ESSENTIAL EVENT // The Cut&Paste Digital Design Tournament Hits The Lower East Side Friday Night

Tomorrow, Friday, October 28 you'll have a chance to experience one of the most exciting digital design events on earth. The Cut&Paste Digital Design Tournament will descend upon the Lower East Side's Angel Orensanz Foundation, pitting some of New York City's best designers against each other in a head-to-head, monitor-to-monitor onstage battle of CS5, vectors and pixels.

The Grand Prize winner in each of the tournament's three categories (2D Design, 3D Design and Motion/Animation) will advance to the Global Championship in March and face off against the winners of competitions held in cities across the globe, from San Francisco to Shanghai, Tokyo to Tel Aviv.

Even if you're not one of the few onstage competitors, you'll have a chance to show your skills in the "Design For Clean Water" audience design challenge, which will give you 15 minutes to sketch an inspiring graphic using an iPad and the Adobe Ideas app. Win and you'll have the chance to work on a campaign for the non-profit charity: water. If you're more inclined to just kick back and celebrate Halloween weekend while witnessing some amazing design, there will be an open bar from 7-8pm and beats by DJ Ayres, founder of legendary Brooklyn dance night The Rub.

For a taste of what you'll get to see Friday night, hit the jump for videos of 2D competitors' work for the tournament's qualifying round. Then grab your tickets. All 3rd Ward friends get a 20% discount with the code "3rdward".

-- John Ruscher

CALL FOR ENTRIES // Designers, Prove Your Mettle In The 2011 Cut&Paste Digital Design Tournament

OK, designers, you officially have this week to apply for this year's Cut&Paste Digital Design Competition--you've got until October 7 to enter. "This is not a passive, submission-based contest," the Cut&Paste folks warn. And they mean it. The tournament is more a combination of a grueling work day and a night of going hard at the club:

Competitors perform live, onstage, before big-name brands and a raucous audience fueled by bartenders, with a deejay cranking out music and an emcee narrating events. Cut&Paste expects competitors to put on a show not only onscreen, but onstage, bringing props, friends, social media tie-ins - anything they can to draw in the judges and audience and stamp their personal style on their work.

Cut&Paste's NYC competition will take place on October 28 at the Angel Orensanz Foundation, where 16 designers will compete in 2D, 3D and motion design. Judges will include Jeff Staple of Staple Design, Tristan Eaton of Thunderdog Studios, Benjamin Palmer of the Barbarian Group and artist, product designer and author Jeremyville.

Then Cut&Paste will head to 11 other cities around the world, and the Grand Prize winners of each competition will be flown to the global championship right here in NYC in March 2012. That gives you the edge, New Yorkers—no jet lag.

-- John Ruscher