July 16, 2002

1:23 AM

Given up on the TiVo wallpaper design contest? Submit a design to the Japanese Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, and Telecommunications' Postage Stamp Design Contest. This year's theme is "Peace". Eight winning designs from anywhere in the world will be chosen, and the grand prizes of up to 200,000 Yen (~$1700 USD) awarded to their creators. Check out some of the previous years' winners for inspiration.
posted by Danelope (3 comments total)

Pretty weak prize, although having your work licked daily by thousands of people should be worth something.
posted by mecran01 at 6:41 AM on July 16, 2002

$1,600 actually a pretty big prize, if you judge by what people win on game shows and in lotteries here.

Even considering my role as occasional Japan apologist, the empty "peace" mantra, countless "peace" museums and "peace" exhibits gets a bit irksome. That whole cult of the victim thing.

But thanks, Danelope, I didn't know about that one, and I might give it a try. Problem is, I'm neither Japanese nor overseas, so which category should I enter?
posted by planetkyoto at 8:30 AM on July 16, 2002

Yeah, but you wouldn't enter it for the prize, but for the fun/challenge of designing. There could be some interesting artistic interpretations of the specific subject matter. You just know that 75% will feature a flock of peace doves flying upwards from the dome. The challenge for the artist would be to break from the cliche.

I was a bit uninspired by last year's winners. They all appear to be full color travel photos dropped full frame into the stamp, and some type plopped on top. One could guess the judges are pretty conservative.
posted by MJoachim at 8:31 AM on July 16, 2002