Sengkang Town Council Holding a Logo Design Contest for Their Town Council With $500 Prize

Imagine you live in Sengkang, and one day, the town council sends a letter to you. You then tell your friends, “Hey, look at that logo. I design one leh.”

Sounds like a dream?

Apparently not, because Sengkang Town Council is now holding a logo design content that will be used in their letterheads.

Sengkang Town Council Holding a Logo Design Contest for Their Town Council With $500 Prize

Lest you’re not aware, estates are managed by town councils and these town councils are usually managed by the elected MPs.

And the town councils have different logos.

This is Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Council, which runs the estates in two constituencies: Pasir Ris–Punggol GRC and Punggol West SMC.

And this is their logo:

This is Aljunied-Hougang Town Council, which runs the states in two constituencies under Workers’ Party: Aljunied GRC and Hougang SMC.

And this is their logo:

Like the name suggests, town council runs the day-to-day operations of your estate, from ensuring that the area is clean to making sure that the street lights are working.

Here’s the list of town councils after GE2020:

With Workers’ Party winning Sengkang GRC, they’ve set up a new town council called Sengkang Town Council, and here’s the thing: it’s so new, the town council has no logo yet.

Before the 2020 elections, there was no Sengkang Town Council as the GRC is new.

Instead of just letting a company do up the logo, the team at Sengkang GRC is holding a logo design competition. They said the “new logo may be used on the SKTC website, social media sites, business cards, letterhead, posters, souvenir trinkets and gifts, or anywhere else SKTC chooses.”

And here’s the thing: you don’t need to be a Sengkang resident to join, though you need to be a Singaporean and a…newbie. Here are the eligibility criteria:

• The contest is open to Singapore citizens, students aged 13 and above only.
• The contest is open only to amateurs and students; no professional design agencies or their employees may submit entries.
• The contest is not open to employees or contractors of SKTC or their immediate family members.
• Contestants are permitted to work in groups; however, only one (1) prize will be awarded regardless of group size.

Of course you’d be wondering: what the prize other than having Jamus Lim’s name beside a logo that you design?

According to the folks in Sengkang, “the prize for the winning entry is a cash prize of $500 and a mentorship with Jackson Tan of BLACK. Acceptance of the mentorship will be at the discretion of the winner. This prize remains the same regardless of the size of the team submitting the winning entry and will be valid for only one person. The prize cannot be exchanged for cash.”

A check online shows that Jackson Tan isn’t just your regular designer; the 46-year-old is the co-founder and creative director of multi-disciplinary creative agency BLACK, and is responsible for the SG50 logo that we used to see almost everywhere.

The judges comprise a panel comprising officials and employees of Sengkang Town Council.

And you can’t just be inspired by Hello Kitty or cockles.

Instead, “design should reflect the character of Sengkang town and the values of the Workers’ Party”, and it’ll be judged “on their visual appeal, adherence to the concept prompting the contest, quality of design, and ease of reproduction for the purposes stated above.”

Applications can be submitted here, and you should read this Facebook post on the T&Cs before joining.

You can start sending the logo over in JPEG format (only one submission per participant will be accepted) and the contest will close on 13 September 2020, 11:59pm. The winner will be selected and notified in mid-September.

Of course, if you’re a designer, you would be wondering: Wait, submit a JPEG? Shouldn’t designs be in vector form like AI / EPS format, so that it can scaled to be printed on, say, a large poster?

If not, you’d see a pixellated logo on a poster of MPs wishing residents a Merry Christmas because a JPEG is meant for the internet.

Sengkang GRC: Really is for Newbies Lah

Someone posted that legit question in the comment section, and Sengkang GRC has responded.

They said, “We will be allowing jpg file submissions to allow for more young students’ art work to enter the competition. Thereafter, a designer will be working together with the winner to produce the final logo which will be scaleable. Thanks for the opportunity to clarify!”

In other words, just prepare the design and we’ll work on the technical aspects later.

Now, if you’d excuse me, I need to draw some cockles to earn an extra $500.