First IFAN international poster contest:Standards make the world go round

A credit card fits into ATM machines all over the world and the money you took out will auto-matically  be deducted from your bank account whether you are in Australia, Switzerland or in Canada. A JPG file can transfer your photos in just a few seconds from one computer to another. Batteries fit into devices the world over,while electrical safety standards  ensure that the only shock the customer gets relates to the great features of the equipment . Freight containers produced in different countries by different  manufacturers are lifted, loaded,stacked and stored without any difficulties all over the world,How is this possible?Because of standards!

Standards play a key role in technology and the global economy. They even penetrate our social life . More information about the importance of standards and standardization may be found on the ISO Web site (www.iso.org) on the pages "Overview of the ISO system" and "The ISO Cafe" and on the IEC Web site(www.iecstandards.org) in the sections "IEC in action" and "About the IEC".

IFAN - International Federation of Standards Users is inviting all persons wishing to express their artistic vision of the importance of standards and benefits of standards and standardization, to take part in the first IFAN international contest by preparing a poster depicting the theme "Standards

make the world go round".

The IFAN Board will serve as the contest jury. Posters accepted for the contest will be displayed on the IFAN Web site with the indication of the names (or pseudonyms) of the authors.

The posters will be judged on the basis of how the participants manage to deliver the subject to the public,

their creativity, the composition and attractiveness lf the posters. The winners of the prizes will be announced on

the site.

The prizes

1st place: CHF 3000

2nd place: CHF 1000

3rd place: CHF 600

Conditions for participation in the contest

1. Anyone except the contest jury may participate in this contest.

2. The posters for the contest shall be submitted in electronic form in an image format, such as jpg,eps,tiff,png,etc. The size of the poster should not be less than A2 (420mm×594 mm) and its print resolution should not be less that 300 dpi.

3.  No use of  copyrighted materials, or use of material without the copyright owners' written consent, is permitted. If you use photos of people their agreement shall be obtained.

4.The posters can be the work of a single artist or a group. Participants can submit several posters for the contest.

5. No pornographic, or other inappropriate images or content is permitted. The organizers reserve the right to refuse the participation of posters considered as offending morals or insulting the culture of any country, as well as those which do not comply with the dispositions herein.

6.  Participants shall provide the organizers with their names and pseudonyms (only in cases where they wish to stay anonymous), postal addresses, telephone numbers and e-mail addresses.

7. Authors of the submitted posters give their permission to display their posters with indication of their names (or pseudonyms)on the IFAN Web site.

8.The winners of the prizes agree to grant exclusive copyright for the respective posters to  IFAN and provide IFAN with the electronic file containing the poster in the original format(psd,ai, indd,ppt).

9.The deadline for sending posters for the contest is 1 April 2008.

10.The organizers reserve the right to cancel the contest should it be necessary due to circumstances outside their control.

Addresses for submitting posters

by e-mail to: info@ifan.org

on CD-ROM to the postal address:

IFAN

c/o ISO Central Secretariat

Case postale 56

CH-1211 Geneve 20

Switzerland