It is our pleasure to announce the winner of the Open Borders Logo Contest. The goal of the contest was to produce a simple, but aesthetically pleasing, symbol that would represent the Open Borders movement. We received many excellent entries. On behalf of the contest sponsors, Bryan Caplan, Vipul Naik, and myself, I declare that the image made by Niklas Blanchard the winner. While a number of entries were well done, we thought that Niklas’ entry was simple and would be easy to depict by hand, on a whiteboard or chalkboard, or in posters and billboards.

The image was originally posted on Facebook here.

As the winner, Niklas has released the image under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License on his blog. The original release statement is here. That means that he allows you to use the logo in your own work (t-shirts, bumper stickers, posters, etc) as long you agree to the terms of this license.

We are also looking for information about the source, author, and license of the freedom birds image that appeared here, and is shown below:

On Niklas’ blog (linked above) he has created a T-shirt design that combine his logo with this image:

If you have any leads about the author and license of this image, please let us know, so that we can make appropriate arrangements to use the image on Open Borders T-shirts.

Today, we are announcing some finalists for our Open Borders Logo Contest. The finalists are arranged in chronological order (earliest first). The winner will be announced next week. Feel free to use the comments space to share your thoughts on the finalists.

#1: Global access, by Alexandria Fraga

Author’s description of the logo: The logo represents the right and access to move freely without restrictions.

On Facebook here.

#2, by Niklas Blanchard

On Facebook here.

#3, by Katie Hartmann

On Facebook here.

#4, by Katie Hartmann

On Facebook here.

#5, by Martin Sykora

On Facebook here.

#6, by Kelsey Crockett

On Facebook here.

#7, by Niklas Blanchard

Author’s description of the logo: As a passionate advocate of open borders, and the free movement of people between countries, I wanted to create a logo that exemplified the breaking of barriers. The rotation of one of the links of the “fence” symbolizes this, while also creating an arrow, signifying movement. I flipped the logo at the suggestion of another member to point toward the words “open borders”, subtly suggesting that free immigration is the way forward.

On Facebook here.

We were also alerted to an image showing fence chains becoming birds shown below (original here) that could be combined with our final logo to create a good Open Borders T-shirt.

Over the last month, we’ve run the Open Borders Logo Contest. The goal is to create a symbol that represents the basic human right of free migration. The contest ends on midnight of September 30, 2013. Don’t waste time. To enter the contest, join our Facebook group, which we moderate. Our sponsors, Bryan Caplan and myself, will award $200 to the winner, chosen by us. The winner will allow us to use the logo and will allow others to use the image. We encourage the winner to use the Creative Commons license to enable easy reuse. Sign in now and check out our contenders.

PS: If you don’t have a Facebook account but want to participate, please email your submission(s) to openborders@googlegroups.com and we will post it on your behalf.

Post by Fabio Rojas (see all posts by Fabio Rojas)

This post was cross-posted at orgtheory.net, a group blog on sociology where Rojas is a participant. The cross-posted version is here.

The Open Borders movement seeks a symbol that embodies the spirit of free migration. To achieve that goal, we are sponsoring a logo contest. The winner of this contest will get $200 and their design will become the official logo of the Open Borders web site.

• The goal: Create a simple logo, like the peace sign, that represents free migration.
• How to enter: Go to the Open Borders Logo Contest Facebook page and post your image. Join the group and send me a message so I can add you. Then, you can post.
• The criteria for selection: We seek something that is simple and powerful. Think of an image that a person with little artistic skill could paint on a sign or banner.
• Who will choose the winner: The Open Borders website editors and the contest sponsors (Bryan Caplan and myself).
• The winner will be announced on October 1, 2013 or later.

All contestants will retain the rights to their design. The winner will allow the Open Borders website to use the image indefinitely in exchange for the prize money. The winner will allow others to use the image as long as they do so in a non-profit manner. In other words, the winner is free to use the image for their own benefit, but they’ll allow it to be used for Open Borders signs, banners, websites, and the like at no cost.

UPDATE: Although this is not a precondition of participation, it is recommended that you consider releasing your image under one of the Creative Commons licenses. Creative Commons licenses are often used for publishing artwork and images over the web in a manner that facilitates reuse while preserving selected rights of the author.

UPDATE 2: Those who do not have a Facebook account or prefer not to post the pictures on Facebook can email the photos to openborders@googlegroups.com — one of us will post the photos for you. If you prefer to be anonymous and have your identity known only to the site administrators, please let us know in the email.