We did it once before and we've decided it is time to do it again. Genome Alberta is holding a new digital art contest leading up to Biotechnology Week in Canada.
Digital artists rely heavily on technology to express themselves just as technology is crucial for our genomic researchers to make their discoveries. This art competition will challenge artists around the world to explore the complex interaction between the science of biotechnology and the societal, ethical, legal, and public policy world we live in.


Every year BIOTECanada joins forces with industry, government and academia to mark National Biotechnology Week in Canada and this year we're asking you to join in the celebration of this 21^st century biology.  We'll help make it worth your while with some cash prizes and the chance for your entry to become part of our annual report and other print publications. We are accepting entries now.


The word biotechnology is credited to Karl Ereky who first used it around 1919 in a book originally published in German called Biotechnology of Meat, Fat and Milk Production in an Agricultural Large-Scale Farm.  However many of those same biotech practices have been around for thousands of years in the production of wine, yogurt, bread or many medicinal medicine.
While it may not be new, it can be controversial, especially as we use high tech practices to create new seed varieties or produce new pharmaceuticals. Genetically modified organisms or GMOs often raise the spectre of Frankenfood varieties out to do damage to the planet. Yet these are the same techniques which produce drugs like insulin, insecticides made from natural ingredients, or are used to produce alternative fuels from wood chips or algae. From an economic perspective, Canada has more than 550 companies and a bio-based economy which adds just over 78 billion dollars to the economy.

As you create your digital magic keep this definition from BIOTECanada in mind:
Biotechnology is the application of science and technology to living organisms as well as parts, products and models thereof, to alter living or non-living materials for the production of knowledge, goods and services.
 
You are asked to attach your submission in an e-mail to art@genomealberta.ca and include your name, title of your work, and your mailing address. Please put ' Art Contest Submission from your last name ' ( insert your last name only ) in the subject line.  We'll post the entries online and the world will be asked to vote on the submissions.  The top ten vote getters as of September 24^th, 2010 will go before a panel of judges from the biotechnology sector and from the art world who will choose the top 3 entries for prizes.
There will be a prize of $300.00 for first, $200.00 for second, and  $100.00 for third place.

We kicked open the entry door on August 1^st so get the creative juices flowing, think about the complex world we live in,  and produce your masterpiece. 
Then get your friends to help vote you up to the top 10 by going to
http://www.genomealberta.ca/vote.aspx

Official rules and judging details are available at::
http://www.genomealberta.ca/contestrules.aspx but here is a first glimpse at the rules and a slideshow of entries from our last contest.

Submission Guidelines

• Only 1 submission per person.
• Entries must be the original work of the author or artist and must not have been published elsewhere.
• You must have full permission to use the work and if it is derived from another source must have full permission to use that source as well.
• Entries with photographs or images of a person must have permission to use the likeness.
• The final submission image must have been created in 2010.
• Submissions will be displayed online with the artist’s name and the title of the work.
• You must agree to have your work include a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Canada license.  Full details of which can be found at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ca/  
• All entrants agree to have their work displayed on Genome Alberta's Picasa photo sharing site, on our GenOmics site and on our main web site . 
• If your work is selected you also agree to have your work considered for Genome Alberta's Annual report and in print brochures.
• Entries must be submitted in a .jpg format with a suggested resolution of 300dpi. Entries must not exceed 8mb in file size.
• You must submit your entry as an e-mail attachment to art@genomealberta.ca  
• Entries must include the artists full name, postal address, and e-mail address. Only the name and title of the work will be posted online.
• The coordinators reserve the right to reject entries or not post entries to the web that are considered unsuitable.
• Entries will remain online for 6 months. After that time the images will be removed from Genome Alberta managed sites.
• By entering the contest, the winner(s) authorizes the use, without additional compensation, of his or her artwork for promotion and/or advertising and/or display and/or education purposes in any manner and in any medium (including newspapers and other publications and in television or film releases, slides, videotape, distribution over the internet and picture date storage) which Genome Alberta may deem appropriate.
• In accepting the prize, the winner, and any guest(s), acknowledges that Genome Alberta may not be held liable for any loss, damages or injury associated with accepting or using this prize(s).
• Employees of Genome Alberta. its contest sponsor, and their respective affiliates and associates and such employees' immediate family members and persons with whom such employees are domiciled, are excluded from this contest.
• Deadline for submission is September 16th , 2010 however Genome Alberta reserves the right to withdraw or terminate this contest at any time without prior notice. 
  
   

Here are entries from our last digital art contest: