In the land of kawaii (cute), where sports teams, companies, and cities have their own mascots, The Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games is offering you a chance to animate that essence of joy you experienced as a child.

Tokyo 2020 has requested the Japanese public to submit their designs for the mascots of the Tokyo 2020 Games – both the Olympics and Paralympics. Whether you’re a professional illustrator or a convenience store freeter, you can submit a design, although you need to be 18 years or older. Non-Japanese living in Japan are also eligible.

An entry can be submitted by a group as well. The group can have a max of 10 people in it. Above age and nationality conditions apply to all group members.

Start working on those lovable characters now, because the design submission period is August 1 – 14.

But be forewarned. Shortlisted designs will have a tough group of evaluators. The organizing committee requires that elementary school classes across Japan, the international schools, will vote and thus end up selecting the winner.

That’s a pretty cool idea actually

So here’s the brief from Tokyo 2020, and here’s the timeline:

• August 1 to 14, 2017 – design submission period (submission via a special website)
• December 2017 – mascot panel selects shortlist of design sets
• December 2017 to January 2018 – elementary school children vote on the shortlist
• March 2018 – design set with the largest number of votes is announced as the winner
• July to August 2018 – mascot panel decides names for the winning mascots

Good luck!

 

PS: Read the fine print on intellectual property in the brief!