The contest welcomes everyone interested in design and creating graphic prints. The winners' works will decorate merch reflecting the atmosphere of the University City.

"We live not just in a student city, but in one of the Russian student capitals, and we want Tomsk to be recognized as a university city. To achieve that, we will need merch. But the ordinary logos are not enough, the symbolism should be reflected in the form of visual solutions manifesting certain concepts and the mood of the city," says one of the organizers of the competition, the director of the TSU Publishing House, Oleg Petrin.

The purpose of the content is to stir up the design community, attract novice specialists and craftspeople, and encourage them to come up with creative solutions that will carry the symbols of the University City and the student community. Three nominations are open for participation:

Clothes Prints,

Motif/Rapport for the Coverage of Fabrics, Wallpapers, etc.,

Full Print Visuals (on Shirts, Hoodies, etc.).

"In the second contest we offer a new nomination for those who want to try themselves in fashion design, that nomination being Full Print Visuals," notes Oleg Petrin. "This means that the author's motif, ornament or rapport should be designed in consideration to the features of the cut of the product: T-shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts, tracksuits."

The contest offers six creative topics: 1) University City (merch aimed at creating a recognizable image and style of Tomsk, the city of six universities), 2) University Sports, 3) Student Life of Tomsk, 4) Visual Manifestation of Education, 5) Slogan and its Graphic Representation (Tomsk, Siberia, education, hobby, healthy lifestyle, etc.), 6) Topic of Choice.

The first Author Print contest was held in May 2022 and timed to coincide with the anniversary of TSU. Among the participants were students of the TSU Institute of Arts and Culture aspiring to be designers and artists, Biological Institute, and Faculty of Journalism. Several works were submitted to the contest from other cities. Prize-winning places were taken by students of the TSU Institute of Arts and Culture Daria Silnova in the Clothes Prints nomination and Olga Dryagina in the Motif/Rapport nomination.

Winning works will decorate the new merch representing Tomsk and the Tomsk Big University brand. Moreover, the winners will receive cash prizes. Authors of the most remarkable works will be offered licensing agreements by TSU. The award ceremony will take place in the bookstore Stranitsa No. 3 located at the TSU Research Library on November 3, 2022.

Applications and works are submitted to the TSU Publishing House e-mail address rio.tsu@mail.ru until October 28, 2022.