Ai-Kon organizers are seeking a new design for Aiko, the Ai-Kon mascot, for use on the convention's 2008 promotional materials. Ai-Kon 2008 is scheduled for July 25-27, 2008 at the Winnipeg Convention Centre. A cheerful, stylish, energetic anime girl with pink hair and blue eyes, Aiko appears on a variety of Ai-Kon promotional items, including t-shirts, posters, flyers, badges, programs, and the Ai-Kon web site (www.ai-kon.org). Entries must be full-body images, with no background. Images featuring poses, outfits and/or hairstyles of copyrighted characters, or copyrighted characters themselves, will not be accepted. No adult-themed images will be accepted. This will be at the discretion of Ai-Kon executives. Please ensure entries are suitable for all ages. A maximum limit of four entries per person will be accepted. Entries must be full-color, 300-dpi resolution and submitted electronically in PSD or JPEG format. A low-res version may by submitted for judging as long as a higher-resolution version is available. Entries must be received no later than January 18, 2008 and will be judged by Ai-Kon executives. The winning entry will be announced on or before January 26, 2008. For more information, visit www.ai-kon.org.

BlueCat Screenplay Competition offers entrants written feedback on their scripts. All screenplays entered by Dec. 1 will receive feedback by Jan. 1. Screenplays submitted by Jan. 2 will receive their analysis by Feb. 1. All early-bird submissions will be eligible for resubmission prior to the March 3 deadline for a reduced entry fee of $35. Since 1998, the BlueCat Screenplay Competition's mission of developing the undiscovered screenwriter continues to reach more writers every year, with BlueCat having the largest cash prize for a screenplay contest offering feedback to all writers. The winner will receive $10,000, with the four finalists receiving $1,500. Quarter-finalists will be announced July 1, 2008. Semi-finalists will be announced Aug. 1, and five finalists will be announced Aug. 8. The winner will be announced Aug. 15. For more information, visit www.bluecatscreenplay.com or www.myspace.com/bluecatscreenplay.

Mod DB, the premier website dedicated to game modification, is calling on gamers for submissions for the annual Mod of the Year Awards (MOTY 2007). The contest will run through Jan. 15, 2008. The MOTY Awards showcase the best game modifications (aka "mods") in the world and recognize the mod teams behind them. A video game "mod" is a variation of a game or in-game elements. It can add new content to the underlying game (partial conversions) or offer an entirely new game (total conversions). The awards pay tribute to the creativity, dedication, and hard work independent developers and amateur game designers put into creating unique experiences through video and interactive features, free downloads and consumer voting. This year's contest is again sponsored by The Art Institute Online, the U.S. Navy and Alienware. Mod DB is seeking submissions of modified games, either partial or total game conversions of existing titles, to add to its existing database of over 4,000. Entries will be voted on by visitors to Mod DB and the top 100 game mods will be posted by Dec. 15. A final round of voting will determine the illustrious "Mod of the Year" and secondary prize winners. For more information, visit moddb.com.

Bob Iger, President/CEO, The Walt Disney Co., will participate in a Q&A session at the Sanford C. Bernstein Media Symposium on Thursday, Nov. 29, 2007, at approximately 12:15 pm EST/9:15 am PST. To listen to a live Webcast of the session, go to www.disney.com/investors approximately five minutes prior to the start time. A re-play will be provided through Thursday, Dec. 13 2007, at 4:00 pm PDT.

The Scriptapalooza Screenwriting Competition was founded in 1998, and has generated heat, publicity and a reputation that demands respect. Scriptapalooza, Inc., along with its various divisions, was created to nurture talent and create opportunities. Storytellers come from all over the world and from all walks of life, because of the simple fact that everyone has a story. Scriptapalooza's goal: to seek out that storyteller and honor their script with a grand prize of $10,000. Each year dozens of production companies and literary representatives sign on as participants to read our winners, resulting in many scripts being optioned, sold or bought outright. The early deadline is Jan. 7, 2008, the first deadline is March 5 and the final deadline is April 15. For more information, visit www.scriptapalooza.com.

The sixth annual Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge is now underway. Co-sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the journal SCIENCE, the flagship publication of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the Visualization Challenge is a prestigious competition to find the photographs, illustrations, and digital media that best communicate science, engineering, and technology for education and journalistic purposes. Last year's winning entries were as diverse and imaginative as any yet received. They took us in close to see how nicotine creates cravings, how muscles work, how wires can heal themselves, and even what lies behind our noses. They helped us learn physics, mathematics, and the progression of breast cancer. They took us up 18 kilometers to the top of Hurricane Bonnie and down to the delicate structures of sea moss from Cape Breton Island. They even slowed time to a standstill, revealing the beautiful complexity of a bat's flight. Winning entries will be published in a special section of the Sept. 26, 2008 issue of SCIENCE and Science Online and on NSF's website. The entry deadline is May 31, 2008. For rules, entry forms, and more information, see www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/scivis.

The Art Institute of Pittsburg, Online Division (AiPO) and Alienware are hosting The Concept Art Competition, a contest that celebrates artwork from leading independent game artists around the world. The artwork was created as concept art for videogame applications, such as characters, landscapes, vehicles and other game-art renderings.

The competition will crown and reward two artists for their winning entries. Alienware will provide two Area-51R 7500 computers (MSRP $3,009 each) to the winning entries. Mod DB is hosting the event and provides the ideal staging ground for this competition, given its history and unrivaled platform for mod developers, game designers and artists to collaborate to create game modifications, add-ons and independent games.

The Concept Art Competition is open for public judging on Mod DB through Dec. 7, 2007. The results will be posted on Dec. 15, 2007. To view and vote on your favorite artwork, visit www.moddb.com/features/23851/concept-art-competition.

Vicon, developer of Academy Award-winning motion capture systems and part of the Oxford Metrics Group, is currently accepting submissions for the Vicon Film Festival online at www.vicon.com/filmfestival/.

With a grand prize of $10,000, the international competition aims to find the most creative and entertaining use of a series of motion capture sequences in an animated short. The competition is open to original short films (between two and five minutes long) using motion capture data made available for download from the Vicon Film Festival website.

The contest launched in August 2007, offering participants a variety of different motion capture clips for download, along with NFR licenses of 3D match-moving software boujou SD, to aid in the creation of their short films. Between now and the submission close date (Jan. 31, 2008), one entrant per day will be selected at random to win an iPod Shuffle.

Film entries will be posted on YouTube and the Vicon Film Festival website for public voting. The top 10 entries will be submitted to an independent judging panel comprised of industry experts including Mike Sanders (Industrial Light & Magic), Eric Furie (USC School of Cinematic Arts), Takashi Fukamoto (Links Digiworks), Gary Roberts (Vicon House of Moves), Chris Mais (writer and director of the award-winning SMILE), Mick Morris (Audiomotion) and Darren Waters (BBC Interactive). The winner will be announced in June 2008. Media sponsors for the competition include VFXWorld.com, Computer Graphics World and Digital Arts Magazine (UK).

Babelgum, the free to view global television network, is hosting the Babelgum Online Film Festival. Submissions will be exposed to public rating on Babelgum before being judged by the festival jury, led by Spike Lee. The other jurors consist of film experts from across the globe, including the directors of established film festivals, film schools and film industry associations. For more information, visit www.babelgum.com.

NVIDIA and CGSociety have teamed up to offer another NVArt competition, this time the focus is on architecture and landscape design. Titled Art Space: Architecture and Landscape, this digital art competition challenges participants to create awe-inspiring architecture and landscape designs. First prize is 2 NVIDIA Quadro FX 5500 cards, and 1 week 'all inclusive' holiday valued at $10,000 (USD). Second prize is NVIDIA Quadro FX 5500, and a $500 (USD) American Express Gift Card. Third prize is NVIDIA Quadro FX 3500, and a $500 (USD) American Express Gift Card. Entrants must be members of CGTalk or CGSociety. The entry process will walk you through a free signup if you are not already registered. For details, visit http://events.cgsociety.org.