Fur Trade
Design Against Fur
The Competition
Students are invited to participate in the 2006 poster design competition with a conscience. Let your imagination run wild by designing a creative, effective poster sending an important, compassionate message.
The contest is open to students of fashion, design, fine arts, advertising, marketing, graphic design and multi-media in colleges around the world including: Austria, Australia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Holland, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom and the United States.
The competition will take place in two phases. Winners of the Canadian regional competition will go forward to the international competition.
Download the registration Form (MS Word)
Background
The theme of the 2006 Design Against Fur poster competition is Canada's commercial seal hunt - the largest and most brutal slaughter of marine mammals on earth. Over the past three years, the Canadian government has allowed nearly a million harp seals to be slaughtered. 97 percent of those killed were under three months of age, and the majority were less than one month old.
A number of well-known fashion designers (Donatella Versace, Dolce & Gabbana, Prada and Louis Vuitton) have used seal fur and skins in their collections during the past several fashion seasons.
By using seal skin and fur in items such as trim, coats, tunics, dresses, shoes, vests, and jackets, designers are providing the Canadian government and sealers with an economic incentive to continue the hunt. Seal products can be seen on the streets of cities in Denmark, Russia and Italy. Sometimes the skin has been so transformed that it is difficult for consumers and the public to determine that it originated from a seal.
Brief
A poster that visualises, and includes the words ‘protect seals’. How that is done is up to the student.
The objectives of the poster are:
• To raise awareness and public outrage as part of a campaign to secure Government legislation to protect seals.
• To provide compelling public materials that will help convince governments to ban the trade in all sealskins and convince consumers not to buy seal skins.
• We want governments and consumers to take responsibility for allowing the trade in seal products to happen in their country or for choosing to buy a sealskin product.
Information About the Seal Hunt
Over the past three years, the Canadian government has allowed nearly a million harp seals to be slaughtered. 97 percent of those killed were under three months of age, and the majority were less than one month old. At the time of slaughter many had not yet even eaten their first solid meal or taken their first swim. It is legal to kill a seal pup once it starts to shed its white coat at about 12 days of age. The last time sealers killed this many seals—back in the 1950s and 60s—the harp seal population was reduced by two thirds.
Many people are unaware the commercial seal hunt goes on today, believing it was ended back in the 1980s. The majority of those that are aware of the seal hunt are opposed to it. Unfortunately, there are consumers around the world who choose to buy sealskins, many possibly unaware of the cruel origins of the product.
Each year, veterinarians, journalists, scientists and animal welfare experts observe the commercial seal hunt at close range. They continue to report unacceptable cruelty, including conscious seals stabbed and dragged with boathooks across the ice floes, wounded seals left to suffer in agony, and seals even skinned alive. Their observations are supported by a 2001 report by an independent panel of veterinarians. The report concluded the seal hunt results in considerable and unacceptable suffering, and in up to 42 percent of the cases they examined, the seal had likely been skinned alive.
It is the demand for fur products in general that creates higher prices for sealskins, and therefore a larger hunt. We want the public to be aware that the face of the clubbed baby seal is the face of the fur industry. Whether an animal is trapped, raised in factory farms or slaughtered on the ice, extreme suffering is inflicted on animals for a frivolous product and industry.
The seals are killed primarily for their fur, which is legally traded in Europe, Russia, China and many other parts of the world. Under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, in the United States, it is illegal to kill marine mammals or trade in their products. Therefore there is no sale of seal products in the United States. Outside of the U.S., seal skins are used for fashion items, with new techniques making the skins lighter and more versatile—and therefore more valuable. But today, domestic and international opposition to the seal hunt is strong and increasing, and governments around the world are working to ban the trade in all seal products. Though there are commercial hunts for seals in other parts of the world, Canada's slaughter is seven times the size of the largest of these. It is the Canadian supply of sealskins that continues to drive the international markets.
Representatives of the Canadian government provide a great deal of misinformation on this issue, dramatically overstating the economic benefits of sealing to the province of Newfoundland. But, in reality, income from the seal hunt accounts for less than one percent of the province’s economy!
The Prizes
A panel of judges will select winning entries from Canada.
First Prize:
$1000 Cash + certificate
Second Prize:
$500 Cash + certificate
Third Prize:
$250 Cash + certificate
10 entrants will also receive certificates of special commendation from the judges
The three finalists will automatically be entered in the International competition to select a grand prize winner and the new web based People’s Choice Award.
The Organisers
In Canada, The Fur Free Alliance is represented by Global Action Network (GAN). GAN is a nationally incorporated, Canadian non-profit organization, dedicated to animal and environment protection. We believe that animals, the environment, and human welfare are inextricably linked. Simply put, animal abuse and the destruction of our environment has an ultimate consequence - the degradation of the human species. An official member of the World Society for the Protection of Animals and the Fur Free Alliance, Global Action Network campaigns against the fur trade through education, grassroots organizing, coalition building, and political networking.
The Official Rules
• To enter the competition the student must respond to specified deadlines and follow the criteria of the Design Against Fur Competition.
• All entries must be submitted by and be the work of students who are registered in approved fashion, art, marketing, advertising or design courses during 2005/06. One entry per person or group. Multiple entries will automatically disqualify the entrants.
• Entry constitutes permission to use participants ’ and winners ’ names, photographs, and/or likenesses of the design entries for public relations purposes and for appearance in any exhibition on behalf of Global Action Network or The Fur Free Alliance.
• An appointed expert panel in Canada will conduct the judging of the Design Against Fur competition and its decisions will be final. Winners will be selected on the basis of originality, creativity, practicality and technical understanding. The names of winning students will be announced on the FFA and Global Action Network websites.
• Students must register for the Contest by completing the registration form on or before 24 March 2006. All sections of the form must be fully completed.
• Only photographs and images that are copyright free may be used.
• By entering the competition, the student agrees to cede all commercial and non-commercial rights and property in the artwork to Global Action Network and the Fur Free Alliance for free use in perpetuity in the context of publicity and campaigns as per its Mission Statement. The copyright of the artist(s) will be acknowledged whenever appropriate and possible in the context of such use.
• The winners of the competition will be required to supply their original artwork to Global Action Network.
• Whilst every effort will be made to limit such eventuality, the rules, terms and conditions outlined herein remain subject to modification without notice.
• No entries will be returned and they will be the property of Global Action Network on behalf of The Fur Free Alliance.
• Winners should (if they wish) make themselves available to attend any awards presentation.
• All completed entries (see below) must be received by Global Action Network on or before 28 April 2006.
All Entries Must Include
• The line ‘protect seals’.
• The hard copy of the poster no larger than 11 x 17 inches.
• A CD of the poster in print-ready Acrobat PDF file format. Please remember to embed fonts and distil as press optimized, camera-ready (do not down sample graphics).
• Also include on your CD a JPG version of your design – format size 2200x1600 pixels (max) with a maximum file size of 1MB.
• Entries are to be securely and appropriately packaged and sent to Global Action Network 372 St Catherine W. suite 308 Montreal, QC H3B 1A2. If you have any queries regarding the technical specifications don’t be put off! - please contact us..
• Entries must incorporate the “Global Action Network/Fur Free Alliance ” logo. This is in the ‘downloads’ section.
• PLEASE NOTE: Where colleges are submitting multiple entries, we encourage them to burn them onto a single CD, clearly identifying each student.
Deadlines
14 April 2006
Deadline for receipt of official entry registration forms at the Global Action Network office. The form must include your professor’s name, signature and contact details.
28 April 2006
Deadline for receipt of competition entries at the Global Action Network office.
15 May 2006
Winners of the Canadian competition announced.
