LG has just announced a brand new design competition, partnering with crowdSPRING and Autodesk, in order to get a fresh vision on the future of mobile phone products. This competition is for U.S residents age 18 and over only, who can design new and revolutionary LG phones, competing for $80,000 in awards.

First place will get a $20,000 award, while second gets $10,000, third $5,000 and there will also be 40 honorable mentions of $1,000 plus an LG U.S. phone. The competition starts on April 20, 2009 @ 12:00 a.m. PST and ends on June 7, 2009 @ 11:59 p.m. PST. Winners will be announced on July 7, 2009 at www.crowdspring.com/LG/winners and the official rules of the competition can be found at www.crowdspring.com/LG.

Autodesk will supply the designers involved in the competition with a 15 day trial of SketchBook Pro. This software is a digital sketchpad, a paint and drawing app compatible with MAC or PC, allowing its users to gain access to professional design tools, in order to create to turn their futuristic ideas into sketches.