Mannington Commercial has launched the second year of its Tx:Style Design Challenge. Designers with less than seven years of professional experience are invited to upload designs for a new commercial carpet collection to be manufactured by Mannington Commercial.

Finalists in the competition will win $3,000 each, an all expenses paid trip to NeoCon 2010, and the chance to work with Mannington’s design team to develop their concepts into carpet. Additionally, a grand prize winner will be chosen by open online voting, with the winner awarded $7,500 in prize money and a full product collection. The contest can be accessed via Mannington Commercial's tx:style design community atmanningtoncommercial.com/txstyle. Last year, 440 entries were submitted, and close to 6,000 designers cast nearly half a million votes to choose the winner, according to Mannington Commercial.

“Tx:style is all about inspiration, connecting with designers in new ways and – ultimately – giving the design community what they want,” noted Natalie Jones, Mannington’s vp commercial brand development and creative product. “We can’t wait to see the new ideas, fresh thinking and great designs that young designers will share this year.”

“The entry site is simple to use, and puts the emphasis on the creative concepts, The whole world could immediately view, vote, and give feedback on our ideas,” added designer Meagan Webb, winner of last year’s challenge. “In the time since my design was chosen, it's been a designer's dream, opening doors into the ability to be involved in product development, which is something many designers never have a chance to do.”

In addition to the annual Design Challenge, the tx:style community hosts a “worldwide mood board” where designers share inspiration, and monthly mini-contests, which this year have sent designers on all expense paid trips to Greenbuild and given them the opportunity to choose new colors for Mannington’s line of environmentally friendly wall base.