NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Storey Publishing is slated to host Berkshire Creative Economy Council's next Creative Challenge competition.

The Creative Challenge seeks to connect Berkshire manufacturers and businesses to local designers, engineers and creative workers with the aim of stimulating innovative research and development for existing and/or new product line. The Creative Challenge was born from “Design It Here, Make It Here”; an initiative outlined in the 2007 Berkshire Creative Economy Report, which suggested developing a campaign to explore the interest in and capacity for manufacturers in the county to take on the production of “creative products.”

Storey, located in the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art building, publishes nonfiction books on a range of do-it-yourself topics, from gardening, cooking, knitting and other crafts to backyard building, animal care, small-scale farming, brewing and winemaking, woodworking, nature, personal care and home improvement.

According to Berkshire Creative's website, the publisher is looking for "actionable" new book ideas that provide practical information and encourage personal independence in harmony with the environment. The book ideas need to relate to Storey’s publishing categories.

Eligible ideas may be for books the winner would be qualified to write him or herself, or that could be written by another person. In the former case, if Storey decides to publish the book, the company would contract directly with the winner in a standard author-publisher contract. In the latter case, if the publisher identifies an author and develops the book idea, Storey would pay the winner a book development fee of $500.

Applicants of all ages, backgrounds and training are encouraged to submit ideas. Applicants must live, work or go to school in Berkshire County. To apply, submit a resume and a short application on berkshirecreative.org. The deadline for submissions is 5 p.m. on Feb. 7. Selected participants will be invited to Storey for a tour on Feb. 23, and will have the opportunity to submit their book ideas.

Storey will be the fourth Berkshire organization to host a Creative Challenge, and will join past hosts Pittsfield-based Décor Printer, Interprint, Dalton-based Paper Manufacturer, Crane & Co, and most recently the MASS MoCA stores.

“Our past Creative Challenges have been incredibly successful for both the businesses and participants,” said Berkshire Creative Director Helena Fruscio in a statement. “We are so excited to build upon this trajectory and connect more local creative workers with local creative businesses."

“Storey is extremely pleased to be partnering with Bershire Creative on this challenge”, said Pam Art of Storey Publishing, “We know that the Berkshires are full of people that can contribute to our publishing program. We already have over two dozen book authors from Berkshire County and we work with several dozen more as freelance editors, artists, designers and photographers.  We look forward to seeing what new ideas emerge from this challenge!”

For more information on Storey, visit www.storey.com.

Companies interested in hosting a Creative Challenge should contact Fruscio at 413-822-8324 or helena.fruscio@berkshirecreative.org.