I’m compiling a list of graphic design competitions for 2012. Please check back often, since I will be adding them as they are announced. Please also let me know if you would like to add your own competition.
These are all, to the best of my knowledge, legitimate contests with legitimate awards. I do not believe in crowdsourcing and I will not promote in any way a company or organization that runs a contest only to have many hardworking designers sumbit free solutions for their specific design needs.
2012
Faces Of Design Awards 2012
Deadline: January 6, 2012
Faces of Design is now welcoming submissions to the Faces of Design Awards 2012. The groundbreaking competition concept challenges designers from all around the world and from all design disciplines to present their existing portfolios to an international panel of world-class judges; the prize of the Awards is not only glory, but actual visibility where it matters most.
Supremebeing Typeface Design Competition
Deadline: January 6, 2012
Requires you to look at the fundamentals….typography. Entrants will design their own type face including all characters in the alphabet. It can be digital, illustrated, painted or even photographed. We simply ask that you display all characters as well as construct the word ‘Supremebeing’ in your final entry.
Communication Art Illustration Competition
Deadline: January 6, 2012
Evocative illustration from editorial, advertising, institutional, for sale and unpublished categories makes its way into this influential illustration competition. Hundreds of award-winning images are selected for their creative excellence by an esteemed jury of designers and art directors.
Communicator Awards
Final Deadline January 13, 2012
The Communicator Awards is the leading international awards program recognizing big ideas in marketing and communications. The Communicator Awards receives over 6,000 entries from companies and agencies of all sizes, making it one of the largest awards of its kind in the world. As we enter our 18th season, we’re also introducing expanded online and mobile categories, making this year’s awards bigger and better than ever.
Creativitiy International Awards
Contest Opens January 16, 2012
A print design competition, a web design competition, and an advertising design competition. Categories run the gamut from Annual Reports to Sales Films, from Magazine Photography to Consumer Websites, from Logos and Trademarks to Ambient Media.
ZGraf 11
Deadline: January 31, 2012
The Croatian Association of Artists of Applied Arts announces a call for submissions for the international exhibition of graphic design and visual communications ZGRAF 11.
D&AD Awards 2012
Deadline: February 1, 2012
Professional Awards, celebrating creative excellence in design and advertising, and Student Awards, helping the design and advertising community discover amazing talent for over 30 years.
Print Magazine Regional Design Annual
EARLY BIRD DEADLINE: February 1, 2012
For thirty years, this highly-anticipated collection of art and design has displayed the considerable breadth and depth of high-quality work being generated in every corner of the country.
SEGD Global Design Awards 2012
Deadline: February 14, 2012
Exceptional environmental graphic design is recognized in the annual SEGD Global Design Awards Program, illustrating the pandisciplinary nature of visual communications in the built environment. Winning projects have included complex wayfinding systems, branding and identity work, retail and interior projects, exhibition design, and public art installations.
Posterheroes Social Design Contest
Deadline: February 15, 2012
Posterheroes second edition! Posterheroes is the creative showcase of the proactive debate about consumption’s present and future, and of the energetic and material resources’ aware fruition.
Wildlife Artist Of The Year Competition 2012
Deadline: February 29, 2012
Now in its fourth year, our wildlife art competition attracts many hundreds of entries in a spectacular array of different styles and media, from the UK and around the world – last year, we received artworks from as far away as India, China, Brazil and Australia. So choosing the winners is a pleasurable challenge for our panel of expert judges.
HOW Promotion Design Awards
Entry Deadline: March 1, 2012
The 2012 HOW Promotion Design Awards is now accepting entries. Winners will be featured in the October 2012 issue of HOW magazine and one Best of Show winner will receive a trip to the 2013 HOW Design Conference.
Communication Arts Photography Competition
Deadline: March 16, 2012
Over 200 photographs from both well-known photographers and rising stars emerge from this prestigious Photography competition. Categories include advertising, editorial, for sale, motion and unpublished.
HOW In-HOWse Design Awards
Deadline: April 2, 2012
Celebrates designers who work in in-house creative departments. You could win a two-page spread in the January 2013 issue of HOW magazine, plus representation in the online gallery and archive and a press release promoting your win to the design community.
Hermes Awards
Entries must be postmarked by April 15, 2012.
Hermes Creative Awards is an international competition for creative professionals involved in the concept, writing and design of traditional materials and programs, and emerging technologies. Entries come from corporate marketing and communication departments, advertising agencies, PR firms, design shops, production companies, web based innovators and freelancers.
The Conqueror Typographic Games 2012
Deadline: April 30, 2012
Conqueror, the global premium paper brand from Arjowiggins Creative Papers of Paris, France, announced its Typographic Games. This graphic design and typographic poster competition issues a challenge on the theme..
Communication Arts Design Competition
Deadline: May 11, 2012
For designers creating posters, brochures, packaging, trademarks, corporate identity, integrated branding, annual reports, catalogs, public service, self-promotion, letterheads and signage. Juried by nine top designers, the best design of the last year rises to the top.
Communication Arts Advertising Competition
Deadline: May 11, 2012
The Advertising competition attracts consumer and institutional print ads along with posters, broadcast and new media, as well as the growing category—integrated media campaigns. Leading creative directors, art directors and writers judge the work for selection in this preeminent Advertising Annual.
HOW Logo Design Awards
Deadline: June 1, 2012
Show off your best logo design – 10 winners will be featured on the HOW website, get $150 worth of HOW books, and receive a 1 year subscription to HOW magazine. Winning entries will appear in the online Design Awards Gallery.
Adobe Design Achievement Awards 2012
Deadline: June 22, 2012
The Adobe® Design Achievement Awards celebrate student and faculty achievement reflecting the powerful convergence of technology and the creative arts. The competition – which showcases individual and group projects created with Adobe creative software – honors the most talented student graphic designers, photographers, illustrators, animators, digital filmmakers, developers and computer artists from the world’s top institutions of higher education.
HOW Interactive Design Awards
Entry Deadline: July 2, 2012
The 2013 HOW Interactive Design Awards are now accepting entries. Winning work will appear in HOW’s March 2013 Design Annual. Your design work deserves the exposure.
Marcom Awards
2012 MarCom Awards Opens August 1
International Competition for Marketing & Communication Professionals.
MarCom Awards is a creative competition for any individual or company involved in the concept, writing and design of print, visual, audio and web materials and programs. Entries come from corporate marketing and communication departments, advertising agencies, PR firms, design shops, production companies and freelancers. The MarCom statuette graces the trophy cases of some of the top business and communication firms in the world.
HOW International Design Awards
Deadline: August 15, 2012
Your work could be featured in the 2013 HOW Design Annual, showcased in the online Design Awards Gallery and displayed in the Awards Gallery at HOW Design Live. One Best of Show winner will win free registration, airfare and hotel accommodations for the 2013 HOW Design Conference.
