Vancouver 2010 says that people from across Canada have indicated their high interest in participating in the VANOC design conference being held June 9 and 10 kicking off a national competition to select an emblem for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.
CEO of Vancouver 2010 John Furlong said, “we are encouraged by the enthusiastic response to this design initiative. We’ve had hundreds of calls and e-mails and more than 200 people have already registered for the conference”.
After a meeting between VANOC and the Society of Graphic Designers of Canada (GDC), the GDC has agreed to allow its members to enter the competition.
Earlier in the month the organization was upset because the contest doesn’t follow a professional code of ethics, saying it was against the society’s rules for their members to participate in unpaid, speculative proposals, which they said the contest was.
But now GDC President Peggy Cady says, “our members support our Code of Ethics regarding speculative work. We also understand the not-for-profit nature of VANOC and the general public interest of this event and will not censure member participation in the competition. We are encouraged that the GDC will play a role in the development of Olympic design competition guidelines and that Canadian designers will have a voice in international best practices for future Games”.
Conferences and emblem competitions have been used by other Organizing Committee’s for Olympic Games in the process of replacing their bid committee logos. The Athens 2004 logo was selected from almost 700 cities, the Turin 2006 logo from 1,300 proposals and the new Beijing 2008 logo was chosen from among 2,000 designs.
Furlong says, “this is just the beginning of six years of tremendous design projects that will showcase the talent and spirit of Canada’s design community to the world”.
There is still space available for those who want to attend the conference. Details can be found on the official Vancouver 2010 Web site and further design competition details and rules will be announced at the conference and will be available on the Web site.
The winning logo design – to be determined with the assistance of a panel of international judges – will be awarded a prize of $25,000 and two tickets to the Vancouver 2010 Games. The new logo will be unveiled in early 2005.
