The Trieste Contemporanea Committee announces the eighth edition of the International Design Contest Trieste Contemporanea with the aim of promoting the most original expressions of design from the countries of Central-Eastern Europe. The initiative is supported by the C.E.I.–Central European Initiative.

Set up in 1995, the Trieste Contemporanea International Design Contest is advertised under the patronage of CEI (Central European Initiative) every two years by the Trieste Contemporanea Committee and it is open to designers from the 18 Central Eastern European Countries adehering to the CEI and from the Baltic Countries, Germany and Turkey.

The announcement asks for a project of an object in response to the edition's requested theme and material. Once the participation terms are up, an international jury selects among the most interesting works the winners and a number of projects to be executed and shown in a conclusive exhibition, that is intended to be touring in different venues.

Theme of The Contest
To exalt the search for modern formal quality, in the vast typology of receptacles destined to contain liquids, a new design for a vessel for drinking, with or without a foot, is requested. The vessel is a theme par excellence in the history of glass production and palestra of its modern renewal. As inspiration, the competitor may use principles and conceptions that refer to symbolic meanings of the Grail in the various traditions and legends. Projects which are innovative in their exploration of the behavior of light in contact with glass will be particularly taken into account. The object designed is to be made exclusively with the technique of glass blowing.

Requirements for Participation
The competition is open to all designers born in countries adhering to the C.E.I. (Albania, Austria, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Ukraine) as well as Estonia, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania and Turkey.

Groups should be composed only of participants born in the countries listed above.

The object designed is to be made exclusively with the technique of glass blowing.

All projects presented are to be new and developed expressly for the International Design Contest Trieste Contemporanea.

Terms of Participation and Deadline
Participation in the competition is free of charge. The competitor must apply utilizing the online form on the webpage www.continentalbreakfast.org/graalglass.

The application form is to be filled out in its entirety and the project should be attached in the manner specified below. Groups who wish to participate will have to fill out the application form with the name of the group leader and indicate the names and birthplaces of the others in the group. The information sheet and project have to be presented within the 24 hours of Tuesday 10 June 2008 (Italian time.)

The project registered for the competition must be composed of no more than four plates in jpg or pdf format, should contain a text of description in English and/or Italian (max. 1500 letters including spaces) to be inserted directly in the application form. The projects must contain all the necessary information for the realization of the object.
Projects delivered to the Committee by means other than online registration will not be considered.

Jury and Evaluation Criteria
The jury will be presided by Gillo Dorfles and comprised of eight international experts. The group will convene in the month of June, 2008 and will judge the projects according to the following criteria:
- Originality, depth of conception and innovativeness
- Thoroughness and clarity in presentation
- Feasibility of execution of the designed object with the technique of glass blowing;
- Attention to the project’s relationship to light.

Awards
The jury will select a number of projects to be executed in glass and they, along with the winners, will be shown in an exhibition set up in Venice and Trieste and will be published in the online catalogue provided.

- BEBA Prize for the youngest designer among those selected: 1000 Euros. 
- C.E.I. Prize for the best designer from one of the C.E.I. countries not part of the European Union: 3000 Euros. 
-Gillo Dorfles Prize - Trieste Contemporanea Design 2008 for the best project: 4000 Euros.

Trieste Contemporanea will execute the selected projects in glass at the Anfora furnace of Murano. The three winners of the prizes will be invited to Venice by Trieste Contemporanea for 3 days where they will oversee the phases of their project’s execution in glass in the furnace. The objects executed will be the property of Trieste Contemporanea.
art. 9 Publication of the competition’s results

The results of the competition will be posted on the internet at www.triestecontemporanea.it starting the first half of July, 2008. The catalogue will be published online by September 2008. The results of the competition will also be made public by the Committee through the media and international press.
art. 10 Participation hors concours

The organizers reserve the right to invite a number of designers to take on the 2008 theme hors concours and to exhibit the works in the scheduled exhibitions.

All the objects in glass made from the selected and winning projects and those presented by the designers hors concours, will be exhibited in Venice and in Trieste by the Trieste Contemporanea Committee, who will see to eventual other exhibitions in venues both in Italy and abroad.

The awards ceremony will be held in Trieste at the opening of the scheduled conclusive exhibition. The awarded designers will be invited.