The Curiositee Imachination T-Shirt Contest is offering a grand prize of $2000 for all you t-shirt designers looking to make some real money. It’s being run by the science and technology obsessed Phathom Tribe at Phathom.com so I think you can already guess what they’re looking for. You’ve still got until 11.59 PM EST March 15th to submit your entry, which is also when the public vote ends so the quicker you submit the better I’d say. Judging begins 16th March to the 22nd of March when the winner will be announced.

Here’s some of their blurb (complete with typo) to give you an idea of what you’re in for…

“Whether your mission is to protect John Conner Connor at all costs or you simply have an idea on how to make your flux capacitor a little more eco- friendly. This is the T-shirt design contest to melt you steel heart.“

Here’s the submission kit. You’ll be glad to know you can make unlimited entries too! So if you’re over 18, a sci-fi buff, and handy with a Wacom then here’s your chance to pay off those Xmas bills. If you want to keep up with all the latest then follow them at Twitter. Let’s hope they’ve bought the ‘Curiositee.com’ domain which is lying empty right now as hosting a t-shirt brand in a subdirectory won’t do them many favours at Google.

Their 500th order will win $500 and their 1000th order $1000!!!

FREE cold hard cash for a $14.95 total with a free limited edition shirt!!!

They have currently sold 250 so judge when to take a punt at Affordable Urban Clothing.

Everyone in the t-shirt blog community is writing about Tilteed.com – another t-shirt vote community but with one vital difference, well actually quite a few. First off “wow”, I mean $5000 in prizes for the launch? That’s $5000 in total for the two winning designs ($3500 for the grand prize winning design, $1500 for the runner up). That is some serious commitment on Tilteed’s side, if you’re a great t-shirt designer, and I mean you’ll have to be the best of the best, then I’d recommend you sign up and upload your finest tee designs now (the winner will be announced on the 29th July) or be prepared to miss out on one hefty prize. It’s about as near to instant fame, glory and wealth that any t-shirt designer can hope for, more than any of the competition, including the behemoth of t-shirt voting sites Threadless.com. If you want a head-start make sure to download their submission kit too.

Patrick from Tilteed contacted us at Buy Tees today and apart from seeming to be one of the nicest guys in the industry he revealed a few more interesting details, it seems he used dabble in t-shirt blogging himself but couldn’t ‘keep up’ with myself and Andy from HideYourArms.com – another great t-shirt reviews blog if you’re desperate for more tee news! What’s more it looks like big things are planned for Tilteed, once they’ve launched they’ll be printing a new t-shirt every 72 hours and paying the artists $500 plus $1 per shirt sold – which should definitely keep the designers coming back for more and judging by the incredible quality of many of their submissions that goes for the customers too. Tilteed aren’t taking any chances when it comes to gaining custom either, just take a look at what they’re offering as prizes just for voting!

The more votes you submit the more chances you have of winning one of the following:-

Members Grand Prize: A choice of one of the following gaming consoles – PlayStation 3 80GB Console or an XBox 360 120 GB Elite Package (which includes Halo 3 and Fable 2) or a Nintendo Wii 2 Player HD Sports Bundle. Plus free t-shirts for a year which clocks up to grand haul of 26 tees in total!

Second Place Prize: Free tees for a year.

Runner Up Prize: Five tees of your choosing.

I only have praise for Tilteed, I love the logo, the layout is clean and fresh, the traffic is already rolling in from plenty of sources including Facebook and Twitter, the designs are superb, and the blog is extremely informative – they even have a forum! But let’s get down to business and check out some of their superb t-shirts, if you want to buy any of these you will need to get voting now!

Bombs Away! by Daleed Winmurray

Okay I lied, there’s actually one t-shirt available for sale at Tilteed and this is it – Bombs Away! by Dale Edwin Winmurray is a pre-launch special available now on pre-order for a piddling $12, it’s funny, its cute, it’s not my favourite but that’s just personal taste. Although I do like some of Dale’s other work, check out his site at www.daleedwinmurray.com. He’s a rather serious contender as far as t-shirt design goes, with two Threadless and one Woot tee under his belt there’s definitely a following for the guy’s art. Bombs Away! is a 4 colour print tee on a slate coloured American Apparel is available for men (S-XXL) and women (S-XL).

Now for the submissions, I will try not to gush but some of these designs are so good it makes me feel sick – lol.

Expansion by A.mar.illo

I’d love to see some larger close-ups of this t-shirt design, Expansion by A.mar.illo (a.ka Sven Palmowski) – the detail is stupefying, the concept glorious, the result amazing. I’s like the Death Star on crack, perhaps not the best analogy but come on, how long must it have taken the guy to draw this extravagance? I think he deserves a round of (virtual) applause even if it’s just for the time and effort that went in to Expansion. I’m gobsmacked, I just hope the earth doesn’t end up looking like this or we all most likely fall off. The most subtle jab at anti-environmental culture I’ve witnessed in a long long time. The detail is (most likely) phenomenal. Sven, if you’re reading this get on over to Flickr and plaster your page with close-ups mate, it’s the only way to go. (* He’s done it! Check out the close-up of this design here!) Yes it’s a simple one-colour print on a black t-shirt, but honestly if it was any more than that I think my brain would explode. I know A.mar.illo’s work from earlier winning entries at Bad As Hell Clothing – one of my all-time favourites has to be Starlet, which is downright gorgeous. Anyway enough of the praise, we don’t want the guy to bathe in the adoration of bloggers when he could be busy knocking out more stunning t-shirts. Vote for Expansion (or regret it for the rest of your life).

Killer Saturn by Tang Yau Hoong

Tang is big on the t-shirt scene, check out all his work at tangyauhoong.tumblr.com if you want to see what he’s been up to – there’s even another Saturn-themed tee there so I can guess which planet he’s from. Actually he’s based in OZ but his tees are sold all over the world, he’s already made a major name for himself at Threadless clocking up a phenomenal eight winning designs there so far. Damn I don’t envy all you guys voting at Tilteed, there’s so many great designs I can’t make up my mind which should win the grand launch prize. Still we could always vote for lot and if there’s a tie we can let them fight it out Kirk vs. Spock style in an arena of death for the first prize… hah. No seriously this is a beautifully drawn tee, it reminds me of a lot of 1950s and 1960s educational books and posters that used to harp on about space and for the main part how man will finally conquer the universe with the aid of big rockets, even bigger egos and an assortment of nuclear powered government budgets. How times change eh? So what can I say, it’s Saturn, and Saturn loves to carve up its neighbours, beautiful. Surprisingly just 5 colours on a black tee, it’s so finely executed it could’ve been far far more. Vote for the Killer Saturn tee by TangYauHoong at Tilteed or else!

Get A Job by Rawroutlowd

Highly original, unique in fact, Rawroutloud of Lowdtown fame offers up a biographical slice of humour in this superb t-shirt design Get A Job. I’m starting to believe that Patrick and the team behind Tilteed.com must have some major major clout in the industry, the level of excellence amongst some of their contestants is outstanding. I don’t think I’ve seen a tee design quite like this before, a very nice style indeed and I want more, and more… A pictorial glance at humdrum psychedelia, the concept is great, but the execution is just perfect. I particularly appreciate the colours, it really should be printed on this colour tee, it works so well. Perfect for layabouts with heads full of ideas, dreams and ambitions and a penchant for noodles. I think we can expect a great deal more from this artist in the future. Now go and vote for this as if your life depended on it.

Machine Art by A.mar.illo

I know I know I’m featuring another design by A.mar.illo but I couldn’t resist it, I am after all an old sci-fi jerk at heart. The thing is this design is so completely and utterly different from Expansion I wasn’t about to let it pass. If you know your art history you’ll probably see quite a bit of DADA reference going on here. The muted colours are gorgeous, so subtle it makes me sick. There’s something classical about the design too, I never thought I’d ever mention the name in a t-shirt reviews blog, but Charles-Pierre Baudelaire comes to mind. Some of his poems have a distinct sci-fi feeling to them, the idea of self-replication and the mechanics of nature. That’s what I see emerging in Machine Art, a truly awesome t-shirt illustration that raises the benchmark when it comes to intellectualism in the medium. Amazing.

Whatever you do today make sure you get down to Tilteed.com and vote vote vote. These tees can’t be passed up, they have to be printed, you know it makes sense!

The winner for the $500 4/02 Shirt Fight contest is Greg Abbott with his shirt El Presidente’s Birthday which is on sale this week for only $15 (6 bucks off regular price) – You can read the interview with Greg Abbott about his victory here.

The latest $500 Shirt Fight contest for 4/09 is ‚ÄúHidden Subliminal Messages‚Äù: This week’s Shirt Fight is all about the Hidden and Subliminal Messages and what’s more they’ll be printing it with glow in the dark inks! Check out the video for the full lowdown…