Mannington Commercial has opened its annual tx:style design challenge, a social networking design competition for the interiors industry. Submissions close on Feb. 12.

The competition invites any architect or interior designer to "create, collaborate and cash in" – by uploading carpet design concepts to manningtontxstyle.com, according to Mannington Commercial. From among the entries, four 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, a trip to New York for a two-day Design Workshop, and a trip to NeoCon World's Fair in Chicago.

Voting will then be opened to the public, with the Grand Prize Winner announced at NeoCon. This winner will create a full carpet collection to be manufactured and marketed by Mannington, a total purse of $7,000 and a trip to the International Furniture Fair in Milan.

"As interiors product manufacturers, we're part of an amazing community of creative doers," said Natalie Jones, Mannington's vp commercial brand development and creative product. "The tx:style design challenge is an open invitation to designers to think creatively about what sort of products they wish were available in the market, and then make these products a reality.

"With three highly successful years under our belts, we have seen that the competition stimulates the kind of dialogue that explores new ideas, supports optimism in the industry and inspires new choices that work for design projects everywhere. A little inspiration can take you a long way – to New York, Chicago and even Milan," Jones added.