Design a stamp for the World Design Capital Helsinki 2012!

Future City is the theme of the stamp design competition organized by Itella Posti Oy/the Itella Philatelic Center. The competition is part of the World Design Capital Helsinki 2012 program, and the winning stamps will be sold publicly and used by the World Design Capital Helsinki 2012.

The competition period is February 3 – April 4, 2011. During this time, contributions should be uploaded to the competition website in digital format as instructed. The competitors may freely select the implementation method of their contributions. For example, the competitors may depict a future living environment in their stamp, a place where they would like to live, or give their visions about tomorrow and a better life.

“The traditional visual themes of urban stamps deal with prominent buildings and monuments. We are now looking for fresh, innovative ideas for both stamp themes and implementation. I’m confident that the online competition, open to everyone, will help us obtain a large number of new, open-minded proposals,” says Markku Penttinen, Director of the Itella Philatelic Center.

“The design competition is an excellent match with the theme of the World Design Capital Year: Open City – Embedding Design in Life. Everyone may participate in the competition, and design as part of life will show in the stamp design, the themes and the final product. The official stamps of Helsinki’s year as the World Design Capital will be the outcome”, says Pekka Timonen, Director of the International Design Foundation, in charge of World Design Capital Helsinki 2012.

Please visit the competition website for more specific instructions and the rules of the competition. The competition website is in Finnish. One competitor may submit as many contributions to the competition as they like. Groups may also participate. You may use a pseudonym when submitting your contribution.

Everyone may vote for the contributions at the competition website from April 7–25, 2011. You may only vote once for one contribution, but you may also give your vote to several contributions. Voters are eligible for a raffle of many prizes both during the competition and the voting.

Based on the public voting and the selections by the jury, 30 contributions will be eligible for the finals. The jury comprises the art committee of Itella Posti Oy/the Itella Philatelic Center and two experts of World Design Capital Helsinki 2012.

Eight contributions will be selected and made into stamps, and each author will receive €1,500. In addition, four contributions will be selected to be made into postcards, and each author will receive €500. The winners will be announced in May 2011.

Itella Posti Oy/the Itella Philatelic Center will process the winning stamps in their final format. The winning stamps will be released, and they will be available for public purchase in early 2012.

Further information: www.futurecity.fi