Rowing ACT has announced a medal design competition for Head of the Lake competitors with prize monies totalling $1,800.  This is in response to the strong wish expressed by schools for the 2018 event to have its own medal rather than using the normal regatta medal for places.  The 2018 Head of the Lake event was held in March attracting around 600 crew.  It was very successful and attracted good press coverage with the Canberra Times reporting that students from Canberra Girls Grammar, Canberra Grammar, Daramalan, Radford and Marist were leading the local contingent.

The Head of the Lake has a long and rich history in the ACT as a schools’ regatta.  The Lake filled in April 1964 and in the following month the Australian Rowing Championships and Olympic trials were held.  Discussion started very soon after that on the possibility of Canberra hosting its very own Head of the Lake event.  In August 1964 thirty boys from Telopea Park High school were the first Canberra schoolboy organised crew to use Lake Burley Griffin in a four bought from the ACT Rowing Association.  This was seen at the time as the first stage of a plan to establish Canberra’s own Head of the Lake.  This led to the first Head of the Lake being held in April 1966.  Telopea High, Daramalan, Grammar, Lyneham and St Edmund’s all regularly competed in the 1960s.

Details of the Competition are as follows

Prizes

• The winning design will attract a first prize of $500 for the person or group who submits it.  The second and third prizes will be $200 and $100 respectively.
• $1,000 will also be awarded to the eligible Member Club from which the winning design is submitted.

Entry Eligibility

• Open to Member Clubs (and their members) which enter the Head of the Lake Regatta.
• Designs may be submitted by the eligible Member Club or directly by members of an eligible Member Club.
• There is no limit to the number of designs that may be submitted.

Medal Design

• The design for the heads side should be in relief, be innovative, be related to rowing.   It is preferable to have some identifiable Canberra feature but this is not a requirement.
• The tails or reverse side must be predominantly a field (/flat) area to allow for inscriptions.
• The design needs to incorporate the following Legend – Rowing ACT [and] Head of the Lake, in any order.
• The design should specify whether the edge is plain or reeded.
• The design should specify whether there is a rim.
• The design must be scalable between 3.5cms and 7cms.
• No cut out designs i.e. medal will be solid.

Judging

• The winning entries will be judged by a three-person panel appointed by Rowing ACT.  One of those members will have expertise in graphic design.
• No member of the panel is to have a family member submitting or assisting with a design.
• The decision of the Panel will be final.
• The panel may commend non-winning designs.

Ownership of the Medal Designs

• All designs submitted will be owned by Rowing ACT.
• Rowing ACT may, at its discretion, alter and use those designs for any purpose.
• The winning design may be altered by Rowing ACT to meet Head of the Lake medal production requirements or for any other refinement it judges to be necessary or desirable.

Acknowledgement

• Rowing ACT will publicly acknowledge and profile the winning entrants and designs.

Entry Submission

• Electronic entry forms and designs should be submitted to holdesigns@rowingact.org.au.   They should be at least 300 dpi.  Electronic entries are preferred.
• Paper entries should be submitted to Rowing ACT, Head of the Lake Design Competition, PO Box 7074, Yarralumla ACT 2600.   Paper entries must preferably be in ink to provide sufficient detail for scanning.

Closing Date

• Designs must be received by 15 August 2018.