Contest Description | Official Rules | Submit Your Entry


Everybody%20Wins%20contest%20logo_200px.gifOfficial Rules




These are the official rules for the 2008 "Everybody Wins" skill contest.

Sponsor

The 2008 “Everybody Wins” skill contest (“Contest”) is sponsored by the Service Employees International Union, 1800 Massachusetts Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20036 (“Sponsor” or “We”). All inquiries should be directed to 866-562-1459 or to “Everybody Wins” at SEIU Public Services Division, 1800 Massachusetts Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20036.

Eligibility

The Contest is open to residents of the United States and Puerto Rico who are (1) Members in good standing of an SEIU Public Services Division local union as of 12/31/07; and (3) who are 21 years of age or older by April 11, 2008. Employees, officers, directors, agents, representatives and independent contractors (and their immediate family members and members of the same households, whether related or not) of the Service Employees International Union or any of its local unions (and their immediate family members and members of the same household, whether related or not) are not eligible to participate. Judges and members of the Review Panel (and their immediate family members and members of the same households, whether related or not) are not eligible to participate. Void outside of the United States and Puerto Rico, and where prohibited by law. Subject to all federal, state, and local laws and regulations.

Participants agree to abide by the terms of these official rules and by the decisions of the Sponsor. All decisions of the Sponsor are final and binding on all matters pertaining to this Contest.

Contest Procedure and Rules

1. Purpose. SEIU is committed to working with our members, publicly funded employers, and elected officials to improve the quality of public services. We know that SEIU members have an abundance of great ideas for improving public services—ideas that stem from their own firsthand experience of what works well and what does not. When we’re able to run with these ideas, it benefits the public, helps our employers, and improves our jobs. Everybody wins. By submitting your innovative ideas for improving the quality of public services, you can help to chart a new course for building and maintaining healthy communities.

2. Criteria. In order to evaluate how submissions potentially improve public services, they will be judged in equal measure on seven criteria, as follows:

  • Advances the Core Purpose of SEIU’s Public Services Division: To create a powerful organization that advocates for quality public services and wins for the workers who deliver them.
  • Improves Quality: Will it improve the quality of public services, ideally in ways that are measurable?
  • Practicality: Can the idea be implemented across geographies and in communities or municipalities of different sizes?
  • Sustainability: Is the idea sustainable, both financially and over time?
  • Public Appeal: Does the idea resonate with the public and with community stakeholders
  • Member Appeal: Would SEIU members be energized about implementing the idea?
  • Strategic: Does the idea include a strategy for engaging management, public officials, and community stakeholders?

3. How to Enter. The Contest Period begins at 11:59:59 p.m. Eastern Time on 2/21/08 and continues until 11:59:59 p.m. Eastern Time on 4/4/08. Entries can be submitted by United States mail or through the Contest Web site. Entries will be deemed timely if registered by the Contest Web site within the Contest Period. Entries by mail must be postmarked with a date falling within the Contest Period. In order to be considered, all entries must include (1) your personal and contact information; and (2) your idea. To enter, visit: www.PublicDivisionVision.org/Everybody_Wins. Participants may also request entry forms by calling 1-866-562-1459 or by writing to “Everybody Wins,” SEIU Public Services Division, 1800 Massachusetts Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20036.

4. Idea Length and Format. Ideas must be no more than 300 words. Participants may use an additional seven words for a title. IDEAS EXCEEDING 300 WORDS WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED.

5. Preparation and Quantity. Entrants are welcome to develop their idea submissions either alone or in collaboration with others. Entrants who choose to prepare their submissions in collaboration with others must complete the entry form in the name of one person; that person, alone, is eligible to win any of the prizes. Entrants may submit more than one idea during the course of the Contest Period. Entrants that submit more than one idea must complete a separate entry form for each submission.

6. Prohibited Content. Ideas must be submitted in English; submissions in a language other than English will not be considered. In addition, any submission which contains any of the following prohibited content will be disqualified at the sole discretion of the Sponsor. Any decision by the Sponsor to disqualify a submission based on prohibited content is final.

i. Defamation: Submissions must not contain any material deemed defamatory, as determined by the Sponsor at its sole discretion.

ii. Copyright: Ideas must not contain any copyrighted material not in the public domain that the contestant has not obtained the right to use.

iii. Privacy/Anonymity: The text of submissions should not contain information that specifically reveals the identity of: the participant; the participant’s colleagues; the participant’s local union; and/or the participant’s local union staff/officers. Noncompliant entries, as determined at the sole discretion of the Sponsor, will not be considered.

iv. Obscenity and Offensive Material: Submissions must not contain any material that is deemed obscene or patently offensive on the basis of race, sex, gender, sexual orientation, family status, physical ability, socioeconomic status, or any other similar basis, as determined at the sole discretion of the Sponsor.

Selection Process

All entries will initially be reviewed for compliance with the Contest Rules. Entries deemed, at the sole discretion of the Sponsor, to comply with the Contest Rules will be randomly assigned to one of four Review Panels.

The Review Panel:
There will be four Review Panels. Each Review Panel will have five Panelists. Review Panelists will review submissions in light of the seven criteria described in more detail above: (1) advances core purpose of SEIU’s Public Services Division, (2) improves quality, (3) practicality, (4) sustainability, (5) public appeal, (6) member appeal, and (7) strategy. After meeting with all other Review Panels to review and discuss entries, panelists will enter official scores for each submission. Each entry will receive a Total Score based on the sum of each score assigned by each of the five members of the Review Panel. All Contest entries will then be pooled, and the twenty (20) entries with the greatest Total Scores will be forwarded to the Contest Judges, for the second round of judging. In case there is a relevant tie score, the tie break procedure described below will apply.

The Review Panelists will be SEIU Public Services Division local union leaders, selected by Eileen Kirlin, Director of SEIU’s Public Services Division. Panelists will be selected from among SEIU Public Services Division local union leaders based on the following criteria: (1) distinction in local union leadership, (2) grasp of the core mission of SEIU, and (3) understanding of the relationship between the Union, workers, and the delivery of public services.

The Contest Judges:
The Contest Judges will then review the top twenty (20) entries. Judges will assign scores to each submission, based on the criteria. Submissions will receive a Total Score, based on the sum of each score assigned by each Contest Judge. The submission with the highest score will be the first-place winner ($5,000). The submission with the second-highest score will be the second-place winner ($4,000). The submission with the third-highest score will be the third-place winner ($3,000). The first-place winner’s local union will win the local union prize ($20,000). In case there is a relevant tie, the tie-break procedure described below will apply.

The Contest Judges:

    • Ramon Cortines is an education expert and the former superintendent of the Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York City school districts.

    • Warren Hellman is the chairman of Hellman & Friedman LLC, a San Francisco-based investment firm he co-founded in 1984. Mr. Hellman is a director of various public and private companies, including Levi Strauss & Co.; D.N. & E. Walter & Co.; Sugar Bowl Corporation and others. He is also a co-chair of the California Commission for Jobs and Economic Growth, a member of the Governor’s Council of Economic Advisors, a board member of the Committee on JOBS (San Francisco), and a board member of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce.

    • Gerry Hudson is an executive vice-president of the Service Employees International Union. He leads the work of SEIU’s Long Term Care Division, which represents nearly 500,000 nursing home and home care workers. Hudson has served on the advisory board of the Apollo Alliance, which advocates for quality jobs in a clean energy economy. He has also served on the board of Redefining Progress, a think tank dedicated to developing public policies that balance economic well-being, environmental preservation, and social justice.

    • Linda Kaboolian is a lecturer in public policy at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. She focuses on problem solving processes around workplace and public policy issues. She has also served in the state and local and non-profit sectors.

    • Susan Lee is a Democratic member of the Maryland House of Delegates. She sits on the Judiciary Committee and has served as Deputy Majority Whip since 2003. She is a co-founder of the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies and a co-founder of the Coalition of Asian Pacific American Democrats of Maryland. In 2006, she was named one of Maryland’s “Top 100 Women” by The Daily Record.

    • Dr. Paul C. Light is a professor at New York University’s Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service and the founding principal investigator of the Organizational Performance Initiative.
    • Michael Lipsky is a faculty of the Georgetown University Public Policy Institute. He is also senior program director at Demos, a non-partisan public policy organization working to improve democracy and foster economic opportunity.

    • Joan Lombardi is director of The Children's Project. She served as the first associate commissioner of the Child Care Bureau in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, where she was responsible for the direction and leadership of the nation's child care assistance program. Currently, she serves as an advisor to a number of national and international organizations and foundations.

    • Ruth Mayden, MSS, retired as dean of the Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research at Bryn Mawr College in 2002. Her experience in social work practice includes social service planning, administration and advocacy, and teaching and administration in graduate social work education. Since 2002, she has served as the director of the Program for Families with Young Children at the Annie E. Casey Foundation where she is responsible for its emerging work in childcare, early childhood development, health, and child mental health.


Number of Rounds

There will be two rounds in this Contest. In the first round, the Review Panel will select the top 20 ideas from all eligible ideas submitted. The Review Panel will forward these 20 ideas to the Judges. The Judges will then select one (1) first-place winning idea, (2) one second-place winning idea, and (3) one third-place winning idea.

Grant of Rights in Ideas Submitted; Originality of Idea

By completing the entry and submission process, the Entrant irrevocably grants Sponsor and its affiliates, legal representatives, assigns, agents and licensees, the unconditional and perpetual right and permission to copyright (as appropriate), reproduce, encode, store, copy, transmit, publish, post, broadcast, display, publicly perform, adapt, exhibit and/or otherwise use or reuse (without limitations to when or to the number of times used), the Entrant’s Submission, including, but not limited to, the text of the submitted idea contained therein (in each case, as submitted or as edited/modified in any way by the Sponsor, at its sole discretion), as well as to use the Entrant’s name, city/state, image, voice, likeness, biographical material and photograph (collectively “Likeness”), and/or statements regarding his/her participation in this Contest as well as any additional photographic images, video images, portraits, interviews or other materials relating to the Entrant and arising out of Entrant’s participating in this Contest (with or without using the Entrant’s name) (collectively, the “Additional Materials”) in any and all media throughout the world for any purpose, without limitation as to time or territory, and without additional review, compensation or approval from the Entrant or any other party—except where prohibited by law. Entrant waives intellectual property rights, privacy/publicity rights or other legal or moral rights that might preclude the Sponsor’s use of the submission and agrees not to sue or assert any claim against the Sponsor for the use of the Submission or Entrant’s likeness or statements.

Entrant represents and warrants that the idea is original, does not infringe the rights or intellectual property claims of any third parties, and the submission of the idea will not violate any enforceable agreements or understandings submitter has with any third party.

Cost

There is no cost to participate in the Contest. No purchase is necessary.

Payments

The prize for the idea picked by the judges to be the first place winner is $5,000. The second place winner will receive $4,000. The third-place winner will receive $3,000. The first-place winner’s local union will receive a prize of $20,000 which it may use to implement the winning idea. SEIU will publicize the top three winning ideas on one or more of its Web sites. All winners including the local union will be required to submit an Affidavit of Eligibility, in which they affirm that they meet the eligibility requirements for the Contest. In addition to the Affidavit of Eligibility, individual and local union winners may also be required to submit an Affidavit of Compliance, a Release, and such other forms as the Sponsor may require.


Number of Recipients; Ties

There will be three individual recipients of prizes. There will be no ties during the first or second rounds. If there is a relevant tie in score between two or more ideas, in either of the two rounds of selection, there will be a run-off vote (among the five Review Panelists) between the ideas with the same score. Each member of the Review Panel (in the first round) and of the Contest Judges (in the second round) will have one vote, which he or she shall cast in favor of the single idea deemed to be most effective—in light of all five Contest Criteria. Run-offs will continue until the tie is broken.

In the event that two or more identical or substantially similar ideas are submitted, only the first submission will be considered for review. Identical or substantially similar ideas submitted after such a first-in-time submission of the idea will be disqualified. The Sponsor will determine at its sole discretion when two or more ideas are identical or substantially similar.


Notification; Provision of Phone Number, Address

By entering the Contest, each Entrant grants the Sponsor permission to contact him or her in connection with Contest matters. Winners will be notified via e-mail, phone, or mail (as provided to the Sponsor in the Entry process) within approximately three (3) business days after a determination that they are eligible to receive a prize. Upon reaching the winners, the Sponsor will also send the relevant Affidavit(s) and forms necessary to receive the prizes. In the event that the recipient cannot be reached within seven business days of the attempt to notify them, the payment may be forfeited and the next successful participant will receive this payment.

Dates

The Contest will begin at 11:59:59 p.m. Eastern Time 2/21/08. Submissions will be accepted until 11:59:59 p.m. Eastern Time 4/4/08. The 20 top ideas chosen by the Review Panel will be announced on the Contest Web site on 4/21/08. Winners selected by the Contest Judges will be announced on the Contest Web site on 5/31/08.

Winners will receive an all-expenses paid trip to the SEIU 2008 Convention in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Expenses for the three individual winners, alone, will be covered by the Sponsor.

Delivery of Payments

All winners must execute an Affidavit of Eligibility and Release, any Permission forms made necessary by the content of the ideas, a Model Release and such other forms as the Sponsor may require, and return these documents via the provided overnight shipping supplies within five (5) business days of receipt. If these documents are returned as undeliverable or are not completed and returned by such deadline or if a potential winner does not meet the eligibility or other requirements of the Contest, the payment will be forfeited and the next highest vote-getter may be chosen. The Sponsor will award payment to the winning Entrants and to the local union of the first-place winner at the SEIU Convention in San Juan, Puerto Rico on 5/31/08. If a winner is unable to attend the Convention, the payment will be sent by overnight mail to the addresses provided; shipping costs are included with the payment. The Sponsor shall not be responsible for misdelivery of any documents and/or payments provided that the Sponsor addresses the documents and/or payments to the address provided by the winner.

Announcement of Recipients

The Sponsor will announce the winners and post their names and home locals on the Contest Web site following the completion of the Contest and the execution of an Affidavit of Eligibility, Compliance and Release, and such other forms as the Sponsor may require.

Use of Winners’ Names and Likeness

Each winner who accepts any payment will be deemed thereby to have granted to the Sponsor the right, at any time and from time to time, to print, publish, broadcast and use, worldwide and in any media now known or hereafter developed, including but not limited to, the Internet and World Wide Web, the name, portrait, picture, voice, likeness and biographical information of each such recipient as news or information and for advertising and promotional purposes without additional consideration, except where prohibited by law.

Disqualification

The Sponsor reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to disqualify any participant that it determines, at its sole discretion, is ineligible to participate in the Contest. Failure to comply with these rules may result in a participant’s disqualification.

Limitation of Liability

If for any reason the Contest is not capable of running as planned, including infection by computer virus, bugs, tampering, unauthorized intervention, fraud, technical failures, or any other causes which corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness, integrity, or proper conduct of this Contest, the Sponsor reserves the right at its sole discretion, to disqualify any individual who tampers with the Contest, and to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the Contest. The Sponsor assumes no responsibility for any error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission, communications line failure, theft or destruction or unauthorized access to, or alteration of, entries. The Sponsor is not responsible for any problems or technical malfunction of any telephone network or lines, computer online systems, servers, or providers, computer equipment, compact discs (CDs) or other hardware storing videos, software, failure of any e-mail to be received by the Sponsor on account of technical problems or traffic congestion on the Internet or at any Web site, or any combination thereof, including any injury or damage to participant's or any other person's computer related to or resulting from participation or downloading any materials in this Contest.

Limitation of Remedies

UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES, INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE, SHALL THE SPONSOR OR AFFILIATED ENTITIES OR ITS SUCCESSORS OR ASSIGNS, OR ANY OF THEIR RESPECTIVE OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, AGENTS AND REPRESENTATIVES BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INCIDENTAL, INDIRECT, SPECIAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, OR EXEMPLARY OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOSS OF PROFITS OR HARM TO BUSINESS OR REPUTATION, ARISING OUT OF PARTICIPATION IN THE CONTEST, POSTING ON OR ACCESS AND/OR DOWNLOAD OF ANY MATERIALS OR INFORMATION FROM ANY WEB SITE OWNED, OPERATED OR CONTROLLED BY THE SPONSOR OR AFFILIATED ENTITIES, OR ACCEPTANCE OR USAGE OF A PAYMENT, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION DAMAGE TO PROPERTY AND, TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, DAMAGES FOR BODILY OR PERSONAL INJURY, EVEN IF THE SPONSOR OR ANY AFFILIATED ENTITES, THEIR SUCCESSORS OR ASSIGNS, OR ANY OF THEIR RESPECTIVE OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, SHAREHOLDERS, EMPLOYEES, AGENTS OR REPRESENTATIVES HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES OR LOSS. THE AGGREGATE LIABILITY OF SPONSOR ARISING OUT OF ANY KIND OF CLAIM (WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT, OR OTHERWISE) SHALL NOT EXCEED $1.00. SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THE ABOVE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

Amendments

We reserve the right to suspend, cancel, terminate or modify the Contest without advance notice, and thereafter to recommence such Contest, if at all, only at such time(s) and upon such terms and conditions as we shall deem reasonable under the circumstances.

Severability

If any one or more provisions of these Official Rules are held to be invalid, illegal or unenforceable by a court of competent jurisdiction, such invalidity, illegality or unenforceability shall not affect the validity, effect or enforcement of any other provision or provisions of these Official Rules.

Recipients List

A list of winners will be posted on the Contest Web site at the conclusion of the Contest. For a copy of the winners list, send a self-addressed stamped envelope to: Everybody Wins, SEIU Public Services Division, 1800 Massachusetts Ave., NW, Washington, D.C 20036. For a copy of these official rules send a self-addressed stamped envelope to above address marked “Everybody Wins,” Attn: Rules.

Jurisdiction; Venue

Any dispute that may arise hereunder, if not settled by the parties directly or through alternate dispute resolution, shall be brought solely in the appropriate state or federal court sitting in Washington, D.C., and participants consent to the personal jurisdiction and venue thereof.

Contest Description | Official Rules | Submit Your Entry