USM Public Health Challenge

ADDITIONAL RULES AND REQUIREMENTS

• Entrants must submit all required materials, including the video file or image package, entry form, and all necessary releases.  
• Forms may be submitted only through the USM COVID Task Force Web portal and must be submitted no later than 9:00 a.m., Monday, January 25, 2021. 
• Entrant must comply with all terms, conditions, and requirements of the contest.
• The USM status of each winning entrant (or each member of a winning team)—student, faculty, staff, or alumni—must be verified before any prizes are distributed. 
• For Group Submissions: If you are submitting an entry as a group/class/program of two (2) or more people, you must designate one (1) person as your group/class/program representative and fill out his/her name and other information on the entry form in the fields provided.  Submission of the group entry constitutes acceptance of the video contest Terms & Conditions and the terms of the Submission Release by each group member. If your entry is selected as a winner, USM will direct the cash prize to the group/class/program, to be distributed at the discretion of the program representative.
• Winning Entries: Winners will be notified and must execute final releases and information requests prior to payment of the prizes. Included in the required information will be releases for every group member (for a group submission), releases for every identifiable person appearing in a submission, releases for any sound (including music) or visual material contained in the submission which is subject to intellectual property protections or legal protections, and documentation substantiating the relationship of the entrant (if a group submission, for each member of the group) to USM as a student, alumnus, faculty member or staff member).  Failure to provide all required documentation and releases by the date provided by the judges will void the award, and the judges may then, in their discretion, select an alternate winner.
• Judges: The judges will be the sole arbiters deciding which contest submissions are selected as award winners. No one will be allowed to be a judge if he/she has a conflict of interest with respect to any of the contest entrants, as determined by USM in its sole discretion. A maximum of three (3) videos and three (3) image packages will be selected and the winning entrants will be notified of the awards.
• Criteria: Entries will be judged on creativity, technical merit, adherence to contest requirements, and on how well they manage to convey the themes of the topic. These are clearly subjective categories and will be treated as such. The final awards will be selected based solely on the judges’ consensus.
• Online Distribution: No entries may be posted with public access. If judges find that your entry was produced or posted with public access before the contest, you will be ineligible for the competition. After the judging, entrants are free to post their entries anywhere they desire, except that winning entries will require the consent of USM prior to use other than by USM, or the sponsoring organizations.
• Disqualification: The judges reserve the right to disqualify any team, contributor, entrant, or entry that does not comply with the official rules and other contest requirements communicated by USM. They also shall disqualify entries submitted by or promoting for-profit entities. The failure of announced winners to provide all releases and waivers required by USM, as well as confirmation of relationship with USM, to the satisfaction of the judges within the timeframe established by the judges shall also disqualify an entry.
• Eligibility: The competition is open to undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, staff, and alumni from USM institutions. 

By submitting an entry:

• Entrant unconditionally assigns and transfers to USM all rights, ownership, title, interest and claim (including without limitation all copyrights), which it now has or may have in the future, to entries (including, without limitation, the submitted video or image package), whether or not acceptable to USM and regardless of the form they take, or any element(s) thereof and further grants to USM the right to use, publish, exploit and/or modify any entry submitted in any manner it wishes, regardless if the media is now existing or subsequently created.
• USM reserves the right to edit and/or modify any entry and publish or advertise the entry without entrant’s approval, acknowledgment, or compensation unless prohibited by law. By entering, entrant agrees to defend, release and hold harmless USM and its agents from and against any claims, action and/or liability for injury, loss or damage of any kind resulting from entrant’s participation herein (including in connection with the use and/or exploitation of the submitted video or image package) or from the acceptance or use of any prize awarded. USM reserves the right to verify eligibility qualifications of any winner. U.S. and Maryland law govern these contest rules.
• USM has the right to modify, use, assign or dispose of your entry however it sees fit without approval of entrant or any third party. Winning Entrants grant USM the right to use their names, images, likenesses, photographs, voices and biographical materials, and video submissions, for advertising, publicity and promotion purposes including posting the videos, image packages, or screen names online for any purpose or on a winners’ list and other online announcements, and for sharing the videos, and image packages with the media for viewing through any means or technology, without additional compensation, unless prohibited by law. USM may also use any aspect of a winning entry to create and utilize derivative materials. Neither entrants nor winners shall receive any compensation or credit for use of entries, other than that disclosed in these rules. USM agrees that it will release all rights with respect to entries which are not winners in the contest. Entrants agree that if selected as a winner, they grant USM and its designees the right to film and later publish footage of the winner.
• USM is not responsible for incorrect or inaccurate transcription of entry information, or for any human or other error, technical malfunctions, lost/delayed data transmission, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, line failures of any telephone network, computer equipment, software, inability to access any online service or web site, or any other error or malfunction, or any injury or damage to participant’s or any other person’s computer related to or resulting from participation herein, or for any injury to person or property, including but not limited to video equipment, arising from the entrant’s participation in the contest or for the use or misuse of any prize won. USM is not responsible for lost, late, illegible or misdirected entries, transmission, email or mail.
• Incomplete submissions or those containing libel or slanderous content will be automatically disqualified from the contest.
• Entrant warrants that their submission is original, that publication of the submission will not infringe on the rights of others, and entrant has full power to grant ownership to USM as stated herein.
• USM has no obligation of any nature to publish, promote, display or otherwise use any information provided by entrants, including but not limited to biographical or video content.
• All rights, protections, and releases and waivers provided to USM shall also be applicable to the sponsoring organizations and partners.
• All taxes are the responsibility of the winner