Microsoft #BuildFor2030 Hackathon

Microsoft #BuildFor2030 Hackathon (the "Hackathon") Official Rules

NO PURCHASE OR PAYMENT NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. A PURCHASE OR PAYMENT WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING.  

SUBMISSION OF ANY ENTRY CONSTITUTES AGREEMENT TO THESE OFFICIAL RULES AS A CONTRACT BETWEEN ENTRANT (AND EACH INDIVIDUAL MEMBER OF ENTRANT), THE HACKATHON SPONSOR, AND DEVPOST. 

1. Dates and Timing

Submission Period: Thursday, September 22, 2022 (7:00 am Pacific Time) – Thursday, November 22, 2022 (11:45 pm Pacific Time) (“Submission Period”). 

Winners Announced: On or before Tuesday, January 31, 2023 (12:00 pm Pacific Time). 

2. Sponsor and Administrator 

Microsoft, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA 98052, United States 

3. Eligibility 

A. The Hackathon IS open to: 

• Individuals who are employees and representing a Microsoft Partner Network (or the Microsoft Cloud Partner Program after October 3, 2022) member organization that employs them (“Eligible Individuals”). Microsoft Partner Network member organizations must have a Partner Center account, MPNID (or PartnerID), and active membership in Microsoft Partner Network (each a “Partner Organization”).
• Teams of Eligible Individuals (“Teams”) 

(the above are collectively, “Entrants”) 

An Eligible Individual may join more than one Team. If a Team is entering the Hackathon, they must appoint and authorize one individual (the “Representative”) to represent, act, and enter a Submission, on their behalf. By entering a Submission on behalf of a Team you represent and warrant that you are the Representative authorized to act on behalf of your Team and your Partner Organization.  

B. The Hackathon IS NOT open to: 

• Individuals who are not employees of a Microsoft Partner Network (or the Microsoft Cloud Partner Program after October 3, 2022) member organization at any point from the end of the Submission Period to the Winner Announcement of the Hackathon. 
• Individuals under eighteen (18) years of age. 
• Individuals who are residents of a country, state, province, or territory where the laws of the United States or local law prohibits participating or receiving a prize in the Hackathon (including, but not limited to, Brazil, Quebec, Russia, Crimea, Belarus, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria, and any other country designated by the United States Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control). 
• Government entities, including sovereign states and all governmental entities as well as quasi-Governmental entities, including but not limited to Government corporations, state-owned or state-controlled enterprises, regional transportation authorities, or state-owned universities or hospitals (“Government Entities”). For additional guidance, please consult the State Owned Entity Criteria.  
• Employees of Government Entities (Microsoft is committed to complying with government gift and ethics rules and therefore government employees are not eligible).   
• Organizations involved with the design, production, execution, or distribution of the Hackathon, including the Sponsor and Administrator (“Promotion Entities”). Promotion Entities excludes Partner Organizations.
• Employees, representatives and agents** of Promotion Entities, and all members of their immediate family or household*
• Any other individual involved in the execution, or administration of the Hackathon, and each member of their immediate family or household*.
• Any Judge (defined below), or company or individual that employs a Judge.
• Any parent company, subsidiary, or other affiliate*** of any organization described above.
• Any other individual or organization whose participation in the Hackathon would create, in the sole discretion of the Sponsor and/or Administrator, a real or apparent conflict of interest.  

*The members of an individual’s immediate family include the individual’s spouse, children and stepchildren, parents and stepparents, and siblings and stepsiblings. The members of an individual’s household include any other person that shares the same residence as the individual for at least three (3) months out of the year.  

**Agents include individuals or organizations that in creating a Submission to the Hackathon, are acting on behalf of, and at the direction of, a Promotion Entity through a contractual or similar relationship. 

***An affiliate is: (a) an organization that is under common control, sharing a common majority or controlling owner, or common management; or (b) an organization that has a substantial ownership in, or is substantially owned by the other organization. 

4. How to Enter 

5. Submission Modifications 

A. Draft Submissions: Prior to the end of the Submission Period, you may save draft versions of your submission on Devpost to your portfolio before submitting the submission materials to the Hackathon for evaluation. Once the Submission Period has ended, you may not make any changes or alterations to your submission, but you may continue to update the project in your Devpost portfolio. 

B. Modifications After the Submission Period. The Sponsor and Devpost may permit you to modify part of your submission after the Submission Period for the purpose of adding, removing, or replacing material that potentially infringes a third-party mark or right, discloses personally identifiable information, or is otherwise inappropriate. The modified submission must remain substantively the same as the original submission with the only modification being what the Sponsor and Devpost permits.  

6. Judges & Criteria

Eligible submissions will be evaluated by a panel of judges selected by the Sponsor (the “Judges”). Judges may be employees of the sponsor or third parties, may or may not be listed individually on the Hackathon Website, and may change before or during the Judging Period. Judging may take place in one or more rounds with one or more panels of Judges, at the discretion of the sponsor.  

Successful entrants will need to demonstrate how their solution, leveraging Microsoft technologies, will bring value and make a positive social, environmental or community impact, in the context of addressing real world needs and challenges faced by intended customers, users, or beneficiaries, that addresses one or more #BuildFor2030 Hackathon challenge statements.  

Projects will be judged on the following criteria, and according to the sole and absolute discretion of the judges:  

• Build for impact 
  Does the entry make or create something, leveraging Microsoft technologies, that is tangible that can be shown or demonstrated, going beyond an idea?

• Address the Challenge
  Does the entry address a Hackathon challenge statement, and present a clear and relevant solution that drives positive impact in the world (such as greater inclusion, equity, sustainability, resilient communities etc.)?

• Customer or Community Focus
  Is the entry clear on who the solution is built for? Does it provide a compelling solution for the customer/ user/ community?

• Business Value
  Does this project provide business value? For example, does it enable businesses to meet environmental, social, governance (ESG) goals, attract new users, improve employee or customer experience, increase revenue, reduce costs etc.?

• Feasibility
  Does the project have a reasonable chance of success or a possible pathway forward to implementation and delivery to market? 

• Inspiration & Energy
  Does the idea bring inspiration, energy, excitement, fresh perspective, an innovative approach, or delight?

• Inclusion and Sustainability
  Was the solution built with inclusive and/or sustainable design in mind? Did the team consider who is excluded from the solution being built? How was input from the diversity of customers intended to use the solution considered? 

Winners will be selected from among all eligible entries received within seventy-five (75) days following the Entry Period. 

Tie Breaking. For each Prize listed below 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 there are less than three (3) entries meeting the project and submissions requirements for a challenge area, Sponsor may, at its discretion, select fewer winners than the number of Prizes described below. 

7. Intellectual Property Rights 

All submissions remain the intellectual property of the individuals or organizations that developed them. By submitting an entry, entrants agree that the sponsor will have a fully paid, non-exclusive license to use such entry for judging the entry. Entrants agree that the sponsor and Devpost shall have the right to promote the submission and use the name, likeness, voice, and image of all individuals contributing to a submission, in any materials promoting or publicizing the Hackathon and its results, during the Hackathon Period and for three years thereafter.  Some Submission components may be displayed to the public. Other Submission materials may be viewed by the sponsor, Devpost, and judges for screening and evaluation. By submitting an entry or accepting any prize, entrants represent and warrant that (a) submitted content is not copyrighted, protected by trade secret or otherwise subject to third party intellectual property rights or other proprietary rights, including privacy and publicity rights, unless entrant is the owner of such rights or has permission from their rightful owner to post the content; and (b) the content submitted does not contain any viruses, Trojan horses, worms, spyware or other disabling devices or harmful or malicious code. 

8. Prizes

In addition, all #BuildFor2030 Hackathon Winners and Hero Awardees will gain added consideration for: 

• Microsoft #BuildFor2030 Initiative feature opportunities3 

• Partnering community organizations’ feature opportunities3 (e.g., events) 

1 Expires June 30, 2023. 

2 Review “Learn more about technical presales and deployment services” section here for in-scope services. 

3 Subject to your fulfilment of prevailing nomination or application criteria and process. 

IMPORTANT NOTES ON MULTIPLE PRIZE ELIGIBILITY: 

• A Project can win one (1) Prize.    

• If there are less than three (3) eligible submissions within a Challenge Area, that prize may not be awarded.  

The total Approximate Retail Value (ARV) of all prizes: $60,000.00 (USD). 

A. Substitutions & Changes: Prizes are non-transferable by the winner. Sponsor in its sole discretion has the right to make a prize substitution of equivalent or greater value. Sponsor may not award a prize if there are no eligible submissions entered in the Hackathon, or if there are less than three (3) eligible Entrants or submissions for a specific prize. 

B. Verification Requirement: THE AWARD OF A PRIZE TO A POTENTIAL WINNER IS SUBJECT TO VERIFICATION OF THE IDENTITY, QUALIFICATIONS AND ROLE OF THE POTENTIAL WINNER IN THE CREATION OF THE SUBMISSION. No submission or submitter shall be deemed a winning submission or winner until their post-competition prize affidavits have been completed and verified, even if prospective winners have been announced verbally or on the competition website. The final decision to designate a winner shall be made by the Sponsor and/or Administrator. 

C. Prize Delivery: Prizes will be payable to the to the Entrant’s Partner Organization. It will be the responsibility of the winning Entrant’s Representative to allocate the Prize among their Team or Organization’s participating members, as the Representative deems appropriate. A monetary Prize will be mailed to the winning Entrant’s Partner Organization’s address, or sent electronically to the Organization’s bank account, only after receipt of the completed winner affidavit and other required forms (collectively the “Required Forms”), if applicable. Failure to provide correct information on the Required Forms, or other correct information required for the delivery of a Prize, may result in delayed Prize delivery, disqualification or the Entrant, or forfeiture of a Prize. Prizes will be delivered within 60 days of the Sponsor or Devpost’s receipt of the completed Required Forms. 

D. Fees & Taxes: Winners (and in the case of Team or Organization, all participating members) are responsible for any fees associated with receiving or using a prize, including but not limited to, wiring fees or currency exchange fees. Winners (and in the case of Team or Organization, all participating members) are responsible for reporting and paying all applicable taxes in their jurisdiction of residence (federal, state/provincial/territorial, and local). Winners may be required to provide certain information to facilitate receipt of the award, including completing and submitting any tax or other forms necessary for compliance with applicable withholding and reporting requirements. United States residents may be required to provide a completed form W-9 and residents of other countries may be required to provide a completed W-8BEN form. Winners are also responsible for complying with foreign exchange and banking regulations in their respective jurisdictions and reporting the receipt of the Prize to relevant government departments/agencies, if necessary. The Sponsor, Devpost, and/or Prize provider reserves the right to withhold a portion of the prize amount to comply with the tax laws of the United States or other sponsor jurisdiction, or those of a winner’s jurisdiction. 

9. Entry Conditions and Release

A. By entering the Hackathon, you (and, if you are entering on behalf of a Team, Organization each participating members) agree(s) to the following: 

(i) The relationship between you, the Entrant, and the Sponsor and Administrator, is not a confidential, fiduciary, or other special relationship. 

(ii) You will be bound by and comply with these Official Rules and the decisions of the Sponsor, Administrator, and/or the Hackathon Judges which are binding and final in all matters relating to the Hackathon. 

(iii) You release, indemnify, defend and hold harmless the Promotion Entities, and their respective parent, subsidiary, and affiliated companies, the Prize suppliers and any other organizations responsible for sponsoring, fulfilling, administering, advertising or promoting the Hackathon, and all of their respective past and present officers, directors, employees, agents and representatives (hereafter the “Released Parties”) from and against any and all claims, expenses, and liabilities (including reasonable attorneys’ fees), including but not limited to negligence and damages of any kind to persons and property, defamation, slander, libel, violation of right of publicity, infringement of trademark, copyright or other intellectual property rights, property damage, or death or personal injury arising out of or relating to a Entrant’s entry, creation of Submission or entry of a Submission, participation in the Hackathon, acceptance or use or misuse of the Prize (including any travel or activity related thereto) and/or the broadcast, transmission, performance, exploitation or use of the Submission as authorized or licensed by these Official Rules.  

B. Without limiting the foregoing, the Released Parties shall have no liability in connection with:  

(i) any incorrect or inaccurate information, whether caused by the Sponsor or Administrator’s electronic or printing error, or by any of the equipment or programming associated with or utilized in the Hackathon;  

(ii) technical failures of any kind, including, but not limited to malfunctions, interruptions, or disconnections in phone lines, internet connectivity or electronic transmission errors, or network hardware or software or failure of the Hackathon Website; 

(iii) unauthorized human intervention in any part of the entry process or the Hackathon;  

(iv) technical or human error which may occur in the administration of the Hackathon or the processing of Submissions; or  

(v) any injury or damage to persons or property which may be caused, directly or indirectly, in whole or in part, from the Entrant’s participation in the Hackathon or receipt or use or misuse of any Prize. 

The Released Parties are not responsible for incomplete, late, misdirected, damaged, lost, illegible, or incomprehensible Submissions or for address or email address changes of the Entrants. Proof of sending or submitting the aforementioned will not be deemed to be proof of receipt by the Sponsor or Administrator. If for any reason any Entrant’s Submission is determined to have not been received or been erroneously deleted, lost, or otherwise destroyed or corrupted, the Entrant’s sole remedy is to request the opportunity to resubmit its Submission. Such a request must be made promptly after the Entrant knows or should have known there was a problem and will be determined at the sole discretion of the Sponsor. 

10. Publicity 

By participating in the Hackathon, Entrant consents to the promotion and display of the Entrant’s Submission, and to the use of personal information about themselves for promotional purposes, by the Sponsor, Administrator, and third parties acting on their behalf. Such personal information includes, but is not limited to, your name, likeness, photograph, voice, opinions, comments and hometown and country of residence. It may be used in any existing or newly created media, worldwide without further payment or consideration or right of review, unless prohibited by law. Authorized use includes but is not limited to advertising and promotional purposes.  

11. General Conditions

A. Sponsor and Administrator reserve the right, in their sole discretion, to cancel, suspend and/or modify the Hackathon, or any part of it, in the event of a technical failure, fraud, or any other factor or event that was not anticipated or is not within their control. 

B. Sponsor and Administrator reserve the right in their sole discretion to disqualify any individual or Entrant if it finds to be actually or presenting the appearance of tampering with the entry process or the operation of the Hackathon or to be acting in violation of these Official Rules or in a manner that is inappropriate, unsportsmanlike, not in the best interests of this Hackathon, or a violation of any applicable law or regulation. 

C. Any attempt by any person to undermine the proper conduct of the Hackathon may be a violation of criminal and civil law. Should the Sponsor or Administrator suspect that such an attempt has been made or is threatened, they reserve the right to take appropriate action including but not limited to requiring an Entrant to cooperate with an investigation and referral to criminal and civil law enforcement authorities. 

D. If there is any discrepancy or inconsistency between the terms and conditions of the Official Rules and disclosures or other statements contained in any Hackathon materials, including but not limited to the Hackathon Submission form, Hackathon Website, or advertising, the terms and conditions of the Official Rules shall prevail. 

E. The terms and conditions of the Official Rules are subject to change at any time, including the rights or obligations of the Entrant, the Sponsor and Administrator. The Sponsor and Administrator will post the terms and conditions of the amended Official Rules on the Hackathon Website. To the fullest extent permitted by law, any amendment will become effective at the time specified in the posting of the amended Official Rules or, if no time is specified, the time of posting. 

F. If at any time prior to the deadline, an Entrant or prospective Entrant believes that any term in the Official Rules is or may be ambiguous, they must submit a written request for clarification.  

G. The Sponsor or Administrator’s failure to enforce any term of these Official Rules shall not constitute a waiver of that provision. Should any provision of these Official Rules be or become illegal or unenforceable in any jurisdiction whose laws or regulations may apply to an Entrant, such illegality or unenforceability shall leave the remainder of these Official Rules, including the Rule affected, to the fullest extent permitted by law, unaffected and valid. The illegal or unenforceable provision shall be replaced by a valid and enforceable provision that comes closest and best reflects the sponsor’s intention in a legal and enforceable manner with respect to the invalid or unenforceable provision. 

H. Excluding Submissions, all intellectual property related to this Hackathon, including but not limited to copyrighted material, trademarks, trade-names, logos, designs, promotional materials, web pages, source codes, drawings, illustrations, slogans, and representations are owned or used under license by the Sponsor and/or Administrator. All rights are reserved. Unauthorized copying or use of any copyrighted material or intellectual property without the express written consent of its owners is strictly prohibited. Any use in a Submission of Sponsor or Administrator’s intellectual property shall be solely to the extent provided for in these Official Rules. 

12. Limitations of Liability

By entering, all Entrants (including, in the case of a Team or Organization, all participating members) agree to release the Released Parties from any and all liability in connection with the Prizes or Entrant’s participation in the Hackathon. Provided, however, that any liability limitation regarding gross negligence or intentional acts, or events of death or body injury shall not be applicable in jurisdictions where such limitation is not legal. 

13. Disputes

A. Except where prohibited by law, as a condition of participating in this Hackathon, Entrant agrees that: 

1. any and all disputes and causes of action arising out of or connected with this Hackathon, or any Prizes awarded, shall be resolved individually, without resort to any form of class action lawsuit, and exclusively by final and binding arbitration under the rules of the American Arbitration Association and held at the AAA regional office nearest the contestant;
2. the Federal Arbitration Act shall govern the interpretation, enforcement, and all proceedings at such arbitration; and
3. judgment upon such arbitration award may be entered in any court having jurisdiction. 

B. Under no circumstances will Entrant be permitted to obtain awards for, and Entrant hereby waives all rights to claim, punitive, incidental, or consequential damages, or any other damages, including attorneys’ fees, other than contestant’s actual out-of-pocket expenses (i.e., costs associated with entering this Hackathon), and Entrant further waives all rights to have damages multiplied or increased. 

C. All issues and questions concerning the construction, validity, interpretation and enforceability of these Official Rules, or the rights and obligations of the Entrant and Sponsor in connection with this Hackathon, shall be governed by, and construed in accordance with, the substantive laws of the State of Washington, USA without regard to Washington choice of law rules. 

SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE LIMITATIONS OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THE ABOVE LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. 

14. Additional Terms

Please review the Devpost Terms of Service at https://info.devpost.com/terms for additional rules that apply to your participation in the Hackathon and more generally your use of the Hackathon Website. Such Terms of Service are incorporated by reference into these Official Rules, including that the term "Poster" in the Terms of Service shall mean the same as "Sponsor" in these Official rules." If there is a conflict between the Terms of Service and these Official Rules, these Official Rules shall control with respect to this Hackathon only. 

15. Entrant’s Personal Information

Information collected from entrants is subject to the Devpost’s Privacy Policy, which is available at https://info.devpost.com/privacy. 

For questions, send an email to support@devpost.com. 

Personal data you provide while entering this Hackathon will be used by Sponsor and/or its agents and prize fulfillers acting on their behalf only for the administration and operation of this Hackathon and in accordance with these Rules and the Microsoft Privacy Statement.  

16. Winners List

Send an email to BF2030@microsoft.com with the subject line “Microsoft #BuildFor2030 Hackathon 2022 winners” within thirty (30) days of January 31, 2023, to receive a list of winners that received a prize worth $25.00 USD or more.