The first edition of the MASSANA/MANBAR industrial design prize was held in 1986-87. The history of this award is the calling-card of its rigor and continuity. The great participation of students from Spain's different Autonomous Communities also confirms its consolidation. 43 students and post-grads participated in its sixth edition (1997-98). Their work revolved around a single theme: Office Comfort and Quality. The 7th MASSANA/MANBAR Award is intended to promote the participation and the enthusiasm of students towards a well-established competition which wishes to encourage the creativity of youth and their capacity of anticipation. This year offers a new focus, going beyond the competitive element of the competition, and converting it into a meeting place for new ideas and into a forum of debate between emerging creators and the world of production. The projects will thus be presented via the Internet, and will be judged by a jury. Those selected will be invited to a session in which they will set out their ideas in a forum of debate and analysis, with the presence and participation of the members of the jury and of personalities from the world of business and design. This forum will allow an exchange of ideas, an approximation of concepts and a fruitful contact between the new designers and possible production agents interested in avant-garde ideas. The MASSANA/MANBAR Award thus wishes to create a meeting point which generates a high level of debate and of exchange of ideas which stimulate creativity and communication. CONDITIONS 1. The MASSANA SCHOOL, the Art and Design Centre of the Municipal Education Institute of Barcelona, and MANBAR, a company with a history of over 45 years in the office world, jointly announce, as organizer and sponsor, respectively, the MASSANA /MANBAR Design Award. 2. The aim of the competition is to discover new values for the practice of Design among the new generations of students and graduates. This year it is intended to promote a combination of ideas and the capacity to generate new responses to an increasingly complex future. 3. All students enrolled in design schools may participate, in addition to graduates from the last five years, within the sphere of the European Union. In both cases the presentation of documentation which accredits the current situation of the participant will be demanded. 4. The subject of the project for the seventh award is: "DOMESTIC WORK": THE OFFICE AT HOME. New types of labour behaviour, defined by the possibility of working from one's own domestic space, are becoming increasingly common in a world interconnected by telematic networks. If not completely, it would appear that at least part of our future work will be carried out, with the help of computing and communications, in a nearby environment paradoxically distant from traditional places of work. We encourage young designers to think along these lines, and to present ideas for the office at home which represent a future-orientated contribution and which propose possible solutions for a future setting. 5. The participants (individually or in group, being necessary in that case to nominate a representative) can participate with singular elements or with a complete programme. Their works and ideas have to be sent by electronic mail (maximum 4 pages in Word format, maximum 6 pictures in JPEG, maximum size of the total file to be sent 3 MB), to be evaluated for the jury, who will select the six most interesting proposals according to their opinion. The latter works will be presented including a description, renderings, drawings, etc. as well as the title and the complete description of the participant - including student or postgraduate documentation. 6. The jury will mainly assess the future-orientated capacity, as well as the criteria of viability of the project, the creative formalization, its functional nature for a wide range of users (including attention to the functional diversity of the same), quality and durability, the low cost of the series and respect for the environment. 7. The jury will be formed by: Emili Bargalló (Director of Manbar), Santi Giró (Chairman Adi-Fad), Lluis Reales (Collaborator Vanguardia Digital-Journalist), Amadeu Rius (Industry Executive Aridi, office furniture), Juli Capella (Designer), and the secretaryship of the competition, without a vote, will be taken on by Jesús-Angel Prieto (Director Massana School). 8. The six contestants selected will be invited to present their ideas (using whatever presentation they desire: panels, multimedia elements, models, prototypes, etc.) in the final session which will take place in Barcelona during the spring of 1999 (coinciding with the PRIMAVERA DEL DISEÑO). The date, place and time will be advised in due course by e-mail to all the participants. This session will be public, with the presence of the members of the jury as the debate coordinating committee, and the widespread participation of the world of business and of design, of the specialized press, of students and of teachers. 9. The sponsoring company will finance the travel, subsistence and accommodation expenses of those selected, and will publish a catalogue which will include these projects with a relevant summary of the debate and of the ideas offered in the final session. This catalogue will be offered to the contestants and will act as a reference to promote and encourage, within the world of business, the possible materialization of some of the projects. 10. The sponsoring company undertakes to promote, exhibit and present to the media (including the telematic networks) the projects selected by the jury, and reserves the priority right to publish them if interested, on the understanding that the contractual relations with the author will be established in accordance with the usual protocols of the sector. 11. Closing date and place for applications: the materials should be sent to info@manbar.com by 1 March 1999. 12. Participation in the competition presupposes acceptance of these conditions. The decision of the jury will be final.