Rules for g-tech competition

Description of the Competition

The competition: G-Technology celebrates creativity with free online entry available now through G-Technology's website. Individuals across the music, photography and film sectors will have the chance for their hard work and creative passion to be recognised and rewarded. These rules apply for the Driven Creativity contest as described herein with the awards based on best content submission. Entrant prepares own creative content in accordance with contest and all submissions of content by eligible entrants are selected for shortlist using Bayesian analysis. Shortlisted entrants will then be judged for final winners by Jury comprising G-Technology Ambassadros, at least one independent expert and outside judges.

1. Eligibility

Entrants must be 18 years of age or older and agree to comply with these rules and regulations. Entry is open to individuals who are resident in United Kingdom, France, Germany, Ireland, Finland, Portugal, Netherlands, Sweden and Russia and entry is free. Each entrant can submit ONE entry only. In order to enter under the amateur category, the entrant must earn no more than 10% of their total annual income and no more than 5,000 Euros annually from the category (photography, filmmaking or music production) in which the work was submitted.  No responsibility is taken for lost, delayed, misdirected or incomplete entries. Proof of delivery of the entry is not proof of receipt. By entering this contest, entrants agree to be bound by the terms and conditions. Entries on behalf of another person will not be accepted and joint submissions are not allowed.

2. Entry procedure

Entrants will submit their entry via the competition web site at G-technoloy.eu.

Entrants will choose one of three categories (photography, music or film/animation) under one of two sub-categories (professional or non-professional) and submit their work via www.g-technology.eu. Entrants will have to write no more than 200 words explaining what 'drove' them to create the piece being entered. Entrants will also have to explain how they would use their award to further their next creative project. Each entrant can submit ONE entry only. Entries must be submitted in English. 

Photography

One submission only of a digital photo file and should be uploaded directly to the site using the entry form on www.g-technology.eu, be in RGB Jpeg or PNG format and have a maximum file size of 2MB.

Music

One submission only of a music file should be submitted by entering an online link via the entry form on www.g-technology.eu to a reference music file hosted on one of two 3rd party websites - soundcloud.com or podomatic.com, in accordance with the requirements of those websites.  Note that these websites have no involvement with this contest.

Video/animation

One submission only of a video file (short or feature film) should be submitted by entering an online link via the entry form on www.g-technology.eu to a reference video file hosted on one of the following 3rd party websites – YouTube.com, myspace.com, vimeo.com or video.google.com, in accordance with the requirements of those websites.  Note that these websites have no involvement with this contest. A full-length version of the film should also be posted on a DVD (with the entrant's name and address written on the DVD) to Sponsor's promotions agency addressed as follows: Harry Cott, The Liquid Way, 8 North Street, Guildford, Surrey GU1 4AF, UK.

3. Entry dates

Online entry will be available from Tuesday 7th June 2011 until Wednesday 31st August 2011. Entries received afterwards will not be considered.

4. Prizes

There will be one winner and one runner-up in each of the six categories (professionals and amateurs, for each of photography, music and video/animation) - i.e. six winners and six runners-up total. There will then be one overall competition winner from the six category winners.

Winners and Prizes will announced and awarded as follows

Shortlisted entrants will be announced via www.g-technology.eu/competition on Friday 2nd September 2011

Category Winners and runners up will be announced via www.g-technology.eu/competition on Friday 23rd September 2011.

The runner-up [of each category] will receive a G-DRIVE slim (value: £75.94/€85.45).

The winner(s) [of each category] will receive a G-RAID (value: £180/€175).

The overall winner will be announced on Monday 10th October 2011 during the opening night of the Driven Creativity Exhibition and will be published on www.g-technology.eu/competition on Tuesday 11th October 2011. The overall winner will receive a G-SPEED Q (value: £710/€700 and a grant of 5000 Euros). The overall winner will only receive the overall winner prize and not the category winner prize in addition.

Prizes are as stated and no cash or other alternative can be offered, save that Sponsor may substitute a prize of equivalent or greater value if the stated prize is not available. Winners are responsible for any taxes payable on prizes; provided that if a Winner is from Denmark, the Sponsor will inform the Danish tax authority and pay applicable taxes on the value of the prize.

5. Release and Liability

5.1 Release

By participating in this contest, you agree to release and hold the Sponsor and its group companies, partners, agents, and employees, harmless from any and all liability whatsoever for any injuries, losses or damages of any kind arising from participation in or in connection with the competition, including, without limitation, awarding, acceptance, receipt, possession, use and/or misuse of the submissions and the prizes herein. Without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing and (subject to Section 12.2 for German residents only) the Sponsor shall not be liable if any entry is lost, damaged, temporarily unavailable for view or otherwise impaired or compromised by reason of problems with a third party hosting site. The above exclusions of liability shall not apply to death or personal injury caused as a result of the Sponsor's (or other relevant entity's) negligence.

5.2. Haftungsbeschränkung (Germany only)

(i) Der Sponsor haftet für Vorsatz und grobe Fahrlässigkeit sowie bei Schäden aus der Verletzung des Lebens, des Körpers oder der Gesundheit unbeschränkt.

(ii) Für leichte Fahrlässigkeit haftet der Sponsor nur bei Verletzung einer wesentlichen Vertragspflicht (Kardinalpflicht). Eine "Kardinalpflicht" im Sinne dieser Ziffer ist eine Pflicht deren Erfüllung die Durchführung des Vertrages erst ermöglicht und auf deren Erfüllung sich der Vertragspartner deswegen regelmäßig verlassen darf.

(iii) Der Sponsor haftet im Fall von Ziffer (ii) nicht für mangelnden wirtschaftlichen Erfolg, entgangenen Gewinn und mittelbare Schäden.

(iv) Die Haftung gemäß der vorstehenden Ziffern (ii) und (iii) ist auf den typischen, vorhersehbaren Schaden begrenzt.

(v) Die Haftungsbeschränkungen gelten sinngemäß auch zugunsten der Mitarbeiter, Beauftragten und Erfüllungsgehilfen des Sponsors.

(vi) Eine etwaige Haftung des Sponsors für gegebene Garantien und für Ansprüche auf Grund des Produkthaftungsgesetzes, bleibt unberührt.

6. Choice of Law.

These terms and Conditions shall be governed by and interpreted in accordance with the laws of England, and the courts of England will have the exclusive jurisdiction to hear any matter arising in connection with them (save to the extent that local law elsewhere may impose mandatory legal requirements and/or mandatory jurisdiction of the local courts). If local law does not allow this choice of law and jurisdiction, then an entrant may bring legal action in a local court under their local law.

7. General

This contest is void where prohibited by law.  No purchase is necessary to enter. Sponsor employees and their immediate families, their agents or anyone else professionally connected to this contest are ineligible. For the purposes of the applicable data protection law, the data controller is the Sponsor. Participants agree that the personal data they provide may be processed, stored and otherwise used for the purposes of the operation of the contest and the exhibition described above. The Sponsor may also use your personal data to provide you with information on Hitachi GST and our products, where you have consented to this. Information supplied to us by entrants will not be disclosed to third parties except as otherwise provided herein.

8. Sponsor:

G-Technology by Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Europe Ltd, Langstone Technology Park, Havant, Hampshire, PO9 1SA UK

9. Contest Rules:

These rules are available on the website www.g-technology.eu. They will be sent free to anyone who sends a request to hello@g-technology.com.

11. Declaration of compliance, originality and consent

By entering, each entrant declares that the entry file they are submitting complies with the competition rules and Content Guidelines and that the content is entirely their own original work, has not been copied, does not contain any third party materials and/or content that the entrant does not have permission to use and is not otherwise obscene, defamatory or in breach of any applicable laws or regulations. Further, entrants must obtain and declare they have obtained any consents required from individuals and other third parties for the use as permitted under these rules of any images, personal information and other elements in the work. If G-Technology, acting in good faith, has reason to believe your entry is not your own work or otherwise breaches this rule, then your entry will NOT BE considered. Entrants are required to participate in publicity relating to the contest, for example having the entrant's name, photograph, works and quotes featured in publicity materials for Sponsor's products published on Sponsor's website, press releases, and user case studies. Entrants may be required to make the same declarations in a separate signed document as a condition of proceeding to any further stage and/or receiving their prize.

12. Content Guidelines

Entered content must be in accordance with the following guidelines:

• No nudity, pornography or sexually explicit content.
• No child exploitation, animal abuse, drug abuse.
• No terrorism, such as bomb making.
• No graphic or gratuitous violence.
• No hurting, attacking, or humiliating.
• No graphic or shocking content, such as accidents, deaths and similar things.
• No copyright infringement; only content that you made and are authorised to use.
• No hate speech demeaning a group based on race or ethnic origin, religion, disability, gender, age, veteran status, and sexual orientation/gender identity.
• No predatory behaviour, stalking, threats, harassment, invading privacy, or the revealing of others' personal information.
• No misleading descriptions, tags, titles or thumbnails in order to increase views.
• No posting of untargeted or repetitive content, including comments and private messages.
• No obscenity, defamation, or libel.
• No malicious code, including without limitation viruses, bots, Trojan horses, worms, etc.
• No violations of applicable laws or regulations.
• No harassing, abusing, impersonating or intimidating.
• No commercial use of Sponsor's contest and facilities by entrants.

All determinations about compliance with these guidelines will be made by Sponsor reasonably and in good faith, and will be final without any opportunity for appeal.

13. Judging

G-Technology by Hitachi reserves the right, acting reasonably and in good faith at all times, to use its own discretion throughout The Driven Creativity Awards process and this includes: (A) disqualifying any entry not complying with the rules or where the declarations set out above would not be true or where Sponsor believes on reasonable grounds that the entrant has acted fraudulently or disrupted or tampered with the contest or has attempted to do so, (B) modifying or if necessary cancelling the contest if the Sponsor reasonably believes it cannot be conducted fairly as specified due to matters beyond its control (including without limitation computer virus, technical failure, fraud, automated voting or unauthorised human intervention). Sponsor reserves the right to verify the identity of any entrant and the eligibility of their entry before issuing any prize. There will be no appeal against any decision and correspondence cannot be entered into regarding the contest. Alternate winners may be selected in event of disqualifications.

Work will be judged on its uniqueness, quality, creativity and the resourcefulness that went into achieving the end result. Work will be judged first based on peer online voting and then by a judging panel. Peer online voting will take place on the G-Technology European website (www.g-technology.eu). A Bayesian Rating algorithm based on the peer online votes will be used to establish a shortlist of fifteen entries per category. The shortlists will then be judged by a jury panel of professional creatives from the categories of filmmaking, photography and music. Details of the judging panel will be added to the website at www.g-technology.eu/competition by Monday August 1st 2011

(The Bayesian Rating algorithm is based on the Bayesian Average, a mathematical term that calculates a rating of an item based on the "believability" of the votes. The greater the certainty based on the number of votes, the more the Bayesian Rating approximates the plain, unweighted rating. When there are very few votes, the Bayesian Rating of an item will be closer to the average rating of all items. The algorithm uses this equation:

br = ( (avg_num_votes * avg_rating) + (this_num_votes * this_rating) ) / (avg_num_votes + this_num_votes)

avg_num_votes: The average number of votes of all items that have num_votes>0

avg_rating: The average rating of each item (again, of those that have num_votes>0)

this_num_votes: number of votes for this item

this_rating: the rating of this item

Note: avg_num_votes is used as the "magic" weight in this formula. The higher this value, the more votes it takes to influence the Bayesian Rating value.)

14. Selected entries

Successful entrants will be contacted and asked to supply a higher resolution copy of their entry (photograph, music file or video/animation file on DVD) within four weeks of notification. G-Technology by Hitachi reserves the right to request a new hard copy if they deem the entry unsuitable for display (e.g. if of poor quality, damaged or an inappropriate size). The potential winning entrant must respond to the e-mail no later than three days after it is sent, in accordance with the instructions in the e-mail. If the potential winning entrant cannot be contacted within the allotted time, the Sponsor reserves the right to void that entry and award the prize to another.] All non-winning entries that are entered into the competition will be deleted from the competition site after the winners are announced on 23rd September 2011. Winning entries will remain on the site in an archive section for a maximum of 18 months.

15. Exhibition

Winning, runner-up and selected works from the shortlists will be exhibited at gallery exhibitions in the UK, France and Germany, held in October 2011. Winners will be invited to attend a private view evening event but will be responsible for their own travel and accommodation requirements. Prints of photographs for this exhibit may be commissioned from third parties by G-Technology by Hitachi. After the end of the exhibition, those whose work was exhibited may collect it on such date(s)/time(s) as may be notified to them by G-Technology by Hitachi or may request G-Technology by Hitachi in writing to send the prints by post or courier, subject to the entrant paying all applicable costs. If no such request is received by October 30th 2011, G-Technology by Hitachi may destroy any uncollected work as it sees fit and without prior notice.

16. Risk and insurance

G-Technology by Hitachi and the venue showing the exhibition will not be responsible for any loss or damage to entries or exhibition prints, whether or not caused by negligence. G-Technology by Hitachi strongly advises entrants to ensure that their own insurance covers any eventuality.

17. Copyright

The copyright for entered material remains with the author. However Hitachi GST is given the permission in the form of an irrevocable 18 month worldwide license to edit, reproduce, post and publish any entries in media partners' online and print publications as well as publication or posting on the G-Technology website and social network feeds to promote the Sponsor's Driven Creativity Awards. Furthermore, the entrants grant G-Technology by Hitachi permission to mention each author's name, town and country in connection with their submitted work and in advertising and publicising Sponsor's Driven Creativity Awards. Furthermore, the entrants grant G-Technology by Hitachi permission to mention each author's name, town and country in connection with their submitted work and in advertising and publicising the driven Creativity compeition. G-Technology by Hitachi's license shall be royalty free and shall not require prior permission to reproduce post or publish any work submitted in connection with promoting the Driven Creativity competition from G-Technology by Hitachi, within a period of 18 months from the date of the opening of the competition. This includes whole photographs and edited extracts from music and filmmaking submissions. Should G-Technology by Hitachi desire any additional usage of an entry beyond this copyright license, such usage rights will be negotiated with the author independently of the competition.  These rules prevail over and supercede the section entitled Intellectual Property Rights User Content in the Terms of Use on Sponsor's website.

18. Hitachi uploading of images and content to Facebook

Hitachi and the Driven Creativity Competition support the Artists Bill of Rights and as such through the organisation of this competition G-Technology by Hitachi will not upload any Competition Entry photos directly to the G Technology DE, G-Technology Europe or G-Technology FR Facebook pages or Photostream, so that your images are not uploaded to Facebook's servers. We will only put thumbnails on the wall, referencing the main images which would be hosted on www.g-technology.eu/competition.