When it comes to spreading the word about sustainable practices, designers should be the first responders. Who better to put together words and images in inspiring ways and get the public excited about being green? Acting on that idea, Core77 and Compostmodern have teamed up to hold a competition, “Sustainable Refrainables,” that gives designers even more incentive to use their skills for good. The brief: “Create a poster that communicates the phrases that help designers move their clients and the public toward sustainable design and business solutions.” The fast-approaching deadline: January 2, 2011.

By placing the emphasis on compelling text, the competition is pushing designers to be (or team up with) authors of short texts that speak volumes. “We were interested in doing something around language and marrying it with the power of the graphic poster,” says Allan Chochinov, editor-in-chief of Core77.com. “A lot of people in the sustainability world have what I’d call ‘magic sentences’ that they use to help nudge clients into a place where they’re more open to talking about sustainability, materiality, toxicity, labor. We wanted to celebrate these ’sustainable refrainables’ and make them very visual and shareable. We’re hoping that some of the quotables in the posters will be adopted by designers and businesspeople–that would be ideal.”

The competition has real potential to reach a wide audience: The winning posters will be “produced as transit shelters”  and will be on display in San Francisco before and during Design Week 2011. And if all that exposure isn’t alluring enough to potential submitters, the prizes should be: Three winners will receive Adobe Creative Suite 5 Master Collection, and two of those winners will also snag $500.

Now’s your chance, designers—submit your galvanizing words and arresting visuals, and you can truly do well by doing good.