MICROSOFT Play @ Home GIVEAWAY CONTEST

OFFICIAL RULES

PLEASE NOTE:  It is your sole responsibility to review and understand your employer’s policies regarding your eligibility to participate in trade promotions.  If you are participating in violation of your employer’s policies, you may be disqualified from entering or receiving prizes.  Microsoft disclaims any and all liability or responsibility for disputes arising between an employee and their employer related to this matter, and prizes will only be awarded in compliance with the employer’s policies.

GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES: Microsoft is committed to complying with government gift and ethics rules and therefore government employees are not eligible.

This Contest will be governed by the laws of the State of Washington, USA, and you consent to the exclusive jurisdiction and venue of the courts of the State of Washington for any disputes arising out of participation in this Contest.  

COMMON TERMS USED IN THESE RULES:

These are the official rules that govern how the Microsoft Play @ Home Giveaway contest will operate (the “Contest”).

In these rules, “we,” “our,” and “us” refer to Microsoft Corporation, the sponsor of this Contest.  “You” refers to an eligible Contest entrant. 

CONTEST DESCRIPTION: 

The object is to submit your own SQL challenges to our judges via an email entry. 

For purposes of this Contest, each challenge that you originally create and submit in the Contest will be called an “Entry.”  All eligible Entries received will be judged using the criteria described below to determine the winners of the prizes described below.

WHAT ARE THE START AND END DATES? 

This Contest starts at 1:00 p.m. Pacific Time (PT) on July 24, 2012, and ends at 11:59 p.m. PT on August 27, 2012 (“Entry Period”).  The Entry Period consists of 5 separate, weekly Prize Periods.  Each Prize Period will start at 1:00pm PT on the Tuesday and end at 11:59pm PT the following Monday during the Entry Period.  Entries must be received within the Entry Period to be eligible.

Please visit http://www.worldtimeserver.com/ or other world time database to determine local time. 

CAN I ENTER?

You are eligible to enter this Contest if you meet the following requirements at time entry:

  • You are an IT Professional or a developing professional and are 18 years of age or older; and
    • o   If you are 18 of age or older, but are considered a minor in your place of residence, you should ask your parent’s or legal guardian’s permission prior to submitting an entry into this Contest; and

  • You are NOT a resident of Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, or Syria; and
  • You are NOT an employee of Microsoft Corporation or an employee of a Microsoft subsidiary; and
  • You are NOT involved in any part of the administration and execution of this Contest; and
  • You are NOT an immediate family (parent, sibling, spouse, child) or household member of a Microsoft employee, an employee of a Microsoft subsidiary, or a person involved in any part of the administration and execution of this Contest.

This Contest is void within the geographic areas described above and wherever else prohibited by law.

HOW DO I ENTER?

Each Prize Period, a new challenge will be posted on the Born to Learn blog at http://borntolearn.mslearn.net/btl/b/bethenext/archive/tags/_2300_BTNchallenge/default.aspx.  To enter, you must access the site, propose your own weekly challenge and then follow the instructions to submit an entry.  Your entry must be received within the Prize Period to be eligible.  

Judges will review all eligible entries received and select 3 winners for each Prize Period based on the judging criteria listed below.  Judges may post any and all entries on the publically accessible Contest website for visitors to see.

A Grand prize will be awarded from one of the 15 weekly winners of the 5 challenges.

You may submit one entry for each Prize Period.  The first answer you submit each Prize Period will be considered your entry; any subsequent entries you submit during that Prize Period will be disqualified.

We are not responsible for entries that we do not receive for any reason, or for entries that we receive but are not decipherable for any reason.

We will automatically disqualify any incomplete or illegible entry.

WHAT CONSTITUTES AN ELIGIBLE ENTRY?

To be eligible for judging an entry must meet the following content / technical requirements:

  • your entry must be your own original and true work; and
  • your entry cannot have been selected as a winner in any other contest; and
  • you must have obtained any and all consents, approvals or licenses required for you to submit your entry; and
  • your entry may not include any third party trademarks (logos, names) or copyrighted materials (text, music, images, video, recognizable people) unless you have obtained permission to use the materials. You may include Microsoft trademarks and names for which Microsoft grants you a limited license to use for the sole purposes of submitting an Entry into this Contest.

 Entries may NOT contain, as determined by us, in our sole and absolute discretion, any content that:

  • is sexually explicit, unnecessarily violent or derogatory of any ethnic, racial, gender, religious, professional or age group; profane or pornographic;
  • promotes alcohol, illegal drugs, tobacco, firearms/weapons (or the use of any of the foregoing) or a particular political agenda;
  • is obscene or offensive;
  • defames, misrepresents or contains disparaging remarks about other people or companies;
  • communicates messages or images inconsistent with the positive images and/or good will to which we wish to associate; and/or violates any law;

We reserve the right to disqualify any Entry that we determine in our sole and absolute discretion does not meet the above criteria.  We reserve the right to disqualify an entrant from the Contest for any rule violations.   

HOW WILL MY ENTRY BE POTENTIALLY USED?

Other than what is set forth below, we are not claiming any ownership rights to your entry.  However, by submitting your entry, you:

  • are granting us an irrevocable, royalty-free, worldwide right and license to: (i) use, review, assess, test and otherwise analyze your entry and all its content in connection with this Contest; and (ii) feature your entry and all content in connection with the marketing, sale, or promotion of this Contest (including but not limited to internal and external sales meetings, conference presentations, tradeshows, and screen shots of the Contest entry in press releases) in all media (now known or later developed) 
  • agree to sign any necessary documentation that may be required for us and our designees to make use of the rights you granted above;
  • understand and acknowledge that the Sponsor(s) may have developed or commissioned materials similar or identical to your submission and you waive any claims you may have resulting from any similarities to your entry; 
  • understand that we cannot control the incoming information you will disclose to our representatives in the course of entering, or what our representatives will remember about your entry. You also understand that we will not restrict work assignments of representatives who have had access to your entry.  By entering this Contest, you agree that use of information in our representatives’ unaided memories in the development or deployment of our products or services does not create liability for us under this agreement or copyright or trade secret law; 
  • understand that you will not receive any compensation or credit for use of your entry, other than what is described in these Official Rules

Please note that during this Contest your entry may be posted on a website selected by us for viewing by visitors to that website.  We are not responsible for any unauthorized use of your entry by visitors to this website.  While we reserve these rights, we are not obligated to use your entry for any purpose, even if it has been selected as a winning entry.

If you do not want to grant us these rights to your entry, please do not enter this Contest.

WINNER DETERMINATION AND PRIZES

Each week panel of Microsoft judges will review all eligible Entries received and select three winners based upon the following judging criteria. At the close of the Entry Period, one of the winners will be selected as the Grand Prize winner based on the same criteria:

  • 60% - Creativity & Thinking Process
  • 40% - Technical application and appropriateness

In the event of a tie between any eligible entries, an additional judge will break the tie based on the judging criteria described above.  The decisions of the judges are final and binding.  If we do not receive a sufficient number of entries meeting the entry requirements, we may, at our discretion, select fewer winners than the number of Contest Prizes described below.

(15) Weekly Prizes (3 awarded per week):  The winner’s choice of one of a selected number of Microsoft Press e-book titles available at http://oreilly.com/go/msp-ebook.  Selected titles exclude MS Press Training and Certification Kits.  ARV up to $70 ea.  Actual value based on the winner’s choice of books.

One Grand Prize:  An HP Folio 13 Ultrabook computer. ARV $999.

A total of 16 prizes will be awarded assuming a qualified number of eligible entries are received.  Total approximate retail value of all prizes $ 2049.

Limit one Weeky Prize per person per Weekly Prize Period, however, there is no limit to the number of Weekly Prizes you can win during the Entry Period.   

If you are a potential winner, we will notify you by sending a message to the e-mail address, the phone number, or mailing address (if any) provided at time of entry within seven (7) days following completion of judging.  If the notification that we send is returned as undeliverable, or you are otherwise unreachable for any reason, we may award to a runner-up.

If there is a dispute as to who is the potential winner, we will consider the potential winner to be the authorized account holder of the e-mail address used to enter the Contest. If you are a potential winner, we may require you to sign an Affidavit of Eligibility, Liability/Publicity Release and a W-9 tax form or W-8 BEN tax form within 10 days of notification. If you are a potential winner and you are 18 or older, but are considered a minor in your place of legal residence, we may require your parent or legal guardian to sign all required forms on your behalf.  If you do not complete the required forms as instructed and/or return the required forms within the time period listed on the winner notification message, we may disqualify you and select a runner-up.

If you are confirmed as a winner of this Contest:

  • You may not exchange your prize for cash or any other merchandise or services.  However, if for any reason an advertised prize is unavailable, we reserve the right to substitute a prize of equal or greater value; and
  • You may not designate someone else as the winner.  If you are unable or unwilling to accept your prize, we may award it to a runner up; and
  • If you accept a prize, you will be solely responsible for all applicable taxes related to accepting the prize; and
  • If you are otherwise eligible for this Contest, but are considered a minor in your place of residence, we may award the prize to your parent/legal guardian on your behalf; and
  • Unless otherwise noted, all prizes are subject to their manufacturer’s warranty and / or terms and conditions. 

WHAT OTHER CONDITIONS AM I AGREEING TO BY ENTERING?

By entering this Contest you agree:

  • To abide by these Official Rules; and
  • To release and hold harmless Microsoft and its respective parents, subsidiaries, affiliates, employees and agents from any and all liability or any injury, loss or damage of any kind arising from or in connection with this Contest, or any prize won; and
  • That Microsoft’s decisions will be final and binding on all matters related to this Contest; and
  • That, by accepting a prize, Microsoft may use of your proper name and state of residence online and in print, or in any other media, in connection with this Contest, without payment or compensation to you, except where prohibited by law.

WHAT LAWS GOVERN THE WAY THIS CONTEST IS EXECUTED AND ADMINISTRATED?

This Contest will be governed by the laws of the State of Washington, and you consent to the exclusive jurisdiction and venue of the courts of the State of Washington for any disputes arising out of this Contest.  

WHAT IF SOMETHING UNEXPECTED HAPPENS AND THE CONTEST CAN’T RUN AS PLANNED?

If someone cheats, or a virus, bug, catastrophic event, or any other unforeseen or unexpected event that cannot be reasonably anticipated or controlled, (also referred to as force majeure) affects the fairness and / or integrity of this Contest, we reserve the right to cancel, change or suspend this Contest.  This right is reserved whether the event is due to human or technical error. If a solution cannot be found to restore the integrity of the Contest, we reserve the right to select winners from among all eligible entries received before we had to cancel, change or suspend the Contest.

If you attempt to compromise the integrity or the legitimate operation of this Contest by hacking or by cheating or committing fraud in ANY way, we may seek damages from you to the fullest extent permitted by law.  Further, we may ban you from participating in any of our future Contest, so please play fairly.

HOW CAN I FIND OUT WHO WON?

If you send an email to bethenext@microsoft.com within 30 days of August 27, 2012, we will provide you with a list of winners that receive a prize worth $25.00 or more.

WHO IS SPONSORING THIS CONTEST?

Microsoft Corporation
One Microsoft Way
Redmond, WA 98052