Competition Rules - Safer Internet Day

SID Kit 2012 - Competitions: Rules and FAQs

1. What is Safer Internet Day?

Safer Internet Day (SID) is organised by the Insafe project in February of each year to promote safer and more responsible use of online technology and mobile phones, especially amongst children and young people across the world.

Safer Internet Day 2012 will take place on Tuesday 7 February 2012, centred on the theme "Connecting generations and educating each other", where we encourage users young and old to "discover the digital world together...safely!".

Further information is available at: www.saferinternetday.org.

2. Who can enter the SID competitions?

Individuals or groups of children and young people from the ages of 5 to 19 can enter the competition in three age groups: 9 years old and under, 10-14 years old, and over 14 years old.

Although the competition is primarily aimed at children and young people, in the spirit of the SID 2012 campaign slogan of ‘Connecting Generations’, it would be great to see other members of the school or family involved to (teachers, parents, grandparents etc). There is space to include this information on the online submission form.

Reflecting the truly global nature of Safer Internet Day, entries are welcome from across the globe. You may enter in one or both categories, and may submit more that one entry per individual, group, class or school if you wish.

3. What do the competitions involve?

There are two competitions running this year.

The first is a SID poster competition. For this competition, we invite children and young people to create an Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) poster using the initials ‘SID’, or based around the theme of ‘Connecting generations’. Take a look at our Insafe AUP posters for some ideas.

Although you may wish to create your poster in any media you chose, your entry will need to be submitted as an electronic file i.e. as an image file (jpg, gif or png), as a text-based document (txt, doc or PDF), or as a single PowerPoint slide (ppt). Apologies, but we are not able to accept hard-copy postal entries.

We will accept poster competition entries in any language, but your poster should still be easy to understand even for people that do not speak your language (for example, by the use of visual prompts). Additionally, when you upload your entry using the online submission form, you will be asked to provide a short summary of your entry in English (maximum 100 words).

The second is a SID video competition. For this competition, we invite children and young people to create a short video clip (maximum of 2 minutes) on the theme of ‘Connecting generations’.

Accepted formats are mp3, mov, avi, divx, wmv and any mpeg format. You may upload your entry direct using the online submission form, or can alternatively upload it to a video upload site (such as YouTube or Vimeo) and provide us with a link.

We will accept video competition entries in any language, but your video should still be easy to understand even for people that do not speak your language (for example, by the use of visual prompts or subtitles). Additionally, when you upload your entry using the online submission form, you will be asked to provide a short summary of your entry in English (maximum 100 words).

For both competitions, we ask that an adult be the main point of contact for your online submission. They will need to supply a name, email address and an indication of the capacity in which they are representing the child, children or young person(s) for which they are making the submission.

4. What are the key dates we need to be aware of?

There are a few key dates that you need to be aware of:

Wednesday 1 February 2012: SID competitions open for entries.
Tuesday 7 February 2012: Safer Internet Day itself!
Wednesday 29 February 2012: SID competitions close for entries at 23.59 (CET).
Thursday 1 March 2012 – Friday 30 March 2012: Review, shortlisting and final judging of entries.
w/c Monday2 April 2012: Competition winners will be notified (by email in first instance to supporting adult – see above). It is vitally important that, if selected as a winner, that your supporting adult respond to this email as we will use this contact to request contact addresses for mailing of prizes.

5. How do we submit our entry?

All entries must be made via the online submission form on the Safer Internet Day website.

For the poster competition, image files should be uploaded direct.

For the video competition, entrants may wish to either upload their video direct or provide a link to the video if hosted on a third-party video upload site.

On the online submission form you will be asked to provide various information regarding your entry and the people involved in creating it.

We do ask however, that the form is submitted by a supporting adult (be that teacher, parent or other caregiver) who will act as the main point of contact should we require any further information regarding your entry, or indeed for notification of winners.

We have endeavored to keep the amount of personal information required at the point of submission to a minimum for data protection purposes. However, it is vitally important that you provide an email address so that we can contact you if your entry is successful.

6. What are the prizes, and how will winners be notified?

Winners will be selected in the three categories for each of the competitions after the closing date of Wednesday 29 February 2012 (23.59 CET). There will be a winner and two runners up for each (i.e. 18 winners in total). For group entries, it is up to the participants concerned to decide how the prize will be shared. Please note that the Judges decision will be final.

Winners will be invited to choose their prize from a selection of age-appropriate game as supplied by our kind sponsor for the SID competitions, Microsoft.

Additionally, winners of the older age category for each competition (over 14 years old), will be invited to participate in the annual ‘online safety’ summer camp in Romania (all travel and accommodation costs included) – see page 32 of the Insafe Annual Report 2011 for information from previous years. Winners will receive further information on arrangement following notification of their win. For group entries, again it is up to the participants concerned to decide who will take this prize.

Please note, these prizes are final and there are no alternatives available.

At this stage we expect that final judging or entries will be made on Friday 30 March 2012, and winners will be notified by email during the w/c Monday 2 April 2012. Please note, the email notification will be sent from the Safer Internet Day helpdesk email account [sid-helpdesk@eun.org] – please add this to your email contacts list to minimise the risk of it being sent to your spam folder.

Please note, it is vitally important that the supporting adult responds to this email as we will use it to request information regarding where the prize should be sent. Any adults not responding to this email within a period of one calendar month will automatically forfeit the prize, and the prize will pass to another competition entrant.

Please note, you will not be notified if your entry is unsuccessful.

7. What will happen with our entries after the competition closes?

We hope to receive lots of fantastic entries, and would like to make them available, for all the world to see your hard work and effort, after the competition closes. We plan to create an online gallery of submissions on the Safer Internet Day website, and also promote these via a range of other channels and partners through news items and online links, or in promotional material for future Safer Internet Day campaigns.

You will be asked to confirm your agreement to this at the point of submission.

8. What about copyright, in general?

When creating your competition entry, please remember that the works of others, such as photos, images, music, and text are covered by copyright. This means that you should ask for written permission from the owner of that work (be it author, illustrator, composer etc.) before using it, and add a copyright notice/credits page to your entry as appropriate.

9. What about privacy, in general?

When creating your competition entry, please be aware that it may be made available to a wide public via the Safer Internet Day website, and other related websites and print materials. Therefore, you may wish to think about privacy.

Do not include sensitive personal data, such as names, addresses or other personal information on individuals within your video. As a general guide, only give the first name of a child or young person alongside a photo or video clip, or consider using pseudonyms in your work or video credits.

10. Other legal and ethical issues

We reserve the right to modify the terms and conditions of the competition at any time. Any notifications or possible changes will be published on the competitons web page (www.saferinternetday.org/sidcompetitions) and will apply as of the date of publication.

Before submission, special attention should be given to the following points:

All participants must comply with national and European copyright laws.
Entries may not contain statements, facts, information or quotations that could denigrate or harm any person or group of people; neither statements, images facts, information or quotations encouraging persecution of people on the grounds of race, opinion, nationality, sex, religion, profession or other persuasion, nor entries encouraging crime or law-breaking will be allowed.
It is assumed that all persons photographed or filmed have given their (or a parent’s, or a caregiver's) consent for publication.
It is assumed that all participants are happy for their submission to be published on the Safer Internet Day website, and in other promotional material as appropriate relating to this year’s, or future, Safer Internet Day campaigns.
Further information on disclaimers, copyright and privacy can be found on the Safer Internet Day website or by directly clicking here.

Please note that an entry may be disqualified if it breaks any of the rules under ‘Other legal and ethical issues’.

11. Contacts for further information

Please contact the Safer Internet Day helpdesk should you require any further information.

12. Useful links

For further information on online safety topics, please see the Online Safety section on the Insafe website.