Mannington Commercial’s tx:style design challenge, the interiors industry’s most prestigious and successful social networking design competition, is now open for entries. The company also announced that it will be taking this year’s Grand Prize winners to Paris.

Now in its third year, the competition invites any designer to imagine, create and upload design concepts for flooring products to http://manningtontxstyle.com. Six finalists will be chosen by a panel of judges on the basis of public comments, votes, aesthetics, creativity and manufacturability. Each finalist wins $3,000, promotion in a national advertising campaign and a trip to NeoCon World’s Trade Fair in Chicago.

At NeoCon two Grand Prize winners will be announced, chosen entirely by public voting online. These winners will create a full collection to be manufactured and marketed by Mannington, a total purse of $6,000 and a trip to Maison & Objet – the Paris trade show that connects the world of architecture and design with innovative, contemporary interior products.

 “After two incredibly successful years of connecting with designers in new ways and giving the design community the power to engage with products they want, we are broadening the scope of the tx:style design challenge this year,” said contest innovator Natalie Jones, who is Mannington’s Vice President of Commercial Brand Development and Creative Product.

 “The contest is all about connecting designers with Mannington around creativity and product development, about new ideas and fresh thinking,” she said. “What better way to celebrate design than by announcing the designers of our next collections at America’s biggest interiors trade show, and taking the winners to the inspirational and fabulous Maison & Objet in Paris?”

Also new this year, designers of any experience level are welcomed to enter tx:style design challenge. While continuing its legacy of supporting young designers, the competition is expanding to include all designers, who submit in one of two categories:

·      Practicing designers or architects with less than seven years of professional experience;

·      Practicing designers or architects with more than seven years of professional experience.

In year one, 10,000 designers cast half a million votes to choose healthcare designer Meagan Webb’s Squareberry as the winner. Webb’s full carpet collection is now available from Mannington, bringing organic luxury and commercial grade performance in a palette of colors that beautifully suits healthcare and other commercial projects. Last year, 13,000 designers voted to choose two Los Angeles designers – Athena Abrol and Laurel Harrison – as Grand Prize winners. Both are currently working with Mannington’s design development team, creating flooring collections that will launch at NeoCon 2011.

Upload designs, view and comment at manningtontxstyle.com . Submissions close on February 16, 2011.