Can I participate?
The competition is aimed at young people with an interest in graphic design. You must be an EU resident and born after 1985. You don’t have to prove your age and residency when you submit your poster, but you will be asked to do so if you get to the finals.
What do I have to do?
Using any technique you like, you should create a poster for use during Europe Day celebrations. Your work should reflect the theme of the competition - I ♥ Europe - but you don’t have to include these or any other words in your work. Feel free to interpret the theme as you wish. Do be aware though that word puns that work in your own language might not necessarily translate well into other languages, so this is perhaps best avoided.
If your poster does include text, it must be in one of the EU’s 23 official languages. It would be helpful if you could however provide a translation in English or French, and there’s a place for this on the entry form. Your work must conform to the A2 paper standard (420 × 594mm).
Please do not use elements of geographical maps. The winning poster will eventually be printed with the EU logo – a small EU flag and the words ’The European Union’ - at the bottom. You don’t have to include the logo but you may wish to take it into account when creating your poster.
How do I submit my poster?
It’s easy. Just send your work electronically (via the competition website) before 2400GMT + 2 (midnight Brussels time) on 30 November 2009. You can use the JPG, GIF format, but if you reach the final 12 stage you will be asked to send your project in PDF and InDesign format so that high-definition prints can be made.
The file must be no larger than 3MB (megabyte). You must provide your name, address, telephone number, date of birth and e-mail address. The contest complies with EU provisions on user privacy.
How will my work be evaluated?
An independent jury will select 12 finalists. Apart from originality and artistic quality, jurors will be looking at how well your work depicts what YOU like about Europe and whether it will also appeal to your fellow European citizens.
The 12 designs will then be put to an online public vote (via the competition website). Any EU citizen or resident can vote – but only once - and the voting will be monitored by an independent official.
Who is on the jury?
The jury will include representatives from the European Commission and European experts in graphic design and communication. The jurors’ names will be published on the competition website.
When will the winner be selected?
The 12 finalists will be selected in December and will receive a letter to that effect. The online public vote will be held throughout January 2010.
What happens if I win?
The winning design will become the official poster for Europe Day on 9 May 2010. It will be translated into the 23 official EU languages and distributed in all 27 EU countries.
The winner will receive €2 000 and the two runners-up will each receive €1 000. All three will receive an expenses-paid trip to Brussels for an award ceremony to be held in May 2010.
The 12 finalists’ posters may also be used in exhibitions organised by the European Commission or EU representatives in EU countries and in promotional material (i.e. mouse pads, postcards, etc.).
What about copyrights and intellectual property?
The competition winners will hand over to the European Commission all copyright and intellectual property rights relating to their poster. This means that the Commission may publish the posters wherever and however it wishes.
What will happen if I am one of the 12 finalists but do not meet the competition’s requirements?
As well as the list of the 12 finalists, an additional shortlist will be compiled. If one of the 12 finalists does not meet the competition criteria, it will be replaced by the poster at the top of the shortlist.
Why have I been asked to provide links to my Facebook profile or other social network websites?
Links to your social networking profile will enable us to keep in touch with you during the course of the competition. You may also wish to encourage your online friends to vote for your design through social networking websites!
Click here to download the official rules of the competition
