posted 06-03-2010 09:38 AM               

Hubble Pop Culture Contest

In honour of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope's 20th anniversary, the European Space Agency (ESA) is proud to present ESA "Hubble Pop Culture" competition -- a free competition that calls for everyone who loves Hubble to find examples of it in popular culture. Have you seen a Hubble image on the cover of a CD? Has Hubble been used as inspiration for art? Let us know and you could win great prizes!

When you find an interesting example of Hubble within popular culture, take a picture, write a quick caption and submit it to us. We will award prizes in five categories:

1. Most Artistic,
   
2. Weirdest,
   
3. Funniest,
   
4. Largest,
   
5. Smallest.

The entries should be submitted on or before 30 June 2010.

The entries will be judged on their relevance to the category and on the basis of their originality and aesthetic as well as technical qualities.

The winners will be announced before the end of July.

Competition

The goal is to see how much the beloved Hubble Space Telescope and its science has been co-opted into popular culture and show a portfolio of the many creative examples that it has inspired.

The entries will be judged on their relevance to the category and on the basis of their originality and aesthetic as well as technical qualities.

Entrants must take photos and confirm that they have the right to distribute them. The full, detailed rules are available here.

Prizes

A 1st, 2nd and 3rd prize winner will be named for each category. The winners will receive cool prizes!

• 1st Prize
  • An iPod touch, engraved with the ESA logo and filled with Hubble videos and images
    
  • A high quality mounted Hubble print (LUMAS)
    
  • 3 books (Cosmic Collisions, Hubble -- 15 Years of Discovery and Hidden Universe)
    
  • Hubble -- 15 Years of Discovery and Eyes on the Skies DVDs
    
  • A set of ESA/Hubble posters & postcards
• 2nd Prize
  • A high quality mounted Hubble print (LUMAS)
    
  • 3 books (Cosmic Collisions, Hubble -- 15 Years of Discovery and Hidden Universe)
    
  • Hubble -- 15 Years of Discovery and Eyes on the Skies DVDs
    
  • A set of ESA/Hubble posters & postcards
• 3rd Prize
  • 3 books (Cosmic Collisions, Hubble -- 15 Years of Discovery and Hidden Universe)
    
  • Hubble -- 15 Years of Discovery and Eyes on the Skies DVDs
    
  • A set of ESA/Hubble posters & postcards

How?

1. Look around you and see where Hubble has crossed the line from pure astronomy/science into popular culture. Have you seen a piece of art inspired by Hubble? Book covers? Wall murals? Car paintings? When you find your example, take a photo of it.

2. Once you produced an image you are pleased with, save the original file in your working format, and generate a moderately sized JPEG for submission. The instructions on how to submit your entries are listed below .

3. Save your image as a moderately sized JPEG for submission.

4. Then, join the "Hubble pop culture" group in Flickr If you don't have a Flickr account, create a free one on flickr.com

5. Upload your image to the Hubble Pop Culture group
   • Click on You -> Upload photo and videos to your account
     
   • Choose the image from your computer
     
   • Once the image is uploaded, choose "Send to group" and "add to group pool" and choose "Hubble Pop Culture"
     
   • Tag your photos with one, or more categories. (ex: Most Artistic)
     
   • Make sure your photos are visible by anyone (public) and marked as safe.
6. We will accept submissions until 30 June 2010.

7. For enquiries about the competition, you can contact us at HSTpopculture@eso.org.

Jury

The propose Jury is constituted by:

• Colleen Sharkey (ESA/Hubble PIO, chair)
  
• Bob Fosbury (Head of ST-ECF/astronomer/photographer)
  
• Martin Kornmesser (ESA/Hubble graphic/video expert)
  
• Lars Lindberg Christensen (ESO, Head of ESO education and Public Outreach Department, image specialist)

Image selection process

Pre-selection: Each member of the Jury will evaluate each image, and give an overall marks taking into account all the selection criteria defined in the rules. The marks are:

• A: excellent image, to be considered
  
• B: acceptable image, could possibly be considered
  
• C: inferior image, has some major issues in at least one of the selection criteria.

These marks will be combined, and a short list of potential winners will be made. Full resolution images will be requested for the images that make it into this short list.

Final selection: the members of the jury will evaluate the short-listed images, and give marks according to each evaluation criteria. These marks will be combined, and the images will be ranked accordingly. The jury will then meet to discuss the final ranking.

The pre-selection and final selection processes are internal and confidential. Only the final ranking will be made public.

posted 09-01-2010 10:31 AM               

In honour of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope's 20th anniversary, the European Space Agency (ESA) is proud to present the ESA Hubble Pop Culture competition -- a free competition that calls for everyone who loves Hubble to find examples of it in popular culture.

The competition closed on 1 August 2010. A special edition of the Hubblecast highlights some of the best entries of this competition and the stories behind them. It is available in several formats, including HD.

The Flickr Group created for this occasion will remain open. If you come across other images of Hubble in your everyday life, we encourage you to submit them to the group!

The jury, composed of astronomers, graphic artists and communication specialists, had a difficult time selecting the best among the numerous qualifying entries. After much discussion -- and much fun in arguing back and forth -- we are now pleased to announce the winners of the Hubble Pop Culture competition.