East Africa Google Gadget Competition

Official Rules

  1. DESCRIPTION: The East African Gadget Contest (“Contest”) aims to promote gadget software development amongst registered students at select higher education facilities in East Africa. Prizes will be awarded to those who submit the best gadget entries as determined by the judges in accordance with these Official Rules.
  2. ELIGIBILITY: This contest is open only to currently enrolled students at universities in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Burundi who are of the legal age or majority in their country, province or state of legal residence. Void where prohibited by law. Employees of Google Inc, its affiliates and subsidiaries, and members of their immediate family (defined as parents, children, siblings and spouse, regardless of where they reside) and/or those living in the same household of each) are not eligible. You must also have access to the Internet and a valid email address in order to enter.

  3. HOW TO ENTER:

    a. CONTEST PERIOD: This contest begins at 12:00 A.M. (GMT) on February 25, 2008 and ends at 11:59 P.M. (GMT) on July 14, 2008. We are accepting registrations from February 25, 2008 until April 4th, 2008. The final gadget submission deadline is at 12:00 A.M (GMT) on July 14th, 2008.

    b. SUBMISSION OF ENTRY: An "Entry" to the Contest consists of an application that is written using the Gadget API (available at http://code.google.com/apis/gadgets/docs/overview.html). The API contains instructions, documentation, and all necessary tools to enable a participant to build a gadget. Individuals ("Participants") may submit an Entry by visiting http://services.google.com/events/gadget_comp_africa and providing their name, email address, mailing address and phone number, giving a description of the gadget and content, and uploading the Entry following the directions found on the website any time before the end of the Contest Period.

    c. LANGUAGE: Entries must, at a minimum, support English language use but may also support other languages at the discretion of the Participant.

    d. JUDGING: All Entries will be judged by a panel of experts in the field of software development and technology innovation based on the following equally weighted judging criteria:

    (1) Functionality, including gadget completeness, cleanly written code and technical sophistication
    (2) Aesthetic Appeal, including UI design
    (3) Ease of Use, including scalability of design
    (4) Originality, including originality of content
    (5) Popularity

    Using these criteria, the Judges will evaluate each Entry and give it a cumulative score. The Entry with the highest score will be determined to be the winner as "Best Overall Gadget". In the event of a tie, the person among the tied Entries with the highest score in 'Functionality' will be declared the winner. In addition, five (5) other prizes will be awarded for top categorical Entries. Possible categories in which a winner will be awarded include:

    (1) Best Gadget UI
    (2) Best Local Content Gadget (Most Locally Useful Gadget)
    (3) Best Education Specific Gadget
    (4) Best Procrastination Gadget
    (5) Most Technically Sophisticated Gadget
    (6) Gadget Most Likely to Get International Traffic
    (7) Best Social Gadget

    In the event that no winning entries are received, no prize will be awarded. Decisions of judges are final and binding. Winner will be notified by email.

    e. DISQUALIFICATION: Entries that are use third party content without permission, are lewd, obscene, pornographic or disparage Google will be disqualified at Google’s sole discretion. Any false information provided within the context of the Contest by any Participant concerning identity, postal address, telephone number, ownership of right or non-compliance with these rules or the like may result in the immediate elimination of the Participant from the Contest. Google further reserves the right to disqualify any Entry that it believes in its sole and unfettered discretion infringes upon or violates the rights of any third party or otherwise does not comply with these official rules.

  4. PRIZES AND APPROXIMATE RETAIL VALUE: Six students will be awarded prizes. Five students will receive a $350 USD stipend and 1 student will receive a $600 stipend. All winners will receive a Google t shirt, pen, and notebook valuing $7 USD (£13). Students will receive a Gadget Winners Certificate as well. ALL TAXES AND ANY APPLICABLE WITHHOLDING AND REPORTING REQUIREMENTS ARE THE SOLE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE WINNER. Cash prizes will be awarded in US Dollars. All costs associated with currency exchange are the sole responsibility of the winner.
  5. CONDITIONS OF PARTICIPATION: Google reserves the right to substitute a prize for an item of equal or greater value in the event all or part of a prize becomes unavailable. Prizes are awarded without warranty of any kind from Google, express or implied, without limitation, except where this would be contrary to federal, state, provincial, or local laws or regulations. All federal, state, provincial and local laws and regulations apply. Submission of entry into this Contest deems that Participants agree to be bound by the terms of these Official Rules and by the decisions of Google, which are final and binding on all matters pertaining to this Contest. Return of any prize/prize notification may result in disqualification and selection of an alternate winner. Any potential winner who cannot be contacted within 15 days of attempted first notification will forfeit his/her prize. Potential prize winner(s) may be required to sign and return an Affidavit or Declaration of Eligibility, and Liability/Publicity Release within 30 days following the date of first attempted notification. Failure to comply within this time period may result in disqualification and selection of an alternate winner.
  6. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS: As a condition of entry, Participants agree that Google shall have the right to use, copy, modify and make available the entry in connection with the operation, conduct, administration, and advertising and promotion of the Contest via communication to the public, including, but not limited to the right to make screenshots, animations and video clips available to the public for promotional and publicity purposes. Notwithstanding the foregoing, ownership of and all intellectual property rights in and to the application shall remain with the participant. Participant agrees and consents to Google and its agencies use of Participant’s name and/or likeness and Entry for advertising and promotional purposes without additional compensation, unless prohibited by law. To the extent permitted by law, Participants, agree to hold Google, its respective directors, officers, employees and assigns harmless for any injury or damage caused or claimed to be caused by participation in the Contest and/or use or acceptance of any prize won, except to the extent that any death or personal injury is caused by the negligence of the Google. Google is not responsible for any typographical or other error in the printing of the offer, administration of the Contest or in the announcement of the prize. A Participant may be prohibited from participating in this Contest if, in the Google’s sole discretion, it reasonably believes that the Participant has attempted to undermine the legitimate operation of this Contest by cheating, deception, or other unfair playing practices or annoys, abuses, threatens or harasses any other Participants, the Google or associated agencies. In the event a winner/potential winner’s employer has a policy, which prohibits the awarding of a prize to an employee, the prize will be forfeited and an alternate winner will be selected.
  7. NO RECOURSE TO JUDICIAL OR OTHER PROCEDURES: To the extent permitted by law, the rights to litigate, to seek injunctive relief or to make any other recourse to judicial or any other procedure in case of disputes or claims resulting from or in connection with this contest are hereby excluded, and any Participant expressly waives any and all such rights. Participants agree that these Official Rules are governed by the laws of California, USA.
  8. DATA PRIVACY: Participants agree that personal data, especially name and address, may be processed, stored and otherwise used for the purposes and within the context of the contest and any other purposes outlined in these Official Rules. The data may also be used by the Google in order to check Participants' identity, their postal address and telephone number, or to otherwise verify their eligibility to participate in the Contest. Participants have a right to access, review, rectify or cancel any personal data held by the Google by writing to Privacy Matters, c/o Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, California, 94043 USA. If Participant’s data is not provided, Participants’ Entries will be ineligible.
  9. WARRANTY AND INDEMNITY: Participants certify that their entry is original and that they are the sole and exclusive owner and right holder of the submitted entry and that they have the right to submit the Entry in the Contest. Each Participant agrees not to submit any Entry that (1) infringes any third party proprietary, intellectual property, industrial property, personal rights or other rights, including without limitation, copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret or confidentiality obligation; or (2) otherwise violates applicable law in any countries in the world. To the maximum extent permitted by law, each Participant indemnifies and agrees to keep indemnified the Google at all times from and against any liability, claims, demands, losses, damages, costs and expenses resulting from any act, default or omission of the Participant and/or a breach of any warranty set forth herein. To the maximum extent permitted by law, each Participant indemnifies and agrees to keep indemnified the Google at all times from and against any liability, actions, claims, demands, losses, damages, costs and expenses for or in respect of which the Google will or may become liable by reason of or related or incidental to any act, default or omission by a Participant under these Official Rules including without limitation resulting from or in relation to any breach, non-observance, act or omission whether negligent or otherwise, pursuant to these official rules by a Participant.
  10. INTERNET: Google is not responsible for electronic transmission errors resulting in omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operations or transmission. Google is not responsible for theft or destruction or unauthorized access to or alterations of entry materials, or for technical, network, telephone equipment, electronic, computer, hardware or software malfunctions or limitations of any kind. Google is not responsible for inaccurate transmissions of or failure to receive entry information by Google on account of technical problems or traffic congestion on the Internet or at any Web site or any combination thereof, except to the extent that any death or personal injury is caused by the negligence of the Google. If for any reason the Internet portion of the program is not capable of running as planned, including infection by computer virus, bugs, tampering, unauthorized intervention, fraud, technical failures, or any other causes which corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness, integrity, or proper conduct of this Contest. Google reserves the right at its sole discretion to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the Contest. Google reserves the right to select winners from eligible entries received as of the termination date. Google further reserves the right to disqualify any individual who tampers with the entry process. Caution: Any attempt by a contestant to deliberately damage any Web site or undermine the legitimate operation of the game is a violation of criminal and civil laws and should such an attempt be made, Google reserves the right to seek damages from any such contestant to the fullest extent of the law.
  11. If any provision(s) of these Official Rules are held to be invalid or unenforceable, all remaining provisions hereof will remain in full force and effect.
  12. WINNER’S LIST: For a list of winners, log onto www.google.com/events/eagadgetcompetition/contest.html on or about 15th August, 2008, available for a period of up to 60 days.
  13. SPONSOR: The Sponsor of this Contest is Google Inc, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA, 94043.