TOKYOPOP is hosting its fourth Rising Stars of Manga competition. From June 1 through August 16, aspiring artists and writers may submit their 15-to-20-page manga to TOKYOPOP for the chance to join the next generation of nationally published manga-ka. The top 10 talented winners will score cash prizes and have their winning entries presented in the next Rising Stars anthology. First prize wins $2,500, second $1,500, third $1,000 and seven runners-up take home $500 each. Past winners have received full-fledged book deals. The competition is only open to residents of the U.S. Complete details are available at www.tokyopop.com/news/mangatalent/index.php.

NeoPets Inc. and McDonald

eDward, the eDIT Film Award, is a European newcomer competition. Participants can win prizes up to 2,500 Euro. The competition is open to young Europeans up to 30 years old. Participants must be resident of Europe, which extends from Urals to the Atlantic, from Malta to Iceland. The 30-second film must be about the special fascination of football (soccer) in general and a worldwide Football Cup in particular. Submissions will be judged according to the following main criteria:

* thematic relevance of content
* visionary perspective
* original nature of idea
* visual language/optical representation
* execution (camera, effects, editing, sound, image processing)

The winners of each category receive

BBC Three is giving animators a chance to turn their animated short into a new television series. The network is looking for distinctive visual style, strong stories and appeal to BBC Three's 24- to 35-year-old audience. The overall winner will get their film screened on BBC Three and funding to develop a series of their animation. In October 2004, the shortlist will appear on BBC Talent Website as an online showcase. In November, judges will select six finalists, which will be showcased on Nov. 11 at the Bradford Animation Festival. In March 2005, the six finalists' animations will then be showcased on BBC3. For more information, visit http://www.bbc.co.uk/talent/newanimation/index.shtml.

Converse/Chuck Taylor is hosting a film competition to support emerging artists. For more than 90 years, Converse has stood for creativity and originality and now it wants to know what that means to artists by asking them to express themselves.

To enter the competition, make a 24 second film that combines what you stand for as an artist with what you think Chucks stand for. Check out the online gallery for all the information and to see some winning examples. Many of the films will be posted in ConverseGallery.com and the finalists will be on MTV and given $10,000 to further pursue their creative endeavors. For more information, visit www.conversegallery.com.

ZOOLOOK Ent. and MediaTemple Inc. are hosting the 2nd Annual TGSNT competition. TGSNT seeks to recognize and reward independent storytellers worldwide who use Macromedia Flash MX or any third party software that exports to the swf format as a storytelling medium to produce original stories for the Web, DVD, TV, film and wireless entertainment. This year, the competition will offer double the exposure and double the prizes. Participating animators are also allowed to submit their original stories using the following software programs: Macromedia Flash 5/MX/MX 2004 Toon Boom Studio Electric Rain Swift 3D Softimage XSI LightWave 3D 3ds Max 6 Maya 6 Cinema 4D TGSNT competition is open to animators, filmmakers, independent storytellers and students worldwide. This year's entry fee is $30 per entry, $15 per student entry. Launch date for the new TGSNT Website is August 23, 2004. Call for Entries begin Sept. 17, 2004. For more information, visit http://www.tgsnt.com.

Visionary Cinema is hosting a VAN HELSING writing contest with a grand prize winner receiving a DVD set of the film and a special phone liasion and story submission with screenwriter and director Stephen Sommers. Ten other winners will receive a copy of the DVD. Entries must not exceed 2,500 words and must include Dracula, Frankenstein and the Wolf Man. The contest will be judged by three literary specialists/writers. Hardcopies of the story must be submitted to VAN HELSING Writing Contest c/o Visionary Cinema P.O. Box 1722, Glendora, California 91740. The winner will be posted at www.vanhelsing.net.

Stopmotionfilm.de hosts the third Morph 2004 to highlight the best in short stop-motion films. The length should be two minutes and it doesn't matter if you are a beginner or a professional. There are two main topics: best stop-motion quickie and best stop-motion character. The best character of the seconds category will be assessed by a jury and those of the first category by the audience. For more information, visit www.stopmotionfilm.de.

Peugeot Contours Design is hosting its third car design competition. This year

PBS Kids is hosting the second annual CYBERCHASE Online Contest. Sponsored by Intel Corp., one grand prize and 10 first prize winners will each receive an Intel Centrino Mobile Technology-based notebook computer for themselves and another for their school or community group in addition to CYBERCHASE products and materials. There will also be 50 second prize winners who will be awarded CYBERCHASE products for themselves and their school or community organization.

To enter the CYBERCHASE Online Contest, fans can go to pbskidsgo.org/cyberchase, from September 13 through October 11, 2004. Contestants must correctly solve 10 math puzzles based on five all-new CYBERCHASE episodes, premiering Sept. 16. Visitors to the contest page will be treated to a sneak peek at the new episodes.