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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!