Welcome
Thank you for your interest in the Open Government Partnership’s annual award program. Please know that by participating in the Open Government Awards (“Awards”), you are eligible to receive various forms of recognition from the Open Government Partnership. So, it is important to define the conditions of your participation. The Rules governing this competition ("RULES") are stated here as an extension of the Terms & Conditions ("Terms") for use of this website. The full Terms are available for your review by accessing them at the foot of each page of this website. The RULES constitute "Competition Terms and Conditions" under Clause 2.3 of the Terms. Capitalized words used but not defined in this policy have the meanings given to them in the Terms.
Please read these RULES and the Terms carefully, as they describe the conditions under which you are allowed to participate. As you participate, you may periodically be asked to recognize your acceptance of these RULES and the Terms by clicking "accept" at various pages on this website, but by continuing any use of this website you expressly consent to all of these RULES and the Terms.
The RULES:
These rules apply to registered participants of the Awards. To register, you must be provided a unique access code from the Open Government Partnership. While the Awards are available to a wide range of partner organizations, only those who are provided with a unique access code may register. Those registrants must comply with the following provisions.
1. Your Entry should meet the application requirements stipulated on this website. You are required to register in advance of any deadlines for the submission of an Entry, and you must comply with all other deadlines posted on this website. Your Entry may not contain objectionable or inappropriate content – please focus on the application requirements and post any questions on the discussion forums to receive clarification. Further, Your Entry must focus on a substantial body of work or evidence of prior accomplishments. To recognize an initiative, as a representation of Citizen Engagement efforts, it is important that you demonstrate an existing record of achievement. It is acceptable to project future plans, but please offer your best case for how the initiative has already performed against the judging criteria.
2. The content of your Entry must be created or provided by you and must be your own. You represent and warrant that your Entry is an original work created solely by your organization(s), which may involve partners, that you own all Intellectual Property in and to the Entry, and that no other party has any right, title, claim or interest in the Entry, except as expressly identified by you to us in writing.
3. Subject to the limitations set out herein and in the Terms, any individual registrant using this Website must be 18 years of age or older at the time of registration in order to participate (either as the party responsible for submitting an Entry or as a member of a team who may be actively assigned to using the website). Further, those individuals must conduct themselves as adults and comply with standards of behavior that are articulated in the Terms.
4. The assessment procedures for each Entry are clearly described on this website. Your Entry will be reviewed by five Judges, who will be randomly assigned to score your Entry using the rubric and judging criteria that are also described on this website. In cases where a Judge indicates any potential conflict of interest, the Entry will be assigned to another Judge. Those Judges, each of whom is named on this website, will be responsible for scoring your Entry. Judges are permitted to communicate with you, solely for the purposes of carrying out due diligence when evaluating your Entry and assigning a score during the review process.
5. Once a rank order of Entries has been calculated by those scores, the top Entries will be presented before a separate Selection Committee. Those Selection Committee members will meet to review and discuss the top Entries and will determine various categories of honorees. Those designations will be made based upon the data generated during the scoring process. It is important to note that the Open Government Partnership intends to name a range of achievement and has designed the program to maximize recognition for those who have performed admirably.
6. Should you be selected as a Winner or within a category of Winners, an Award will be provided to you, so long as your eligibility and compliance with these Rules are confirmed by the Open Government Partnership. Winners will be announced on this website and during a separately scheduled event. The Open Government Partnership will coordinate with Winner(s), to ensure that any other obligations to receive specific recognition are clearly defined.
7. By submitting your Entry, you agree to release, discharge and hold harmless the Open Government Partnership and its partners, affiliates, subsidiaries, advertising agencies, agents and their employees, officers, directors and representatives from any Loss arising out of your participation in this Competition and the acceptance and use, misuse, or possession of any Award. The Open Government Partnership assumes no responsibility for any error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, or delay in operation or transmission; communications line failure; theft or destruction of or unauthorized access to Competition entries or entry forms; or alteration of entries or entry forms. the Open Government Partnership is not responsible for any problems with or technical malfunction of any telephone network or lines, computer online systems, servers or providers, computer equipment, software, failure of any entry to be received on account of technical problems or traffic congestion on the Internet or any website, human errors of any kind, or any combination thereof, including any injury or damage to entrants’ or any other persons’ computers related to or resulting from participation, uploading or downloading of any materials related to this Competition. In the case of entrants who are Australian or UK residents, the preceding two clauses do not operate in respect of any implied condition or warranty the exclusion of which from these Official RULES would contravene any Australian or UK statute or cause any part of these Official RULES to be void.
8. The Open Government Partnership, as the Competition Host, reserves the right to disqualify any participant who violates these RULES, the Terms and any standards of behavior expressed or implied in them. We look forward to receiving your most thoughtful and creative Entry.
Contact Information:
You may contact us with any questions or comments about these RULES. Please enter “Open Government Awards” in the subject line of your email. You may reach us directly at:
munyema.hasan@opengovpartnership.org
The Competition Host is the Open Government Partnership, a Project of the Tides Center, located at 1014 Torney Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94129.