IRON MAIDEN's site has been updated with the following details regarding the band's annual Xmas card competition:

"You folks know the drill by now...

The last few years we've thrown the design of the official Iron Maiden xmas card open to you guys. This is the card that gets sent to FC members, to friends of the band... and to the last minute people we realise we've forgotten Each year, the standard has been amazingly high and we've had a real challenge agreeing on a winner.

So, we'd like you guys to do it again. Send us your designs - conforming to the specs below - and the winner will be picked by Rod, be printed and sent to loads of people. The winner will get a credit on the card and a personally signed photo from the band (as well as a t-shirt and maybe some other goodies).

Your design needs to be A5 size (about 21 by 15 cm) - it's up to you which way round it goes (portrait or landscape). The picture is entirely up to you.

Now here's the important stuff - as the design will be printed, you need to make sure you have a high-resolution image that you can send us if we choose your card. If you're hand painting or drawing, no problem, but if you're creating your design from scratch in Photoshop or whatever, please make sure you do it at 600dpi and not at the lower resolution you'd use for things that are going to be displayed only on a monitor. Keep the original in a very safe place, and send us a copy.

How To Submit Your Design...

Please send in your submissions as lower-resolution JPEG or GIF images - we don't need you to send the huge hi-res file until we choose the winner.

Please make sure that you name your file with your own name - eg. jimsmith.jpg - cos otherwise we get 200 files called 'maiden.jpg'!

Email you entries to us at webmaster@ironmaidenonlineclub.com, title your email 'XMAS CARD' and please make sure you include your contact details.

Closing date for entries is 5th October. Good luck!"

As previously reported, Maiden will headline the Metal Day at the Rock In Rio festival in Madrid and Lisbon as part of their recently announced Somewhere Back in Time Tour 2008. Apparently those are the only shows the band will do in Spain and Portugal.

In other news, Iron Maiden are all set to play a mega concert at the Universitario de Caracas Stadium as part of their 2008 World Tour. This is part of a series of Mega Shows that Caracas will have, other artists scheduled to play in March are the ROLLING STONES.

More details about the The Somewhere Back In Time World Tour 2008 can be found here.