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Yes, at the risk of flogging a dead horse, I'm doing it again. Let's get it started Nicole! Thank you to the lovely Nicole Kidman, and welcome to the launch of the 10th Annual GamesBids Logo Design Comp. To say the least, it's been a bit of a quiet year on GamesBids, the festivities in August in Rio notwithstanding. Still that mid-year period did bring back some of the old spirit, and one thing that helped a lot with that IMO, was Yoshi's World Cup logo comp. I'd wondered whether I'd bother to revisit the Christmas staple again this year, but that comp did inspire me that it was worth another go. So let's see if it has legs. So down to business, and this year's cities. This year we're going back to the old format, after a few years of (hit-and-miss) experimentation (I thought I was doing everyone a favour giving you free rein last year). To announce the Winter Host city, I'm joined by the Goddess Kali (or it may be Shiva in her destroyer aspect... I'm not entirely sure, the information boards here are pretty scarce). Kali (or Shiva) and I are here in the winter host city to announce that this year we are after logos for... Kathmandu 2030 The capital of Nepal, nestled in the foothills of the Himalayas is pleased to announce that it is using its natural landscape and money it doesn't have to stage the Winter Olympic games of 2030 in a fitting setting for the winter sports frolics. Actually I chose it for a few reasons - I wanted something with lots of graphical potential, I didn't want to go to India and I was actually here in Kathmandu earlier this year, so I can treat you to a few happy snaps of the trip along the way. I'm expecting colour, tradition, Hindu or Buddhist elements and maybe even elephants. As to summer? I had my heart set on a german city this year. Up until a few days ago, it was almost certainly going to be Berlin. But then I just yesterday got an email from a Señor Raoul Castro of Cuba, asking me to consider his request to pay tribute to his recently departed dear brother. I'm prepared to consider that, but I didn't want to give up on Germany totally, so I'll give a choice of two for this year's Summer comp. Both starting with the letters "H" and "A". In honour of our esteemed GamesBids member, all round nice chap and my good friend Citius Altius Fortius, and of Comrade Fidel Castro, this year you get to choose between: Hamburg 2032 or Havana 2032 Hamburg, Germany's largest port city and second largest city, was a preliminary bidder for the 2024 Summer Games. It's also home to CAF, and therefore more than deserving to be an Olympic host. But let's see if we can do better than their 2024 logo: Havana, or La Habana, is the capital and largest city of Cuba. It was a preliminary bidder for the 2012 games, though we're not sure if they were serious or not. It also had designs on hosting in 1920 and 2008. Suffice to say, it got nowhere. Lovely scenery though! For those of you not familiar with the drill, the rules and advice for this stage of the competition are: We are after logos for that encompass the overall feel of the city and local influences that can be tied into a design concept. How can any of these cities articulate graphically what they could bring to future Olympics hosting? What flavour will they bring to the games?

 Can elephants be incorporated into a Kathmandu logo? The logos should be presented as full colour designs on white background. If you like, however, they can also be presented in black and white or utilised in forms like street banners, t-shirts, apps, vehicles, pins etc. For voting purposes, the main (colour) logo will be used on the polls, but any extra material you produce may help you “sell” your design better to the wider GamesBids voting membership.

 These logos are for HOST cities. So you can use the rings, and don't need to include the words “Candidate City”. Post your preliminary submissions on this thread. If you want to hold anything back to be presented as a “surprise” when voting starts you can contact me via PM and I'll tell you where you can send the extra material.

 Feel free to post as many logo designs as you like. When the time comes for voting, however, you will be asked to settle on ONE official logo in each category (winter and summer) as your official entry.

 The competition is open to all members of gamesBids, or to any new legitimate members who join before December 31. I will rule on the legitimacy of new members. As usual, I will rule on any disputes. As always, just remember, this is all meant to be fun. Try to keep the spirit friendly. Hopefully this will spark up some action on the board. I'll be keeping a close eye on proceedings, but otherwise will try and keep hands-off until the polling stages. The deadline for submissions is 12pm (Sydney time) on December 31 – ie, you must submit your logos before the end of this year. We will thus start 2017 (with a few days, perhaps, to clear our heads of hangovers) with the voting for short lists, followed by the final round polls. Have fun, good luck, good Karma to all and dazzle us with your talent everyone! Hopefully we'll get some past winners and some new blood entering this year. Or at least I hope so!

Phew! Made it back to Kathmandu. Barely... Okay over to you Bob. Sigh. I didn't really wanna touch Bob Seger. But have you actually heard any real Nepali pop? Not to mention I ended up scrambling to get this all ready when I thought I'd have another day or two... or three. The sherpas had to carry me running the last stretch of the way. Oh well... Namaste! Mesdames et Monsieurs, Ladies and Gentlemen, Your Holiness, Welcome to Kathmandu city's Durbar Square for the announcement of the winner of the logo for the Kathmandu 2030 Winter Olympic Games. And a red letter day it is. For the very first time in GamesBids comp history we have a winner in a single round of voting!!! I'd been lulled into a false sense of security. When I look in this morning we had 16 votes (17 soon after) with none having a majority. I was set to be eliminated with a single vote (thanks Gotosy - no thanks to the rest of you... how rude!) and round 2 was set to proceed. But then, on closer examination (after prompting) it was revealed two of the votes couldn't be counted. Both of them (Daliaroze and Kfir for logo A) failed to meet elbility requirements - Dalia joined up just today, and Kfir on Monday, both well outside the december 1 2016 eligibilty cut-off. Which left us with 15 votes valid, and one entry with eight of them - over the 50 per cent mark. To make the announcement of who that is, I'll hand over to His Holiness the Dalai Lama - 1976 Olympic gold medalist in fencing Thomas Bach has been demoted to Envelope Girl. Over to you Dalai, err, lama, err, Your Holiness... Dalai Lama: Namaste. Om Mani Padme Hum. Thank you Sir Lols. I am very very much joyed by the karma of this event. May Peace and Dharma rain upon the winner of this competition, and all of the participants. For those who not winners, may Karma reward and bless you in your next reincarnation. For the winner, bask in the glow of the Buddha. And that winner is...... Paul! Sir Rols: Thank You Your Holiness. And Congratulations Paul! Another notch on the belt. Well done. And thanks for your support of my efforts, in public and behind the scenes. A class act. So that's two from two from this logo season - can you make it the clean sweep? We'll see. Okay, so official results from our first and only round of voting. Logo A (Glacib) on 2; Logo B (JO2024) on 2; Logo C (Paul) on 8; Logo D (Thatsnotmypuppy) 2; and Logo E (me) on 1. Sigh! I expected to be eliminated, but on just one........?????? Okay, so that wraps this round up. Far quicker than I expected. The next stage, Hamburg-Havana, will start in a day or two (I may take a rest day tomorrow). Stay tuned. For those making the trip to Hamburg for the launch, Martin (member Citius Altius Fortius) has some beds and sofas free at his place. See you there. Namaste and Peace be with you!

Ladies and Gentlemen.... It's The Beatles! Thank you John, George, Paul and Ringo for setting the tone for the coming voting events. Tomorrow Never Knows what will come indeed when it comes to the voting comps. Anyway welcome to Annapurna Base Camp, the setting for Downhill events in 2030. My Sherpas and I have been trekking to here long and hard to make it in time for the start of 2017 and the launch of voting in the Winter phase of the 2010 GamesBids Olympic Logo Comp. So let's get down to business. We gather here to decide our winning logo for the 2030 Winter Olympic Games in Kathmandu, Nepal. Thanks to all entrants... five, including me... for taking the time to submit your works. Some fine works there, but who's gonna make it through to the end to grace the Binners' Banner? Anyway, with five final entries, it's a bit superfluous to go through a semi final short list stage. So, let's get directly onto the final rounds and standard IOC voting procedures. The rules for this stage are: This voting round will be open for (approximately) 48 hours - it will close after 7am, Tuesday January 3, Sydney time (8pm Jan 2 GMT). (I'm keeping this initial round open longer than usual to allow people to get settled after New Year's Eve activities, to allow a proper consideration of all five together, and to give Krow a chance to do a red carpet review of the entries.) Voting will now be conducted in rounds until one entry has an absolute majority and is declared the winner. In this and following rounds, the logo with the lowest number of votes will be eliminated at the close of the poll. Vote in the poll for your favourite logo. You have ONE vote, so make it count. Your vote is public and can be seen by all. Entrants MAY vote for their own logo if they wish. The exception is me - I will refrain from voting at all on the basis that I don't want to be seen as having any advantage. Votes are valid if cast by members of GamesBids as of December 1 2016 with a bona fide posting record. I will rule on the validity of any suspicious or disputed votes, or who constitutes a bona fide voting member. If there's any conflict of interest involving me, I will ask member Yoshi, who has been a close collaborator with me in this and past comps, to make a ruling. As mentioned, I will not vote in this, or any subsequent rounds. If a tie-breaker vote is needed, I will ask Yoshi to make the call. Be fair and sportsmanlike, this is meant to be fun and the entrants all deserve RESPECT. So that's it, get voting. I'll begin the long trek back now (at least it's downhill) to make it back to Kathmandu City in time for the winner's announcement. Good karma to all!