Over 300 designs for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics logo design contest have already been submitted. Is yours one of them?

You need to be a Japanese national or a permanent resident of Japan 18 years or older to submit. A child or groups of children can also submit a logo design, but only under the name and supervision of a person 18 years or older.

According to this NHK report a few days ago, you need to make sure that you have the words “Tokyo 2020”, as well as the Olympic and Paralympic symbols together with your original design.

But there are a few restrictions NHK pointed out in the video clip:

• You cannot mash the three design elements together into one.
• You cannot use the Olympic torch or Olympic medal in the design.
• You cannot use widely known national symbols like the flag symbol in the design. (Admittedly, this last one will be open to interpretation.)

When the submission portal opened up, over 300 submissions were made in the first 30 minutes. The application form was downloaded over 70,000 times, so one can expect that number to climb dramatically. In terms of the timeline going forward, the hope is to narrow the design nominees to 100 to 200 by the end of the year.

In January, a committee will narrow the nominees to a short list, making sure that the requirements are satisfied and that the logo would be eligible for trademark registration. There would then be a national survey conducted to get further input, with the intent of finalizing the logo design by Spring of 2016, although the details of that step are not yet clear.

You have until December 7 to design your logo, fill in the application and submit. For background on why this contest is being held, see a prior post on this topic.