language, situation, and insight that are intense and total. We look for works that have the ambition of enlarging our view of ourselves and the world.

We welcome and look forward to reading your pages.

Click here to submit your work.

Awards: First Prize is $3,250, Second Prize is $1,500, Third Prize is $750, and ten finalists will receive $100 each. All entries will be considered for publication. Submission Fee: There is a $20 fee for each entry. And with your entry, you’ll receive three months of complimentary access to Narrative Backstage.
Timing: The contest deadline is March 31, 2011, at midnight Pacific daylight savings time.
Judging: The contest will be judged by the editors of the magazine. Winners and finalists will be announced to the public by April 30, 2011. All writers who enter will be notified by email of the judges’ decisions.
Submission Guidelines: Please read our Submission Guidelines for manuscript formatting and other information.
Other Submission Categories: In addition to our contest, please review our other Submission Categories for areas that may interest you.

Click here to submit your work.