Competition

Winners Announcement Update

Due to the increased volume of entries that must be judged, winners announcement for the 2009 ThinkQuest Narrative Competition has been delayed. The announcement is tentatively scheduled for June 15, 2009.

ThinkQuest Live Update

Please note that lodging and workshops for the ThinkQuest Live 2009 event will be in Redwood Shores, California. All other prize details will remain the same. If you have any questions, please contact Support.

ThinkQuest Narrative Competition Rules 2009

By participating in the ThinkQuest Narrative Competition ("Competition"), an international competition sponsored by the Oracle Education Foundation (“Foundation”), each team member agrees to comply with all rules detailed herein.

Schedule

  • Team enrollment opens: January 12, 2009
  • Entry submission deadline: May 4, 2009, 7:00 PM GMT (3:00 PM EDT)
  • Winners announced: June 1, 2009

The Foundation may extend any of these dates with three days written notice to coaches. Should the Foundation modify this schedule in any way, it will post such changes on the ThinkQuest website (http://www.thinkquest.org/).

Team Composition

  • Teams must be comprised of 3-6 students and one coach.
  • If a student chooses to participate in the Narrative Competition and the Website Competition in the same year, s/he must team with an entirely different group of students and coaches in the two competitions.
  • Students may join a maximum of one Narrative Competition team and one Website Competition team in a given year.
  • Coaches must be teachers from schools that participate in ThinkQuest Projects.
  • Teams may include one assistant coach. If a team has an assistant coach, at least one student from the team must attend the assistant coach’s school.
  • Teams may include only one student who is a former ThinkQuest Competition winner.
  • Teams may include participants from a single classroom or from different classrooms.
  • Teams may include participants from different schools, cities, states, and countries.
  • ThinkQuest Projects requires teams with participants from different schools to associate more than one teacher with their Competition entry. Please note, however, that only those individuals identified as team members (e.g. coach, assistant coach and students) are eligible for prizes.
  • Teams will be disqualified if any information submitted intentionally misrepresents the truth.
  • Participants from Cuba, Sudan, Iran, North Korea, Syria, and any other countries designated by the Foundation or the United States Office of Foreign Assets Control may participate in the Competition, but are not eligible for prizes.

Coach Requirements

  • Coaches and assistant coaches who volunteer as judges may not judge entries in their team’s age division.
  • Coaches and assistant coaches may not work directly on any portion of their team’s entry.
  • Coaches and assistant coaches may help students locate human, technical, or content resources. They may also help students draft and manage their project schedule.
  • Coaches and assistant coaches must:
    • be members of ThinkQuest Projects and employed at different schools;
    • be employed by either a.) an accredited school that is owned or operated by a government or local school board, or b.) an accredited, non-profit 501(c)(3), private school or its non-U.S. equivalent;
    • be the age of legal majority in their respective country/state of residence;
    • ensure that parental consent is obtained for each student on his/her team, using the consent form available at http://thinkquest.org/docs/;
    • register an active email address for use throughout the Competition;
    • if applicable, ensure that prize-related paperwork is completed.

Student Requirements

  • Every student team member must significantly contribute to the development of the entry.
  • Students are responsible for creating their entry, including its’ content and the entry profile.
  • Students must be at least 9 and no older than 19 on the day of the entry submission deadline.

Age Divisions

  • 12 and under
  • 15 and under
  • 19 and under

Teams may include students of different ages. The age of the oldest student on the team, on the day of the entry submission deadline, will determine the age division in which the team competes.

Entry Requirements

  • All entries must include the following:
    • a ThinkQuest Project, which is a collection of pages the team produced;
    • a completed entry profile;
    • a completed coach checklist (included in the entry profile);
    • the team survey (included in the entry profile).
  • If a team misses the entry submission deadline due to a failure of the Foundation’s technical systems (determined by the Foundation at its sole discretion), the coach must contact ThinkQuest Support within 2 days of the deadline. The Foundation may, but is not obligated to, extend the deadline.
  • All entries must be created within the team’s ThinkQuest Project. No content that is part of an entry may be hosted on an external server. This includes uploading videos to hosting services such as YouTube, creating games on Quia, linking to guestbooks, blogs, etc.
  • Entries may not contain objectionable material in any medium or format. This includes content that:
    • is inappropriate, offensive, libelous, defamatory, pornographic, sexually explicit, or unlawful;
    • a reasonable person could consider harassing, abusive, threatening, harmful, vulgar, profane, obscene, excessively violent or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable;
    • violates or infringes upon any person's rights;
    • promotes software or services that deliver unsolicited email;
    • disrupts or interferes with the Competition or services including use of viruses, worms, corrupt files, Trojan horses, etc.;
    • is subject to any restriction under any law.
  • Entries may not contain commercial content. Commercial content includes content that promotes the sale of a product or service directly via the entry or via hyperlinks to external sites, logos, brand names, advertising-related slogans, etc.
  • Content submitted in any ThinkQuest Website Competition may not be submitted as part of a ThinkQuest Narrative Competition entry.
  • By submitting an entry, team members represent that it does not infringe upon anyone’s copyright or proprietary rights.
  • Any content that was not originally created by the team must be completely and accurately cited. If permission to use such content is required, teams must obtain permission in writing and provide it to the Foundation upon its request. Teams must cite sources and permissions directly on each page, or create a "Citations Page” to disclose all sources and permissions.
  • Entries cannot contain plagiarized content. Plagiarism is defined as follows:
    • any copying of another person's work that results in the entry not being substantially the original work of the team, regardless of whether the copied work is cited;
    • copying a significant amount of words or ideas from someone else without giving credit;
    • if quoting content from a source, failing to put that quote within quotation marks;
    • any behavior that the Foundation determines to be plagiarism.
  • Entries must be submitted in one of twelve categories and address one of sixteen topics.
  • Each team is allowed to create and submit one entry that includes up to 25 pages and up to 10 content items on each page.
  • The entry, entry profile and file names (required in basic ASCII format), and other communications must be submitted to the Foundation in English.
  • To help protect the privacy of student team members, the entry and entry profile may not contain the following: 1.) student last names, 2.) student email addresses or personal contact information (generic team or coach email addresses are acceptable), or 3.) links to externally hosted guestbooks, discussion boards, forums, chat areas, or blogs.
  • The Foundation may remove any portion of an entry. This includes personal information about team members, links to guestbooks, discussion boards, forums, chat areas, images, or other content that is in violation of the rules. If required edits cannot be made to an entry, it will not be posted in the Library.
  • No team member may gain unauthorized access to or misuse ThinkQuest Projects.

Judging and Prizes

The Foundation and a panel of judges will evaluate entries in accordance with published Evaluation Criteria. Competition winners will be announced on http://www.thinkquest.org/ sometime near the winner’s announcement date. All decisions made by the Foundation shall, in all respects, be final, binding, and not subject to review.

19 and Under 15 and Under 12 and Under
1st place
2nd place		 1st place
2nd place		 1st place
2nd place

1st and 2nd place team members will receive the following:

  • Laptop computer valued at approximately $1,500 USD (1st place) or $1,250 USD (2nd place)
  • Trip to ThinkQuest Live

If a tie is declared, both teams will receive the applicable prize. If a participant has won a trip to ThinkQuest Live and/or a laptop in the Website Competition, they are not eligible to receive a second trip and laptop for the Narrative Competition.

Additionally, the school at which the 1st place team coach is employed will receive $5,000. This money must be used for school supplies. If the Foundation is unable to validate the eligibility of the coach’s school within three months of the winner’s announcement date, the $5,000 will not be awarded.

Prize Details & Requirements

The ThinkQuest Live trip that winners receive includes the following:

  • round trip economy class airfare from the major airport nearest the winner's residence to San Francisco International airport, or round-trip ground transportation if the winner lives within 150 miles of Redwood City, California;
  • approximately 5 nights' double occupancy hotel accommodations;
  • participation in ThinkQuest Live activities (including ground transportation to and from the hotel and airport, ThinkQuest Live workshops, local excursions, meals while attending ThinkQuest Live, and attendance at the ThinkQuest Live Awards Banquet).
  • student winners may bring a chaperone that will also receive the above items. (Please note that each student winner who has not reached the age of 18 or the age of majority in his/her country/state of citizenship, whichever is older, must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian as their chaperone).

The trip to ThinkQuest Live is valued at approximately $3,722 USD per winner traveling alone, and $7,125 USD per winner traveling with a chaperone. Expenses not detailed above (e.g., additional ground transportation, meals, food, beverages, taxes, gratuities, insurance) will be the responsibility of the winner. Winners and chaperones must travel on dates that permit attendance at ThinkQuest Live, or the ThinkQuest Live trip may be forfeited. Additional restrictions may apply. All prize details are at the Foundation’s sole discretion.

If a prize is won by a team member who has not reached 18 or the age of majority in his/her country/state of citizenship, whichever is older, the prize may be awarded in the name of a parent or legal guardian.

The Foundation reserves the right to substitute a prize of equal or greater value. No other substitution or transfer of the prize is permitted. The actual value of the prize depends on the dates and airport of origin. Any difference between the actual value and stated approximate value will not be awarded. Winners are responsible for all applicable taxes. The Foundation makes no representation as to the treatment of the prizes under United States Federal tax law or under other tax laws such as foreign, state or local tax laws. Team members that are eligible to attend ThinkQuest Live, but choose not to attend or are unable to do so, will not receive a cash equivalent or substitute prize. If any portion of the trip is cancelled or postponed due to causes beyond the Foundation’s control or for any other reason, the Foundation will have no obligation to award compensation in lieu thereof. The remainder of the prize will be awarded and the Foundation will have no further obligation to winners.

Winners that are United States residents will receive a cash payment for presumed United States tax liability. The actual value of the cash payment, as set forth below, will vary depending on the actual retail value of the prize awarded. The Foundation makes no representation as to the sufficiency of such amounts to satisfy any tax liability.

  • Winner only (trip plus technology item): $2,281 USD
  • Winner only (trip alone): $1,751 USD
  • Winner only (technology item alone): $529 USD
  • Winner and chaperone (trip plus technology item): $3,882 USD
  • Winner and chaperone (trip alone): $3,353 USD

Coaches of winning teams will be notified via email. In order to accept the prize, all team members must:

  • sign, or have signed and notarized and/or confirmed by an apostille the Winner's Affidavit of Eligibility and Release, Chaperone Designation (if applicable), Consent for Medical Treatment of a Minor (if applicable) and Guest Release (if applicable).
  • coaches must also complete and have notarized and/or confirmed by an apostille the Affidavit of School Eligibility and Release.

Failure to complete these items by the stated deadline may result in disqualification.

ThinkQuest Library

Entries may be showcased in the ThinkQuest Library following the winner’s announcement.

The Foundation will determine whether to add an entry to the Library and how long to showcase it.

Entries that may require editing for any reason (e.g. includes personal information, objectional material, etc.) that the Foundation is unable to edit, will not be posted in the Library.

The ThinkQuest Competition Agreement describes certain rights and licenses granted to the Foundation to use the entries in the Library. By submitting an entry, each team member agrees that they have, or will grant the coach’s school, the rights necessary to grant the Foundation permission to use the entry in accordance with this agreement.

Program Tools

The Foundation may make certain program tools available to teams participating in the Competition. Coaches are responsible for the following:

  • ensuring that program tools are used by their team(s) in accordance with these rules; and
  • compliance with specific terms accompanying the program tools, including any applicable software license terms or terms of use for such program tools; and
  • ensuring removal of program tools from computer systems upon completion of the Competition and/or termination of their team's participation in the Competition.

Unless otherwise specified in writing by the Foundation or its suppliers, program tools may be used only for activities directly related to the team's participation in the Competition. A team will be disqualified if any team member uses program tools in a manner inconsistent with the terms.

Program tools may not be available to participants from Cuba, Sudan, Iran, North Korea, Syria, and any other countries designated by the Foundation and/or the United States Office of Foreign Assets Control. Use of program tools is not necessary in order to participate in the Competition or to win a prize.

General Conditions

The Competition is void where prohibited or restricted by law and is subject to applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations.

The Foundation and judges are not responsible for (a) late, lost, stolen, damaged, garbled, incomplete, incorrect or misdirected entries, (b) errors, omissions, interruptions, deletions, defects, or delays in operations or transmission of information, in each case whether arising by way of technical or other failures or malfunctions of computer hardware, software, communications devices, or transmission lines, or (c) data corruption, theft, destruction, unauthorized access to or alteration of entry materials, loss or otherwise.

The Foundation and judges are not responsible for electronic communications or emails that are undeliverable as a result of any form of active or passive filtering of any kind, or insufficient space in any email account to receive email messages.

The Foundation reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to disqualify any team member from the Competition or any other promotion conducted now or in the future by the Foundation or any of its affiliates if his/her fraud or misconduct affects the integrity of the Competition.

A team may be disqualified for any violation of any portion of the Rules or ThinkQuest Competition Agreement, or if any member of the team is found to be acting in an inappropriate, disruptive or unsportsmanlike manner or with the intent to abuse, threaten, or harass any other person. A team may also be disqualified if any member of the team deliberately damages, or attempts to deliberately damage, any entry or undermine the legitimate operation of the Competition.

The Foundation disclaims any liability for damage to any computer system resulting from participation in, or accessing or downloading information in connection with, the Competition, including but not limited to the installation or use of any third party software.

The Foundation reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to modify, cancel, terminate or suspend the Competition should any virus, bug, technical failures, unauthorized human intervention or other cause beyond the Foundation's control, corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness or proper conduct of the Competition. In any such event, a notice will be posted on the ThinkQuest website at http://www.thinkquest.org/ and the winners will be selected from among all eligible entries received prior to such time.

Employees of the Foundation, Oracle USA and its subsidiaries and their immediate family members are not eligible to participate in the Competition.

Any violation of these rules may result in disqualification. Disqualification decisions are at the sole discretion of the Foundation and are not subject to review.

Last Updated: January 12, 2009