BIS Christmas Card Competition 2011

Background:

Each year the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills sends out an electronic Christmas card from Ministers and officials.

This year Growth and the Economy is the Government’s top priority

The Competition

BIS is running an informal design competition for our 2011 e-card among FE colleges and training providers. We’d love your institution to take part. The Secretary of State, Vince Cable will choose the winner. The winning e-card will include the name of the artist and the institution they are studying and be used to send to all our contacts.

We would like to commission a card which reflects the theme of Growth and the Economy in a form that can be embedded within an HTML email. The card should reflect the Department’s ambition (set out in the Plan for Growth to achieve balanced and sustainable economic growth in the UK.

We’re looking for a creative, maybe witty and innovative design treatment (although this shouldn’t carry a political message). Costs of design will be borne by the originator/s and copyright of the winning design will be assigned to BIS for use digitally.

The card should carry the message “Best wishes for Christmas and the New Year”. It should also incorporate the Department’s logo.

Technical requirements:

  • Viewing the e-card should not be dependent on plug-ins i.e. use of animated GIFs or Javascript is OK; use of Flash or embedded content is not.
  • The HTML should meet Web Accessibility Initiative accessibility guidelines e.g. relative sizes for text, sufficient colour contrast between text and background.
  • The email should be fully compatible with Microsoft Outlook and Blackberry
  • The entry should be supplied to BIS, and be capable of sending on, as an HTML file no larger than 100KB.

Developers should refer to the www.bis.gov.uk website for details of the Department’s work to drive growth. They may also mine the site - along with http://www.flickr.com/photos/bisgovuk and http://www.youtube.com/bisgovuk - for creative inspiration and digital content for the card!

Entries should be sent to digital@bis.gsi.gov.uk and include your name, college, company or organisation and any other information that you think we might need in the body and the HTML files, images etc in an attached zip file. You should use “BIS CHRISTMAS CARD COMPETITION” in the subject line so that we can see the entries clearly.

Deadline and judging process:

Entries should be submitted no later than Friday 18th November 2011. The competition is only open to current students and the Secretary of State’s decision will be final!

Winners will be notified by the start of December and invited to spend a tailor-made day seeing the heart of digital Government, which could include:

  • meeting the team responsible for BIS’s digital communications,
  • discovering the work being done at No10 and Cabinet Office to develop a single digital Government platform,
  • coffee and mince pies with the FE and Skills Minister, John Hayes,
  • and a tour of the House of Commons.

We look forward to hearing from you!