OREANDA-NEWS. September 20, 2012. Entrants can now upload their designs on both the official contest site http://students.uniastrum.ru/, and the CITYCELEBRITY portal. The competition is open to anyone aged 16 and over and resident in the Russian Federation, be they professional designers or enthusiastic amateurs.

The winner will be invited by Uniastrum to conclude a contract worth Rb 100,000 and his or her design will feature on Uniastrum Bank cards, effectively commanding a viewing audience of thousands all over the country. The two runners-up will each receive an Apple iPad.

Entrants are asked to come up with an original design concept for a series of Visa and MasterCard cards that includes 4 categories: Electron/Maestro, Classic/Standard, Gold and Platinum. The design can take any form, provided that it accords with Uniastrum’s corporate style, can be suitably used on a bank card, incorporates all the features listed in the competition guidelines, and does not infringe copyright law.

“Crowdsourcing is fast becoming one of Russia’s most important social, cultural and marketing tools. In a country where the distance between one city and another is huge, and by no means everybody has ready access to intercity travel, crowdsourcing is becoming a veritable lifeline for creative, thinking, motivated people,” notes Citycelebrity project curator Konstantin Garanin. “It’s my opinion that Uniastrum’s project, and all those like it, is a manifestation of social responsibility and mature business practice that doesn’t simply turn a profit but also helps others to develop their skills and earn money at the same time. It’s a form of social entrepreneurship that can and must be supported. Citycelebrity is Russia’s biggest crowdsourcing platform and is closely engaged in sociocultural programs. We believe that by developing crowdsourcing we are empowering a huge number of people and enabling them to achieve something bigger, which, at the end of the day, is good for the economy and the life of the nation.”