Design a logo, win a prize

FCW blogger Steve Kelman is big on the government's using contests, so we're pretty sure he'll like what the Interior Department is doing: Inviting members of the public to design a logo the department can use on its swag -- t-shirts, hats, water bottles, etc. -- with a $1,000 prize up for grabs.

Interior is running the contest using crowdspring.com, a website set up just for such projects. Department employees not eligible.

The department wants a logo because its official seal, with 10 colors, is a little too complex for use on shirts and hats, according to the description posted at crowdspring.

"The logo must appeal to the 70,000 employees of Interior, as well as (in alphabetical order) cattlemen/ranchers, coal miners, conservationists, farmers, fishermen, historians, hunters, Native Americans and tribal entities, offshore oil and gas producers, recreation enthusiasts (boaters, hikers, campers) and others," reads the contest instructions. "We recognize that this is a lengthy list and include it for a sense of the breadth and scale of our missions."

Whether the effort nets a useable logo for the agency, it's another encouraging sign of the government's growing embrace of social networking, crowdsourcing and other such tools.