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COMPETITION RULES

 

Add-on competition

An add-on is a self-developed tool that will provide useful,helpful or otherwise additional functionality to a softwareapplication. An add-on extends the usability of the software, often cuts out repetitive steps in a process and can provide an innovative path to cater to a specific need or solve a problem. It can be a game, an interface between two different types of applications or even a new way of using a standard application – your imagination and skills are the only limits.

 

The Add-on competition will run from 19 March 2010 to 25 August 2010 and is open to all young people aged between 12 and 18 years.

 

Getting help to build your add-ons

Consult the Add-on Student and Teacher kits to learn more about building add-ons. If you would like to get further information or if you are planning to enter the competition and have specific questions to ask, don't hesitate to contact us at our helpdesk at add-on.helpdesk@eun.org.
We have a multilingual team ready to answer all of your questions related to the competition in any of the following 6 languages: English, Flemish, French, Finnish, German, Norwegian or Spanish. We also have an online forum with expert help. To send us your question:
You will rapidly receive an email response from our helpdesk in the language of your choice (EN, NL, FR, FI, DE, NO or ES). But don't forget to check the online forum too, where our experts will respond (in English only) to the most interesting questions of the week. If you are lucky they may also provide you some special coaching via the forum. Just click on the Visit Forum tab.

 

Creating a competition entry

Before you begin creating your add-on, you should read the Student Kit to pick up some ideas and tips about add-ons. If you are a teacher, parent or youth group leader, we suggest that you read both the Teacher and the Student Kits.
Once you have created your add-on – your mini-programme or macro that works with standard or open source software as described above – you will need to prepare a title, a thumbnail (45 pixel x 40 pixel jpeg or gif image to represent your project in the voting gallery) and two descriptions of your creation as follows:
  1. A 600-character text giving an overview of your entry
  2. A more detailed text to incorporate in this PowerPoint template (ppt 54k) to describe the purpose of your creation, minimum system requirements for its use and a step-by-step description of how it works.
You should remember that, if your entry is chosen by the judges to go into the final round, visitors from across the world will be viewing and voting for your entry. It is therefore a good idea to make your description as attractive as possible, and include screen shots to illustrate your add-on.

 

Submitting your competition entry

To submit your entry, begin by clicking on the Submit entry tab in the navigation bar on the home page at http://add-on.eun.org. Submissions close on 25 August 2010 and can be made in English, Dutch, French, Finnish, German, Norwegian or Spanish. It is important to fill out all sections of the submission form, or your entry will be invalid. You will be required to guarantee that your entry is your own creation; failure to fully respect copyright laws will result in immediate disqualification of your entry which will be deleted from the competition site without further notice. You will be invited to licence your work under a creative commons licence (www.creativecommons.org), so that it will remain your property whilst still allowing other people to use it and build on it. Once the competition is over, all eligible entries will be made available in an open development space to be set up by Microsoft to promote creativity and resource sharing.
NOTE: When you submit your entry, check your email address carefully as it is our only means of contacting you if your entry is nominated by the judges to enter the final round of the competition. 
You can submit your entry alone or with friends from your class or youth group. From 1 September 2010 onwards, you can also vote for your favourite entries in the project gallery at http://add-on.eun.org and check ratings on your own project.

 

And the winner is…

An eminent jury including, amongst others, education and software specialists, a representative of the technology industry and a youth representative will select the ten best, most useful and effective add-ons to be displayed in the voting gallery for one month, from 1 September to 30 September 2010.
To determine the nominees to be moved to the voting gallery, the judges will use the following criteria:
  • Clarity of content and ideas as described in the PowerPoint template: 30%. The description has to be clear, and indicate minimum system requirements and the real purpose of the add-on.
  • Technical nature: 40%. The technical quality of the project will be taken into account, along with the effectiveness and the user-friendliness of the add-on.
  • Creativity and originality: 30%. The innovativeness and degree of lateral thinking your add-on shows will be most important too.
Anyone and everyone can vote for their favourite add-ons as many times as they wish using the smiley rating system under each entry. On 6 October, the winner and two runner-up teams will be announced.
The winning team, or one or more of its representatives will be invited on a three day tour of a mystery European city to attend a special award ceremony within the framework of a European wide event. The winning team and the two runners up will receive a cash prize of 500€, 400€ and 300€ respectively for their school or organisation.

 

Restrictions and deadlines

You can submit your entry from 19 March 2010 until 25 August 2010 midnight GMT. Contestants must fill out a submission form and agree to the terms and conditions of the contest before their entry (title, description, thumbnail and completed PowerPoint template) can be uploaded. Only presentations on the competition template will be accepted.
On 30 August 2010, nominees for the final round will be informed that their entry will be uploaded to the voting gallery. The judges' decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into. Voting will take place from 1-30 September 2010.
Educational and technical specialists will moderate all entries, before they become visible in the project gallery at http://add-on.eun.org. Any projects that are considered to contain illegal or harmful content will not be included in the project gallery.

 

Eligibility requirements: Who can participate?

  • Individual category: Young people aged between 12 and 18 years on or before 30 August 2010.
  • Teams from schools or youth groups: Although young people in the team should be aged between 12 and 18 years on or before 30 August 2010, there is obviously no age limit for the teacher, youth leader or parent working with the team. Teams should include no more than 10 members, plus the teacher or youth leader.
Please note: there is no limit on the number of projects that can be submitted per applicant.
The evaluation process to ensure the eligibility of your entry will take place in two phases:
  1. We will receive the description of your entry and check that it complies to all terms and conditions.
  2. You will receive an email inviting you to send your add-on so that it can be put through a battery of tests to ensure that it really works.

 

Registration: how do you enter the competition?

If you wish to participate, you will register when you submit your entry. You will be required to provide only data that is essential to process your entry; the privacy policy and disclaimer are clearly indicated at http://add-on.eun.org.
If you choose to submit an entry in this competition, then you must agree that your participation is subject to the Terms of Use indicated on the portal, and to the Add-on Competition rules.

 

Submitting an entry / copyright notice

Access the competition portal at http://add-on.eun.org and follow the instructions.
You will need to check each of the boxes and guarantee that your entry is an original creation, and that you have obtained any necessary copyright permission. By uploading your content to the site, you agree to a Creative Commons license 2, which allows you to share (let others copy, distribute, display, and perform your work), and remix derivative works based upon it (on condition that you are referenced as author and that it is reused and shared for non-commercial purposes). Your content can then be legally downloaded and uploaded through peer-to-peer applications and Microsoft's open development space, and displayed in public at the awards ceremony or elsewhere by the organisers, for example.
The Add-on competition team assumes that all entries are original and are the works and property of the entrant. It is not responsible for incorrect information provided on entry forms that are not conform to the intellectual property rights of original ownership of ideas or any third-party rights.