Technical Competition 2020/21
1. These terms and conditions together with any specific rules set out in Competition Notices (as defined below) are the Competition Rules (“Rules”) and apply to competitions (“Competition”) featuring in any BIS publication unless otherwise expressly stated. By entering a Competition, entrants agree to be bound by these Rules.
2. Requirements specific to each Technical Competition are displayed in a notice on the page for such Competition (“Competition Notice”) or in a notice in which the Competition appeared and are incorporated into the Rules.
3. We reserve the right to cancel or amend the Competition or the Rules without notice in the event of a catastrophe, war, pandemic, civil or military disturbance, act of God or any actual or anticipated breach of any applicable law or regulation or any other event outside our reasonable control. Any changes will be posted either within these terms and conditions or the Competition Notice. A copy of the Rules may also be obtained by contacting the relevant BIS Secretariat.
4. In the event of any dispute regarding the Rules, conduct, results and all other matters relating to a Competition, the decision of the judge(s) shall be final and no correspondence or discussion shall be entered into.
Qualifying Entrants
5. The competitions are open to those residing in any country. No person may enter the Competition if the Competition breaches any law or regulation of the jurisdiction in which they are resident. The postal or electronic address you provide with your competition entry (“Entry”) may be used to contact you so please make sure this is correct.
6. Employees and Trustees of British Interplanetary Society, employees and Directors of Mirror Quark Ltd or any associated company of Mirror Quark Ltd and their immediate families and their agents are not eligible to enter the Competition.
7. By entering the Competition, you hereby warrant that all information submitted by you is true, current and complete. We reserve the right to verify the eligibility of all entrants.
8. We assume that by reading the publication or by using the website and entering the Competition (and you warrant that) you are aged 18 or over or, if you are under 18, that your parents have consented to your entry into the Competition and these Rules. If you are under 18, parental consent will be required before entering this competition. This will be checked in the event of your progress in the competition, and parental contact details must be provided if the entrant is under 18.
9. Entrants who wish to be considered for the Student Technical Working Group prizes must be a member of the British Interplanetary Society, and must have been accepted into membership of the Student Technical Working Group, by 11th June 2021. Details of how to apply to join the Committee are available from the BIS website. In the event that an application is made and is unsuccessful, if the entrant wishes to appeal this they should contact the BIS Chief Executive. The Chief Executive will pass the matter to the BIS President for consideration, and the decision of the BIS President will be final and no correspondence or discussion shall be entered into. Under no circumstances can an individual who is not in membership of the BIS join the Student Technical Working Group.
9. We reserve the right to disqualify any entrant (at our sole discretion) if we have grounds to believe the entrant has breached any of the Rules.
10. In the event that any entrant is disqualified from the Competition, in our sole discretion we may decide whether a replacement should be selected. In this event, any further entrant will be selected on the same criteria as the original entrant and will be subject to these Rules.
Competition Entries
11. Up to ten separate entries may be made per person per Competition and any entrant who enters more than the permitted maximum will have only their first three entries considered.
12. Competition entries must be made in the manner and by the closing date specified on the Competition Notice. Failure to do so will disqualify the entry.
13. There is no purchase requirement to enter the Competition. There is no charge to register with the BIS website if registration is required as part of the entry process.
14. Proof of posting or emailing cannot be accepted as proof of delivery. We cannot accept responsibility for any error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission, communications line failure, theft, destruction, alteration of, or unauthorised access to Entries, or Entries lost or delayed whether or not arising during operation or transmission as a result of server functions, virus, bugs or other causes outside our control.
15. Entrants should note that unless stated otherwise, we do not accept responsibility for the return of any Entries, including those consisting of artistic, scientific or other material. It is strongly recommended that you keep a copy of your entry.
16. Entries must include a written submission together with numerical analysis. This must be consistent with mainstream physics, and entries which do not meet these criteria will be disqualified.
17. If there are no entries which meet the required criteria, or there are no entries which in the view of the judges sufficiently advance current thinking with regard to the problem posed within the Competition, the prize will not be awarded. The prize funds will be held by the BIS for award to a future Technical Competition, which may or may not be related to a similar field of astronautics.
18. The closing date for entries will be advertised in the competition notice. Entries received after 23.00 GMT on that closing date will be disqualified. You are encouraged to submit your entry in good time.
Prizes
19. The winners will be chosen by a panel of judges appointed at the discretion of the BIS, within three months of the closing date. In all matters, the decision of the judge(s) shall be final and no correspondence or discussion shall be entered into. There shall be no right of appeal.
20. Prize winners will be notified within five months of the closing date. Return of any prize notification as undeliverable or failure to reply as specified in the prize notification (and within the time stated) may result in disqualification and selection of an alternate winner. If more than one prize is awarded only one prize per entrant will be awarded. Competition winner(s)’ names may be published in BIS publications, websites, social media, press releases and other forms of media (by entering into the Competition you consent to such use of your personal data).
21. Claims for prizes must be made in the manner and within the time specified on the prize notification. Failure to claim a prize within this time or in the manner specified may result in disqualification and selection of an alternate winner, or forfeiture of the prize.
22. Prizes are non–transferable and there is no alternative. We reserve the right to substitute prizes of equal or greater value at any time.
23. Prizes are awarded at our sole discretion and no prizes will be awarded as a result of improper actions by or on behalf of any entrant.
24. We reserve the right to request written proof of age of any winner.
25. All taxes, insurances, transfers, spending money and other expenses (including meals or personal expenses upgrades etc.) as the case may be, unless specifically stated, are the sole responsibility of the prize winner. If winning a cash prize, it is strongly recommended that you take your own independent financial advice to confirm your tax liability.
Intellectual Property Rights & Use of Entries
26. Intellectual property is defined here as knowledge or know-how recorded in some material form, such as patents or published papers carrying copyright, which an individual or group of individuals can identify as originating with them. The originators of specific intellectual property shall be acknowledged in any public disclosure and considered for remuneration should any profitable exploitation of that knowledge by a third party occur. In the latter case a prior binding agreement must be set in place prior to exploitation by a third party. The BIS will not be liable for any exploitation by a third party of the intellectual property rights relating to any entry, before or after publication of entries.
27. Challenges to the ownership of intellectual property must meet the following criteria: intellectual property ownership must be provable by existing in some material form clearly stating the connection to the claimant. Ideas conveyed in unprovable circumstances do not constitute intellectual property. Intellectual property must be unambiguously original and complete, in that a competent body could exploit it using extant methods to realise it without significant further innovation beyond that claimed by the originators. Outline or vague ideas unsupported by either numerical analysis, preliminary design or experiment do not constitute intellectual property. Intellectual property can only be claimed if the originator funded their own time to evolve it, or unless a prior material agreements exists with the funding body stating otherwise.
28. In consideration of us agreeing to consider entrants to the Competition, each entrant hereby agrees that we (and third parties authorised by us) may make any and all Entries available in their publications and on their websites and any other media, whether now known or invented in the future. You now grant us (and third parties authorised by us) a royalty-free, non-exclusive, worldwide, irrevocable licence (for the full period of any rights in the Entry) to use, display, publish, transmit, copy, make derivative works from, edit, alter, store, re-format, sell and sub-licence the Entry for such purposes.
29. We do not guarantee to use or otherwise make available any Entry. We may, in appropriate circumstances, and at our sole discretion, reject, edit, remove or disable access to Entries that appear to be legally or otherwise problematic e.g. infringe the copyright or other intellectual property or privacy rights of others, are defamatory etc. or for any other reason.
30. Your entry and any information submitted by you must be personal to and relate specifically to you. You hereby warrant that your Entry and all information which you submit and/or distribute will not infringe the intellectual property, privacy or any other rights of any third party, and will not contain anything which is libellous, defamatory, obscene, indecent, harassing or threatening. If relevant, we reserve the right, but not the obligation, to screen, filter and/or monitor information provided by you and to edit, refuse to distribute or remove the same.
Liability
31. We cannot accept any responsibility for any damage, loss, injury or disappointment suffered by any entrant entering the Competition or as a result of accepting any prize. We are not responsible for any problems or technical malfunction of any telephone network or lines, computer on-line systems, servers, or providers, computer equipment or software, failure of any email or entry to be received on account of technical problems or traffic congestion on the Internet, telephone lines or at any web site, or any combination thereof, including any injury or damage to entrant’s or any other person’s computer or mobile telephone related to or resulting from participation in the Competition. Nothing shall exclude our liability for death or personal injury as a result of our negligence, or any other liability that cannot be excluded or limited by applicable law.
Data Protection and Publicity
32. Winners may be requested to take part in promotional activity and we reserve the right to use the names of winners in any publicity both in paper and online (by entering the Competition you consent to such use of your personal data).
33. Any personal data relating to entrants will not be disclosed to a third party without the individual’s consent. Data relating to entrants will be retained by us for a reasonable period after the Competition closes to assist us to operate competitions in a consistent manner and to deal with any queries on the Competition.
General
34. Any words following the terms including, include, in particular, for example or any similar expression, shall be construed as illustrative and shall not limit the sense of the words, description, definition, phrase or term preceding those terms.
35. Our failure to assert our rights in relation to any breach of the Rules shall not constitute a waiver of such rights, nor will any such waiver be implied.
36. If any provision of the Rules (or portion thereof) is invalid, illegal or unenforceable, the validity, legality or enforceability of the remainder of the Rules will not be affected or impaired.
37. The Rules and any dispute or claim arising out of or in connection with them or their subject matter (including the Competition), existence, negotiation, validity, termination or enforceability (including non-contractual disputes or claims) shall be governed by and construed in accordance with English law. The Courts of England shall have exclusive jurisdiction in relation to any dispute or claim arising out of or in connection with the Rules or their subject matter, existence, negotiation, validity, termination or enforceability (including non-contractual disputes or claims).