ANNOUNCING the WINNERs

Rules, Terms and Conditions

Who can enter

The contest is open to all people who live in the United States interested in human rights. Individual, class, or group entries accepted.

1. Entrants under the age of 18 must obtain written parental or guardian consent to enter and claim any prize. The Competition Administrators may ask the winner to provide proof of age.
2. The following persons may neither enter nor assist anyone to enter the Competition:
   • the Competition Administrators, Judges, employees or contractors of Amnesty International or their immediate family members

How to enter

1. All entries must be submitted either electronically via the online Entry Form or in person at a regional conference workshop (Arts Against Enforced Disappearances) and given to the workshop moderator. Only one file may be included in a single upload.
2. A person may submit only one individual submission. In addition, a person may also be part of one group submission.
3. Each online submission must complete the Entry Form
   • Name, email, age, location of the artist (artists may request that their names be withheld from the online gallery)
   • Title of the work
   • Brief (250-word maximum) statement that explains the artist’s and/or work’s relation to enforced disappearances
   • If work is not in English, then language and translation of work must be provided
   • Submission section: Poetry or Art
   • Affirmation signed by the artist that the submission is the artist’s original work
   • All submissions by individual artists under 18 must also submit a Permission Slip to be signed by a parent or guardian. A teacher or group leader may sign for a class or club project.
     • For a group project of several artists under 18, each artist must fill out a separate Permission Slip.
     • For class or club project, a teacher or adult sponsor may fill out one Permission Slip for the group. Each group submission should identify the name of the group (e.g., class, school, club, etc.), their grade or age level, and their location.
4. By entering the competition, the entrant gives Amnesty International USA permission to use their name and art.
5. Amnesty International USA does not accept responsibility for entries that are disqualified, or which are not received by the deadline for whatever reason.
6. Each piece of art submitted will be given a unique reference number.
7. Confirmation of receipt of entries will be acknowledged, along with its reference number and, for online entries, an automated e-mail reply to the writer. No other correspondence about the receipt of entries will be entered.

Entry specifications and requirements

1. Entrants may only submit one piece of work (art or poetry) for the Competition
2. Online entries must not exceed 1 GB in size.
3. Entries must be original works by one individual author or collective entity, group or organization.
4. Entries must be unpublished works that have not been previously made public, in whole or in part, either in print, online or in any other format, such as radio broadcast, audio file, personal blogs, YouTube and social media. The entries must remain unpublished at the date of closure of the competition, January 19, 2020.
5. Entries must not be created (i.e. authored) by a computer program.
6. Once entered for the Competition, the work cannot be retrieved, altered or returned.
7. Entrants warrant that:
   • they have personally created their entry and own all rights to it
   • all trademark, copyright and other intellectual property rights in the entry belong to themselves
   • the entry is not malicious, defamatory, plagiarized or vexatious but is submitted in good faith.
8. All artists must provide their own name and contact details for record-keeping purposes. If you wish to have your poem published under a pseudonym, this must be stated clearly when submitting your entry or at a regional conference.
9. Every Competition entrant is fully responsible for the consequences that arise from providing false or misleading information. Any poem that is submitted under a false name, is plagiarized or is accompanied by false information will be disqualified from the Competition.
10. The Competition Administrators reserve the right to disqualify, refuse to accept, refuse to publish or cease publication of entries which they consider to be malicious, defamatory, plagiarized, vexatious or otherwise disparaging to the reputation of Amnesty International USA, its funders and supporters and community, the Competition or the Judges, or for any other reason the Competition Administrators consider necessary.

Prizes

The winners of each category (art and poetry) will receive a $750 stipend to attend Amnesty International USA AGM 2020.* The Annual General Meeting (AGM) is an opportunity for members and activists to come together and inspire one another, to learn about each other’s efforts and campaigns, to share stories and experiences, and to listen and participate in our sessions and panels.

Winners will be notified by the end of January, 2020 by the competition administrators. Winners will be featured at the AGM 2020 and may be given the opportunity to speak about their work during the awards luncheon. Winning entries will be featured in an online gallery on the AIUSA website and displayed at the regional and national conferences of Amnesty International USA and at coming human rights education workshops and seminars.

*If entry is a group or organization, then only one individual can win a free trip to the AGM.

Competition open date, close date and judging

Entries may be submitted until 23:59 pm CST, January 19, 2020. See format requirements above.

1. All entries will be judged anonymously.
2. Winners will be notified by email at least one week prior to the announcement of the winners of the Competition. They will be asked to provide a photograph – unless they request to remain anonymous.
3. It is the responsibility of entrants to ensure that they can access and read the email account that they used for their entry submission.
4. All entrants will be contacted and notified about the winner
5. Entrants have the right to cancel their entry if they send a notice of cancellation by email to artsubmission.ai@gmail.com
6. The Competition Administrators are entitled to assume that a request to cancel an entry purporting to be from an entrant is genuine; the Competition Administrators reserve the right not to act on a cancellation request that purports to be made, not by an entrant, but on their behalf.
7. The public announcement of winners of the Competition will be at the 2020 AIUSA Annual General Meeting.
8. Thereafter, the winning poems will be presented on the Amnesty International USA website and on other participating blogs and websites.
9. Any decision of the Competition Administrators, Judges or Amnesty International USA in respect of matters to do with the Competition will be final and no correspondence will be entered unless initiated by the Competition Administrators.

Art Guidelines

1. All art must be related to enforced disappearances and may be entered with a short description of the work (250 words or less).
2. Art may include photography, collage, mixed media, sculpture, written words (for online entries, a photograph or video or the art may suffice for judging purposes).

Poetry

Poetry entries must be submitted via entry form or in person at a regional conference workshop. If a poem is not in English, the contestant must provide an English translation in addition to the original. You do not have to be a poet to enter.

1. Poems should be set out and spaced so that they are easy to read. If the Judges determine that an entry does not meet this requirement, then that entry will be disqualified.
2. All poems entered for the Competition must be single poems with a maximum length of 1,000 words (excluding Title).

Various Art Work

Art entries must be submitted via entry form or in person at a regional conference. You do not have to be an artist to enter.

1. Art work should be easily visible and the focus of the entry submission. If the Judges determine that an entry does not meet this requirement, then that entry will be disqualified
2. If artist would like to share the original copy, they may be brought to any regional conference or mailed. The Competition Administrators reserve the right to not keep the original work for any reasons past the digital form.

Copyright, privacy, and liability

1. Copyright in their poems remains with the authors.
2. However, by submitting an entry, the entrant grants a worldwide, royalty-free, irrevocable, and sub-licensable license to Amnesty International USA as the sole licensee to use, display, publish, transmit, copy, edit, alter, store, re-format and sub-license the entry on the Amnesty International USA website or elsewhere in whatever medium, language, performance, broadcast or form, on the Amnesty International USA website. This license does not preclude the author publishing the poem on his or her personal website or blog pages after the end of the Competition.
3. By entering the Competition, you warrant that the personal information you provide in completing the entry form and in any subsequent dealings with the Competition is accurate. Personal information (including photographs) will only be used in administering the Competition and for related publicity purposes. When you provide this information, you are giving your irrevocable consent for it to be used for this purpose, and for its transfer to any jurisdiction worldwide. Amnesty International USA will handle personal information in accordance with applicable law.
4. Except for any liability that cannot be excluded at law, Amnesty International USA, the Competition Administrators and the Judges are not responsible for and exclude all liability (including negligence) for any personal injury, loss or damage (including loss of opportunity) whether direct, indirect, special or consequential, arising in any way including without limitation out of:
   • the publication by Amnesty International USA of the entry (or any part thereof),
   • (b) any technical difficulties or equipment malfunction (whether or not under the Competition Administrators' control),
   • (c) any theft, unauthorized access or third party interference, and
   • (d) any entry that is late, lost, altered, damaged or misdirected (whether or not after their receipt by the Competition Administrators).
5. No entrant shall attempt to influence or induce any Competition Administrator, Judge or Amnesty International USA staff in connection with the Competition.