1 . It all began in Everett, Washington, where my project team was in the process of conducting one of our business systems. So tough was the project that we often stayed up completing the tasks assigned. All of us were worn out. One night, as I walked through the parking lot with one of my employees. I found a cent and picked it up. Glancing at my exhausted employee. I suddenly had an idea to delight him. Jokingly, I presented the cent to the employee and said, "This is an informal award for your efforts." He put the cent in his pocket. "Thank you," he said, a wave of joy sweeping across his face.

About six months later, I was walking with the same employee, this time in Los Alamitos, California, when I again found a cent and gave it to him with the same words.

Later, I got into his office and there, taped on a piece of paper, were the two cents, which made me surprised. He said he was displaying them as his recognition for a job well done.

Other employees noticed the cents proudly displayed and began asking why they hadn't received any. They were also longing for the "reward". It was then that I started handing out cents, explaining that they were for recognition, not for reward. Soon, so many people wanted them that I designed a cent holder. The front features a place for a cent and beside it the phrase, "Your work is recognized!" The back has room for 30 more cents and the phrase, "Your achievements count!"

One time, I spotted an employee, Mia, doing something right and wanted to recognize her, but I didn't have a cent, so I gave her a quarter. Later the same day she stopped by and returned 24 cents.

That's how the "One Cent Award" was born. It's become a significant source of recognition in our organization.

6 . 2024 Illustration Competition

Enter the competition most respected and admired in the industry for creativity in illustration, the Communication Arts Illustration Competition. Selected by distinguished professionals, the winning entries will be distributed worldwide in the Communication Arts Illustration Annual and on commarts.com, ensuring important exposure of the creations. Each winner will receive a professionalized Award of Excellence, made from solid aluminum, and an award certificate. Communication Art’s Award of Excellence is one of the most desired awards. If chosen, winning places you in the highest ranks of your profession.

What To Enter With

Any illustration first published or produced from Jan. 2023 to Jan. 2024 is qualified. Entries may originate from any country. Descriptions in English are necessary for the judges to read.

Entries Can Be Submitted In The Following Formats

Digital Images: RGB images in JPG format with a maximum file size of 2 MB. GIF images may be livelier, but would be turned down, and so would the PNG ones.

Motion Entries: In MOV, MP4 or MPG format, with a maximum file size of 500 MB.

Illustration Competition Categories & Entry Fees

For more categories, please download the category PDF.

Late Fees

Entries must be registered no later than Jan. 13, 2024. Entries registered after that date will be charged a fee of $ 10 each. No entries can be registered after Jan. 27, 2024.

7 . Many research groups are testing “ink” made from silk proteins to print human tissues, even organs. The process is a less costly alternative to conventional 3-D printing with collagen, a key protein mainly existing in mammals (哺乳动物). Researchers in Assam, a state in India, are investigating using local silkworm species for the task — they recently submitted a patent for bioinks using a combination of proteins obtained from local silkworms. The scientists have woven them into tissue structures ranging from ears to heart.

Silk is a natural substance which is strong and completely biodegradable (可生物降解), well suited for applications in tissue engineering. For instance, to bioprint an ear, researchers dissolve silk fibers. They carefully mix the sticky liquid with a patient’s stem cells, then build structures layer by layer with a 3-D printer. Finally, the cells grow and replace the silken proteins which eventually change into a natural substance in human body.

Compared with commonly used chemicals as adhesive (粘合剂), wild silk is also perfect to cross-link silky tissues, which helps to maintain a 3-D structure. Also, the wild silk has spots that cells naturally attach to, which allows cells to stick to the silk structure rapidly. “These silks are ideal candidates for bioinks because they can be combined to build strong human tissues,” says Mandal, the lab’s lead investigator. “This is important, for example, when making bone tissue,” he adds.

“Obtaining and purifying collagen from animal remains is complex and expensive.” says David Kaplan, an expert in biomedical engineering, when asked about the advantages. “Compared with collagen, silks have an immense advantage in terms of supply and processing. Local sourcing is also a clear plus in their use in India.”

Mandal and his colleagues have already created original structures, including bone and soft tissues of the heart and liver. Reconstructing a human knee complex tissue at the ends of a bone will be next.

8 . An ancient Latin proverb says “Aquila non capit muscas” — cagles don’t hunt flies— meaning that important ones shouldn’t concern themselves with small, insignificant matters. But the lions in East Africa should concern themselves with the seemingly insignificant ants, because these ants are changing their lifestyles.

The story starts with the acacia trees in an African wildlife area in central Kenya. Some of these acacia trees provide food and shelter for specific ant species, which in turn defend the tree against herbivores (食草动物). The ants are actively attacking and driving away herbivores that attempt to feed on the tree’s leaves. This is highly effective; the ants not only physically harm the herbivores but also release chemicals that can deter other potential attackers.

But these ants are in trouble. Another species called the “big-headed” ant is destroying entire groups of tree-protecting ants. This, in turn, sets off an entire chain of events that ends up influencing when and how lions can hunt.

This ant invasion affects one thing after the other. It leaves the acacia trees defenseless against herbivores, especially elephants. The elephants come in and eat the acacias at five to seven times the rate observed in uninvaded areas. The lions, while hunting for food, have no more trees to use for hiding. This reduced tree cover makes lions less successful at hunting and pushes them to find different areas to hunt in．

“These tiny invaders are pulling on the ties that put an African ecosystem together, determining who is eaten and where,” said Todd Palmer, an ecologist from Florida.

The lions, which are already endangered, are managing to cope with this by no longer focusing their attention on zebras. The zebras, of course, can see them much better on the approach given the lack of cover. Instead, they are targeting water buffalo. But this also isn’t the end of the story. Who knows what the lions’ changing strategy will mean for the ecosystem down the line?

9 . What do you do with your clothes that you don’t want to wear anymore? Through cutting, stitching (缝) and redesigning, Baxter Salzwedel has found a fashionable way to be sustainable.

In March, recycling clothes earned the 17-year-old from Elkhart Lake-Glenbeulah High School in Wisconsin, US, a finalist spot in the Young Entrepreneurs competition. The competition was hosted by Junior Achievement of Wisconsin, a non-profit organization. He won a scholarship of $10, 000 for his sustainable clothing brand The Mad Patcher.

In the beginning. Salzwedel just worked with clothes for fun. He learned his sewing skills at a young age from his grandmother. He then started to tear up his old jeans to try and create cool new designs. The fun hobby quickly turned into a business for Salzwedel when his friends and classmates started asking him to make customized clothing for them.

“So many people wanted them that I wasn’t going to make 150 pairs of pants for free when I had to start making a business out of it,” Salzwedel told the Sheboygan Press.

In 2021, Salzwedel started his clothing brand. He uses colourful and patterned fabrics (布料) from other clothes to create his patchwork (拼接) designs, like jeans, shirts and jackets. He only uses donated or recycled materials to ensure maximum sustainability.

Salzwedel has earned thousands of dollars through selling his clothes, and he donated 25 percent of his profits to non-profit organizations.

Talking about the competition, Salzwedel said, “It was exciting to do that and meet all sorts of young people with similar ideas.” The teenager planned to use the prize to attend the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. The college is one of the most famous fashion schools in the world. Meanwhile, he will continue doing his business even after he graduates. For Salzwedel, The Mad Patcher is a lifelong project worth working on.

10 . Back in 1958, I was crazy about the 746 Norfolk & Western. The smooth bullet-nosed engine with its orange and yellow lines and shiny streamlined black tender(煤水车) seemed to completely occupy my mind.

Together the engine and tender measured a little shy of 2 feet—enormous by the toy train standards of the day. Even better, the 746 had a working headlight and smoker, and its tender sang high.

Unfortunately, the amazing 746 also had an amazing price—$50, equal to about $450 today. That was far more than my grandfather could afford. Instead, I had to be content with his little Lionel plastic, which was SIX INCHES shorter than the 746 and had no headlight, no smoker or no sound! But that was the best that my grandfather could give me at that time.

Years passed, and I was in my 30s. Complicated sound systems and computer controls dominated toy trains. I never gave a look. My interest in toy trains, I firmly believed, had faded, so did my admiration for the 746, since my grandfather was not with me. The 746 was never called to mind. On an ordinary day, however, I happened to see the 746 outside the window of a train show. Just one look, I could not look away. Childhood memories that I tried to hide in the depths of my heart raced through my mind, happy or sad.

That day I took the 746 home and placed it in the centre of the room, and let my childhood dream sing its way around me. Smoke rose out from the engine and the soft song sounded from its tender. It seemed as if I could see the soft light in my grandfather’s eyes and hear his cheerful laughter.