The annual Mitsubishi Chemical Junior Designer Award honors outstanding graduation works from students seeking to be tomorrow’s leading designers, and serves as an important first step toward their professional careers. The event, Japan’s only competition for graduation works on design in general, is hosted by the Mitsubishi Chemical Junior Designer Award Executive Committee and specially sponsored by Mitsubishi Chemical.       In October 2008, the winners of the Mitsubishi Chemical Junior Designer Award 2008 were announced, chosen from 202 entries. While the overall quality of entries has risen year by year, the works have increasingly tended to have a smaller sense of scale and focus too narrowly on clever arrangement. For that reason, in 2008, the

competition's eighth year, the judges decided not to award the Grand Prize, which rewards ideas characterized by youthful originality, energy and innovation. However, three contestants were selected for an Excellence Prize.       The three winning entries were: “Harapeko” by Sayaka Shoji (graduate of Tokyo Geijutsu Daigaku), “Solid Kite Formative Investigation – Float Functional Formative –” by Hiromi Kuronuma (graduate of Tohoku University of Art and Design) and “Sado” by Kenta Mimura (graduate of Esmod Japon Osaka). Each winner collected a trophy and ¥500,000 in prize money, as well as well-deserved recognition for talent and potential.       For more information see: www.m-kagaku.co.jp/mcjda/

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The football match is about to start, the heroes appear to thunderous cheers from the audience. It’s a magic moment that all football supporters relish. Yet, imagine being able to actually join these players by the field for a few moments before the game, whip out your camera and get your own up-close snapshot of the players!       Through the Nikon Field Photographer Program, Nikon is now offering families throughout Asia a chance to take photos of the players before the start of games during the 2010 FIFA World Cup Asian final qualifiers and the AFC Champions League. These games are being held around Asia by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). In this program, three pairs, each consisting of one parent and one child aged 10–15, are being invited to selected games where they can photograph the players from the sidelines or behind the goal with Nikon D60 digital SLR cameras before the games. Nikon, which has officially supported AFC football events since 2004, will continue to promote this initiative to provide opportunities for people to feel the excitement of football through photography at stadiums across Asia, and to contribute to Asian football. PAGE TOP

More than 1,000 employees of Mitsubishi Electric companies in the U.S. participated in the first Mitsubishi Electric Hallway Golf Tournament. The month-long series of workplace golf events, held October 9–November 7, 2008, raised nearly $50,000 for the U.S. branches of Special Olympics, an international non-profit organization dedicated to empowering people with disabilities through sports, and other charities serving children and youth with disabilities.       Hallway Golf was created by an employee at California-based Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America several years ago as a form of workplace fundraising for worthy causes. The event proved so popular that several other Mitsubishi Electric companies adopted it, and last autumn it was made the first-ever company-wide volunteer project. Volunteers designed and built miniature-golf holes in hallways, warehouses and factory floors. Reflecting the corporation’s Japanese heritage, some holes featured Tokyo scenes, while others used themes such as Halloween. Vendors at some locations donated up to $1,000 each to be “hole sponsors,” and company departments competed in team scores and most creative hole design.       The Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation (MEAF), which coordinated the project, has the mission of serving youth with disabilities, so Special Olympics was a natural charity partner. Special Olympics representatives and children with disabilities were invited to play Hallway Golf at a number of company locations. At the end of the Tournament, MEAF awarded trophies to the volunteer teams that raised the most money and that designed the most creative hole. PAGE TOP