Rules and Terms

• The Carbon Hack Challenge
• Rules for Participants
• Hack Terms & Conditions
• Under 18s Terms & Conditions

The Carbon Hack Challenge

• Organised by the Green Software Foundation, a non-profit registered with the Linux Foundation under nonprofit number - EIN: 46-0503801.
• Taking place from 18th March - 8th April 2024, with awards ceremony to follow (dates on hack website).
• Free to enter.
• Open to anyone. With the exception of Individuals who are residents of, or Organisations domiciled in, 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, Russia, Crimea, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria and any other country designated by the United States Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control)
• All entrants must comply with our Rules for Participants and Hack Terms & Conditions found below, our Code of Conduct, and the Green Software Foundation Terms & Conditions. Under 18s must also comply with Under 18s Terms & Conditions found below.
• The GSF reserves the right to disqualify, immediately and without compensation, every entrant not complying in full with the Rules.
• The GSF reserves the right to modify at any time the terms of the Rules. Entrants are invited to regularly consult the Rules.
• The GSF reserves the right to total or partial modification, suspension, interruption, adjournment or cancellation of the whole or part of the Hackathon for reasons beyond their control, and cannot be held responsible.

Rules for Participants

Hack Team Registration

• Hack teams must only have one lead.
• To register a project team, there must be a Github issue with the details of the project and list of team members.
• Hack teams must be minimum 1 person. There is no maximum team size.
• All entrants must register by 23:59 UTC 8 April via the Registration form to be eligible for judging, however earlier registration is preferable to receive support from the GSF team and member organisations.
• You must participate and register in only one hack team each (as a participant or as the lead).
• Individuals from GSF Member organisations with roles as Project Leads and/or Working Group Chairs can participate and register in a Hack team.
• Individuals from GSF Staff or contractors with the GSF cannot participate and register in a Hack team.
• All participants in a Hack team wanting to be considered for the Undergraduate Prize Category, must be Undergraduates at a College or University.
• All participants in a Hack team wanting to be considered for the Under 18s Prize Category, must be Under 18 years of age at the time of registration (see Under 18s T&Cs below).

Hack Team Project Submission

• To be eligible for judging the Project Lead must submit your Hack team project by 23:59 UTC 8 April via the submission form.
• ALL team members must complete the submission form before the end date of the hackathon; if you have not submitted the form, you will not be listed as a team member of this project.
• Hack teams are only permitted to submit a maximum of one project.
• In the case of multiple submissions from a person only the first submission will be taken into account.

Hack Terms & Conditions

Registration

• Any registration containing incorrect information shall not be taken into account and could result in disqualification.

Submission

• Hack project submission must indicate which one prize category the Hack project wants to be considered for.
• Hack submissions must be submitted under the MIT License. The primary terms and conditions of the MIT licence are to grant permissions and indemnify developers for future use. Content or document projects should use Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License.
• We expect all submitted projects to be Open Source, with any assets published and made available to the public, enabling anyone to copy, modify and redistribute the solution.
• Any submission containing plagiarised or re-used code, from outside the Hackathon dates, must be declared at submission. If not, this could result in disqualification.
• The GSF cannot be held responsible for any damage caused by the defect or the delay of delivery of the Projects, in particular for the refusal to consider late submissions.

Intellectual Property

• Each Hack entrant owns any developments made by them, and all rights, titles and interests in those developments, including the intellectual property rights.
• Each Hack entrant guarantees that he/she is the co-owner and co-holder of the Intellectual Property Rights regarding all or part of the deliverables submitted as part of the Challenge for the Project of which he/she is a member, and that he/she has obtained all rights and permissions regarding all pre-existing elements and any elements for which he/she does not hold the rights if these elements are to be included in the deliverables of all voting phases. Each member of a Participating Team guarantees that his/her application is original and unprecedented, that it does not infringe upon the copyright of any third party, and that all the elements of which it is formed, as well as all pieces of information communicated in the application presentation document, are accurate, reliable and complete. It is compulsory for Innovators to indicate the source of any pre-existing elements (music, text, images, etc.) that are included in the deliverables.
• During and after the end of the Challenge, the Hack team entrant has the right to use and register the Intellectual Property resulted from the Projects created (e.g. code, algorithms, etc.) for their own personal and commercial use, as long as it may continue to be displayed on the GSF Website.
• You can choose to donate your Hack project to the GSF after the Hackathon dates complete. GSF reserves the right to accept or reject all proposed project donations.

Judging

• Judges have been selected through member organisations of the Green Software Foundation and notable members participating in sustainable software initiatives, and may include judges from sponsor organisations.
• Judges must recuse themselves from deliberating on any projects where there is a conflict of interest.
• Judges’ decisions are final.

Prizes

• Prize winners will be announced on the announcement date during the live event and via social media.
• Prize winners will be notified directly via email within 7 days after the end of the challenge, and must respond with their preferred payment option - bank payment or wire transfer.
• In the event where a prize winner does not inform us of their preferred payment option for the Prize within 2 months of the email, the Green Software Foundation has the right to expire the Prize from the Winner.
• Depending on location, prize winners may be required to complete and have verified by the GSF a post-competition prize affidavit and/or a W8ben form.
• Any prize money awarded to a Hack team will be sent directly to the Hack team lead only, unless the Hack team lead nominates another individual to receive the prize money on their behalf. For Under 18s, this will be the nominated parent or guardian. The Hack team lead is responsible for distributing the prize money to the other team members, as they deem appropriate. The GSF is not responsible for this.
• The GSF will not award a prize if there are no eligible submissions entered in the Hackathon, or if there are no eligible Entrants or submissions for a specific prize category.
• All participants in a Hack team wanting to be considered for the Under 18s Prize Category, must be under 18 years of age at the time of registration and comply with the Under 18 T&Cs.
• All participants in a Hack team wanting to be considered for the Undergraduate Prize Category, must be Undergraduates at a College or University, and register with their student email address.
• Prize winners are responsible for any fees associated with receiving or using a prize, including but not limited to, wiring fees or currency exchange fees.
• Prize winners are responsible for reporting and paying all applicable taxes in their jurisdiction of residence.
• The Green Software Foundation has the right to use the prize winner’s submission data in any promotional demonstration (except with the purchase of advertising space), including on the GSF Website, for 2 years maximum after the end of the Challenge.

Under 18s Terms & Conditions

• At the time of submission, entrants who are below the age of 18 are required to make a declaration to this effect. Additionally, they must provide details of their parent or guardian who is over the age of 18, and obtain their permission.
• In order to qualify for the Under 18s Prize Category, all members of the Hack team must be below the age of 18.