Promotion Description: The PHDtv Two-Minute Thesis Contest (the “Contest”) begins on 3 July 2012 at 12:01 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time (“PDT”) and the period for entering the Contest ends on 1 August 2012 at 11:59 p.m. PDT (the “Entry Period”). By participating in the Contest, each entrant (the “Participant”) unconditionally accepts and agrees to comply with and abide by these Official Rules and the decisions of Piled Higher and Deeper LLC, which shall be final and binding in all respects. Following the end of the Entry Period, the judging will proceed in two phases. In the first phase (“Phase One”), the name, thesis title, image, and brief audio clip containing the Participant’s introduction to the entry will be posted online on 6 August 2012. The public will register their votes for the best entry via PHDcomics.com/tv until the voting closes at 11:59 p.m. PDT on 20 August 2012. The entry with the most votes (the “Grand Prize Winner”) will be determined, as well as two runners up (the “Runners Up”). In the second phase (“Phase Two”), a panel of judges (comprised of Ph.D. Students and employees of Piled Higher and Deeper LLC) will select 11 winners (the “Monthly Winners”) in addition to the Grand Prize Winner based on clarity of explanation, appeal of the speaker, and general interest of the topic. The Grand Prize Winner, the Runners Up, and the Monthly Winners will be notified by email and/or phone and the list of all winners will be announced online on 24 August 2012 on the website PHDcomics.com/tv. Each of the winners will receive a prize (“the Prize”), which consists of having their 2-minute thesis explanation drawn and animated by Jorge Cham. The Grand Prize Winner, receiving the highest number of votes via the website PHDcomics.com/tv will be granted the first episode of PHDtv’s “Two-Minute Thesis” web series, premiering 1 September 2012. He/she will also receive “The Thesis Writer” merchandise package from the PHD Comics online store. The entries of the Monthly Winners will be drawn and animated and posted online on PHDcomics.com/tv at the rate of one winner per month for the academic year beginning 1 September 2012 and ending 31 August 2013. The two Runners Up from Phase One will each receive one “The Graduate Student” merchandise package from the PHD Comics online store.
Eligibility: Only individuals over the age of eighteen (18) years as of January 1, 2012 who are residing and located in a jurisdiction where the contest is lawful are eligible to enter. Employees of Piled Higher and Deeper LLC, or any Sponsoring organizations and their affiliates, subsidiaries, advertising or promotional agencies, suppliers, vendors and/or service providers, and their immediate family members or persons living in the same household are not eligible. The Contest is void where prohibited.
How to Enter: Participants must go to the PHDTV website, www.PHDcomics.com/tv (the “Site”), during the Entry Period and follow the instructions. Participants must produce an audio file in which the participant, or an approved speaker (the “Surrogate Speaker”), explains their thesis work in English within two (2) minutes. Explanations that exceed 2 minutes will be automatically disqualified. In addition to the explanation, the Participant must state at the beginning of the entry the following information: 1) full name, 2) academic institution, 3) department or field of study, 4) year in graduate school, 5) title of the thesis, 6) identity of the speaker (if a Surrogate Speaker is engaged). This statement is not to be included in the two-minute time limit for the explanation of the thesis.
Entry into the Contest grants Piled Higher and Deeper LLC permission to use any portion of the provided audio file or other provided materials for publicity and marketing purposes.
The Participant may choose to engage a Surrogate Speaker to act as the speaker for his/her entry, in order to overcome English-language difficulties. This is not required for non-native English speakers, but may aid the Participant in clearly conveying the entry to an English-speaking audience. In the event that a Surrogate Speaker is engaged, his/her name must be identified in the entry’s initial statement of background information, as in item (6) above. All entries, regardless of speaker identity, must have been conceived, written, and/or edited by the Participant only.
By submitting an entry, the Participant confirms that he/she has the right, including any required permission of any other individual whose voice may appear in the audio file, to publicly perform or display the audio file, the submitted image, and the animated cartoon prize. The Participant also confirms that the content of the entry is appropriate for public consumption. PHDtv reserves the right to reject any entry that is deemed to violate this criterion.
All entries must be received during the Entry Period to be eligible. Piled Higher and Deeper LLC is not responsible for late, lost, or misdirected entries that are not received in a timely manner, or are lost due to computer or electronic malfunction or other error, or due to inaccessibility of the Internet or portions thereof.
Additional Rules: By submitting any Audio and/or Visual Materials to the Contest, the Participant hereby grants to Piled Higher and Deeper and its affiliates, subsidiaries, licensees and assigns, an irrevocable, perpetual and royalty-free right to use, reproduce, edit, display, transmit, prepare derivative works of, modify, publish and otherwise make use of the submitted Audio and Visual Materials in any and all media, whether now known or hereinafter created, throughout the world and for any purpose. In addition to other things, the rights granted to Piled Higher and Deeper LLC, include but are not limited to the right to censor, compress, edit, feature, caption, affix logos to, and to otherwise alter or make use of the submitted materials.
In addition, by submitting any Audio or Visual materials to the Contest, Participants hereby represent and warrant that the submitted information does not and shall not infringe on any copyright or other right of any third party, and the Participant has the right to grant any and all rights and licenses granted to Piled Higher and Deeper LLC, herein, including but not limited to all necessary rights under copyright, free and clear of any claims or encumbrances. Piled Higher and Deeper LLC may, but shall have no obligation to, post, display or otherwise make publicly available any content submitted by you, and may, in its sole and unfettered discretion, remove, edit, modify or delete any portion of the video or information that you submit to the Contest.
Privacy: Information provided to enter the Contest will not be sold to third parties but may be shared as may be necessary for the purposes of conducting and judging the Contest and awarding prizes. Piled Higher and Deeper LLC, its affiliates, and companies supplying prizes (or parts thereof) in connection with this Contest may from time to time contact entrants via email and/or phone concerning the Contest, and each Participant consents to receiving such communications via email and/or phone. In addition, the Participant agrees to work with representatives of PHDtv to provide supplementary information and/or materials to be used in the production of the animated web video.
By submitting any materials to the Contest, the Participant acknowledges and agrees that any content submitted may be made available for viewing, voting and comment on by the public, and understands that comments with which the entrant disagrees or is unhappy about may be published or otherwise become associated with any submitted materials. Entrants hereby waive any privacy expectations that they may have with respect to any video submitted to the Contest.
Automated Entries Prohibited: No mechanically reproduced, incomplete, forged, software generated or automated multiple entries will be accepted.
Winner Selection: During Phase One, the Grand Prize Winner and two Runners Up will be selected based on a public vote via the website PHDcomics.com/tv. In the event of a tie, the Judging Panel from phase two will determine the winner.
During Phase Two, winners are selected on the basis of three key criteria: 1) Clarity of explanation; 2) Appeal/Engagement of the speaker; and 3) General appeal of the topic. The desired reaction from the judging panel should be “I want to hear more about this person’s work,” and this response is best achieved through success in all three of the key criteria. This contest is based on the speaker’s ability to verbally convey complicated concepts to an educated layperson; as such, it will not be judged on the basis of production quality, special effects, quality of editing, or any other technical aspects of the entry.
In the event that the Participant chooses to engage a Surrogate to act as a speaker for the entry, this choice will not affect the consideration of the entry for the prize. Likewise, the choice not to engage a Surrogate will not be counted against the entry, provided that the explanation is sufficiently clear for an English-speaking educated layperson to understand.
Prize Details: Monthly Winners: Each of the Monthly Winners will have their audio clip animated by Jorge Cham and will be featured on the Site (www.PHDcomics.com/tv) along with the finished animated video episode, for one month during the 2012-2013 academic year. Monthly Winners will also become eligible for the year-end Graduation Prize for the best animated video (contest rules forthcoming).
Grand Prize Winner: The Grand Prize Winner will have his/her audio clip animated by Jorge Cham and will be featured on the Site, along with the finished animated video episode, in September, 2012, as the premiere episode of PHDtv’s Two-Minute Thesis segment. He/she will also receive one “The Thesis Writer” merchandise package from the store at www.phdcomics.com.
Runners Up: The two Runners Up will each receive one “The Graduate Student” merchandise package from www.phdcomics.com, and will be featured on the Site at the announcement of the winners.
General Prize Conditions: By agreeing to these Official Rules, the Participant is agreeing to accept any Prize his/her submission may receive. There is no opportunity to withdraw the entry, although modifications to the audio clip and supplementary materials may be negotiated with Piled Higher and Deeper for the purpose of producing the animated video episode based on the submission. Prizes are not transferable and not assignable. No substitutions of prizes will be allowed, except Piled Higher and Deeper reserves the right to substitute prize(s) of comparable or greater value in the event a prize or any portion thereof becomes unavailable for any reason. Winners shall be solely responsible for all taxes and fees or costs associated with any prize, including but not limited to any federal or state or other income tax, gratuities, personal expenses and any other expenses not expressly specified herein.
Limitations of Liability: Piled Higher and Deeper assumes no liability, and shall not be liable, for typographical or other errors in the offer or administration of the Contest including, without limitation, errors in the printing or display of the offer and official rules, selection, notification and announcement of the Winners or Grand Prize Winner, or distribution of the prizes. Piled Higher and Deeper is not responsible for any incorrect or inaccurate information, whether caused by internet users or by any of the equipment or programming associated with or utilized in the Contest and assumes no responsibility for any error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission, communications line failure, theft or destruction or unauthorized access to any systems associated with the Contest.
Release: Acceptance of a prize constitutes the prize winner’s permission for Piled Higher and Deeper LLC to use prize winner’s name and likeness for advertising and/or promotional purposes worldwide and in all forms of media in perpetuity without further compensation or authorization. Participants agree that Piled Higher and Deeper and its affiliates, and their officers, employees, agents and representatives (collectively, the Sponsoring Entities”), shall not be responsible for any losses, damages or injuries of any kind resulting from participation in the Contest or from Participants’ acceptance, receipt, possession and/or use or misuse of any prize. Participants also agree that the Sponsoring entities have not made and shall not in any manner be liable for any warranty, guarantee, or representation, whether express or implied, with respect to any prize, including without limitation, the prize’s quality or fitness for a particular purpose. Piled Higher and Deeper, reserves the right in its sole discretion to disqualify any individual who is found to be tampering with the entry process or the operation of the Contest or the Site, to be acting in violation of these Official Rules, or who otherwise takes actions that do or are intended to disrupt or undermine the legitimate operation of the Contest. Piled Higher and Deeper also reserves the right in its sole discretion to disqualify any entry containing any obscene, offensive or otherwise inappropriate comments or other matter.
Governing Law: All issues and questions concerning the construction, validity, interpretation and enforceability of these Official Rules shall be governed and construed in accordance with the internal laws of the State of California without regard to the choice of law provisions thereof.
Name of Winners: For the names of winners, refer to www.PHDcomics.com/tv or send, within six months from the end of the Entry Period, a request for the list of winners along with a self addressed, stamped envelope to: “Piled Higher and Deeper”, 221 S. Oak Knoll Ave., #107 Pasadena, CA 91101.