A month ago, the IceHL announced its 2014-15 season special events — including a unique Cup Series and Ice Classic Series. Now it's time to start designing!

The first event takes place in Week 6 (Nov. 10) — the 2014 IceHL ABC Cup benefiting Ronald McDonald House between the Philadelphia Aces and Baltimore Blue Crabs. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the charity, which was founded in Philadelphia.

To celebrate the occasion, the IceHL will be encouraging fans and teams to donate to their favorite charity during the month of November. For the game, the Aces will wear special fan-designed uniforms and both teams will sport ABC Cup jersey patches.

And that's where the contest begins!

ABC Cup Design Contest

There are two parts to this contest. You may submit artwork for one or both:

• Design an ABC Cup logo (using Aces and Blue Crabs or neutral colors)
• Design a red Ronald McDonald House theme jersey for the Aces (the Blue Crabs will wear their standard white jersey for the game)

THE LOGO

The official name of this event is 2014 IceHL ABC Cup benefiting Ronald McDonald House. It can be shortened to 2014 IceHL ABC Cup, but the RMH logo should be included.

The IceHL roundel must be included. The Aces and Blue Crabs logos may be included but are optional.

Ideally, the ABC Cup logo will be set on a base/shield that could be replicated and revised for our other two Cup games during the season — the Evergreen Cup and the Pacific Cup. This would be similar to the recent NHL Draft logos which are distinct but still share elements and styles from year to year that make them part of a set.

THE JERSEY

As for the Aces jersey, just have fun with it. Ronald McDonald is a clown, after all. We've seen some interesting McDonald's style hockey jerseys over the years. Try to make your design really stand out!

Keep in mind that while the design kit allows for the creation of socks and other equipment, only the sweater itself will be seen in the official graphics related to the event.

DEADLINE: Wednesday, October 29

You have two weeks to design and submit your ABC Cup logo and/or Aces jersey. Any questions? Ask in the comments or by email.

Voting will be held from Oct. 30 thru Nov. 7 with the winning designs revealed on the first day of Week 6 (Nov. 10).

IceHL Design Council

For this season's design contests, we will try out a new judging format. Winners will no longer be decided by a simple popular vote. Instead, that vote will be only a part of the process.

Winners will be determined by the IceHL Design Council, comprised of six members:

• the Icethetics community, who will continue to vote in public polls;
• the IceHL Commissioner;
• and 4 independent judges, including at least one current IceHL GM and one person with design credentials who has no previous connection to the league.

Each member of the Design Council will cast one vote. To avoid ties, the community will get a second vote (for a grand total of seven votes on the council). Should the winner of the public poll receive less than 55%, the community's two votes will be split between the opponents.

Two of the independent judges will be selected by a popular vote. The other two will be selected by the commissioner. A judge will relinquish his vote to the community if his work is included in a given poll — which will give the community three votes. (In such a case, a design must exceed 70% of the public poll to earn all three votes, otherwise the will be split 2-1.)

Judges will be asked to publicly defend their decisions with a brief explanation of why they voted the way they did in each poll.

Want to be a judge on the IceHL Design Council?

To apply for one of the four judge positions, email icethetics@gmail.com with "IceHL Design Council" in the subject line and containing the following:

• Your first and last name
• In under 60 words, explain why you should be a judge
• An avatar (a photo of yourself or another image to represent you, 400x400 pixels)
• Optional: A campaign graphic (960x480 pixels or 2:1 aspect ratio) that demonstrates either your own design work or your favorite design styles so the community can get a feel for your personal preferences

The community will be given the information you provide and will then select two judges in a popular vote. The other two judges will be selected by the IceHL Commissioner.