New People, the organizers of the J-Pop Summit Festival, is collaborating with Piapro.jp on a character design contest for Hatsune Miku U.S. Version. Artists can submit their interpretations of the virtual idol character that KEI created to personify Crypton Future Media's vocal music synthesis software. The grand prize winner will receive a round trip ticket to San Francisco from Crypton Future Media (or a "special prize" if he or she already lives in San Francisco).
The deadline for submissions is August 1. The winning design will be used at San Francisco's Japantown district and is "subject to use in promotions" beyond.
New People is holding a second contest to design a street banner for San Francisco's Japantown. Both contests are part of the expanded J-Pop Summit Festival, which will run for two days this year from August 27 to August 28.