In order to keep handicrafts relevant, valuable and marketable in the modern world, craftspeople need to strike a delicate balance between tradition, innovation and sustainability. UNESCO developed the Award of Excellence for Handicrafts initiative nine years ago to support craft producers in improving their product design and marketing techniques. The program currently exists in Southeast, Central, South, and East Asia, Western Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean with the hope of spreading to other sub-regions where handicraft is central to the local economy.
Looking to engage its global base of designers while helping to support the handicraft community, DESIGN 21 created the Crafting Excellence competition. Interested participants are asked to design a logo that will represent the UNESCO Award of Excellence for Handicrafts program. Each entry must only contain the words “Award of Excellence for Handicrafts” and should include both a black and white and color version. Deadline for entries: September 7, 2010.
Representatives from UNESCO will select one Overall Winner to receive the top prize of $3,000 in exchange for the rights to the logo, which will be used in the program’s communications materials. One entrant will also be chosen to receive $2,000 by two D21 Advisory Board members and one entry will receive the “Most Popular” design as voted on by DESIGN 21 members in an online poll.
For more information, please visit http://www.design21sdn.com/competitions/27
