Current open competitions

There’s a number of interesting competitions currently open for those that want to start up creative projects reusing cultural heritage material, or those that have already successfully done so. This blog highlights five competitions that are currently open (sorted by submission deadline): if you know of any others, feel free to mail them to us, or directly to our OpenGLAM mailinglist.

First Europeana Challenge 2016: deadline 29 February

Calling all creative thinkers! From now until 29 February, Europeana are asking you to submit your designs for fantastic products and services which make the most of Europe’s rich digital cultural heritage, on the topics of First World War, Art & Design and Europe’s Music Heritage. There’s a reward of up to €25,000 euros on offer to help you start to build your product or service. For more details see http://labs.europeana.eu/incubation/europeana-challenges.

AAM Muse Awards – Open Culture: deadline 1 March

Each year, the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) organises the Muse Awards to recognize inspiring and outstanding digital media projects in the Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums (GLAM) sector. Institutions or independent producers who use digital media to enhance the GLAM experience and engage audiences are invited to apply, within various categories such as Applications and APIs, Mobile applications and Multimedia installations. Especially interesting for OpenGLAM is the award category ‘Open Culture’: this award can be submitted by anyone working with open culture materials in the GLAM environment. GLAMs of any size, discipline and country are eligible to submit: the deadline for submissions is 1 March 2016.  The winners for each category will be presented at the 2016 AAM Annual Meeting. More information on the awards and the submission process is available from the AAM website.

PHOTOMEDIATIONS: A call for creative works: deadline 30 March

The editors of Photomediations: An Open Book are working with Europeana Space to curate an exhibition (both online and physical), and are calling out to the photographic community to submit works for consideration. We are looking for still and/or moving image works that creatively reuse – in the form of mashups, collages, montages, tributes or pastiches – one or more original image files taken from the Europeana repository of cultural artefacts. Selected entries and up to 10 honourable mentions will be highlighted on the exhibition website and then shown in a real-life exhibition venue. The closing date for the submissions is 30 March 2016. All successful entries will be notified by the judges by the end of April 2016. More information is available from: http://photomediations.disruptivemedia.org.uk/submit/

British Library Labs Competition: deadline 11 April

The annual Competition is looking for transformative project ideas which use the British Library’s digital collections and data in new and exciting ways. Two Labs Competition finalists will be selected to work ‘in residence’ with the BL Labs team between May and early November 2016, where they will get expert help, access to the Library’s resources and financial support to realise their projects. Winners will receive a first prize of £3000 and runners up £1000 courtesy of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation atthe Labs Symposium on 7th November 2016 at the British Library in London where they will showcase their work. The deadline for entering is midnight British Summer Time (BST) on 11th April 2016. For more information visit http://labs.bl.uk/British+Library+Labs+Competition

British Library Labs Awards: deadline 5 September

The annual Awards, introduced in 2015, recognises outstanding and innovative work that has been carried out using the British Library’s digital collections and data. This year, they will be commending work in four key areas:

• Research – A project or activity which shows the development of new knowledge, research methods, or tools.
• Commercial – An activity that delivers or develops commercial value in the context of new products, tools, or services that build on, incorporate, or enhance the Library’s digital content.
• Artistic – An artistic or creative endeavour which inspires, stimulates, amazes and provokes.
• Teaching / Learning – Quality learning experiences created for learners of any age and ability that use the Library’s digital content.

A prize of £500 will be awarded to the winner and £100 for the runner up for each category at the Labs Symposium on 7th November 2016 at the British Library in London, courtesy of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The deadline for entering is midnight BST on 5th September 2016.  Read more: http://labs.bl.uk/British+Library+Labs+Awards