Join the Civil Society Forum contest for young activists, students and journalists!
 
 
Bono says that music can change the world because it can change people. The Trust for Civil Society in Central and Eastern Europe challenges you to show how civic activism can really trigger the change.
 
If you are between 18 and 30, a student, journalist or activist from Central and Eastern  Europe*, you are the one we are looking for!
 
The CEE Trust is launching a contest as part of the Civil Society Forum – an international meeting of activists, academics and NGO professionals that will take place in Bratislava, Slovakia 16th -18th September 2009.
 
The competition has three categories: essay, photo story and video and you are free to choose your favorite form of expression. All entries should be related to civil society issues and should be inspired by the notions of civic engagement and activism.
 
You may describe a personal story of civic activism, present the issues that matter to you the most, or try to illustrate the civic engagement in your local community.
The choice of a specific topic is up to you – search for your own inspiration.
We want to see civil society as you see it!
 
Entries will be judged by an international jury including members of the CEE Trust team, independent activists and other professionals with experience in the field.
 
The prizes
The best three winners will be offered a scholarship of up to 2 000 USD to realize their plan for personal development, as outlined in the contest entry form. You are welcome to submit your ideas in any area, however preference will be given to ones that relate to civil society in some way.
 
The scholarship may for example be used for:
-          an internship in a European NGO, international organization, or any other European institution,
-          studies or courses taken abroad,
-          a travel grant to visit an event or an organization related to the participant’s field of study, work or activism.
All you have to do is to convince us of the importance of this scholarship for your future plans and your role in society.
 
Additionally, the top three candidates in each of the three categories will be invited to join us at the Civil Society Forum with the cost of flights and accommodation covered.
Winners will also have the option to simultaneously gain hands-on experience by working in an international team of young people documenting the forum in writing, photography and film. The documentary team’s work will be used to create the Civil Society Forum post-event publication. Members of the documentary teams will be advised by professional mentors and will be offered a symbolic remuneration for their contributions.
 
All the best works in each category will be published online, on the CEE Trust website, the contest’s MySpace and Facebook profiles, and the Civil Society Forum YouTube channel. The best essays and selected pictures will also be published, acknowledging your authorship, in conference materials and in the post-event publication. Selected works will be shown in a special exhibition, taking place during the Civil Society Forum.
 
The deadline for submission of entries is July 12, 2009.

 
! Please read contest rules for more details and guidelines on submission.

 

* Our contest is open to legal residents of the following countries of Central and Eastern Europe: Albania, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Hungary, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Ukraine.

 

Rules
 

General guidelines

 

 You must be between 18 and 30 years of age to enter the Civil Society Forum contest.
 

The contest is open to legal residents of the following countries of Central and Eastern Europe: Albania, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Hungary, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Ukraine.
 
All works must be submitted in English.
 
Essays must contain no more than 2000 words.
 
Photo stories may contain from one to maximum five related pictures. Photos should be of good quality and of reasonably large size. A single picture can not exceed the size of 5MB and should be formatted in .jpg, .gif, or .png.
 
The maximum length of a video is three minutes. Submitted videos must have English subtitles, unless they are originally in English.  Video entries must be under 500MB and should be formatted in .wmv, .mov, .mpg, or .avi. Style of videos is not defined and depends solely on the creativity of the author.
 
Each participant can submit up to three works - one entry in each category. Each subsequent work must be submitted with a new entry form available at the contest official site.
 
Deadline for submission of entries is July 12, 2009.
 
The winners will be announced at the beginning of August 2009.
 

For details please read official contest rules!

 

 

Civil Society Forum Contest Official Rules

 
1. Organizer
The Contest (“Contest”) is organized by the Trust for a Civil Society in Central and Eastern Europe (“the CEE Trust”) located at 1744 R Street, N.W., Washington D.C. 20009
 
2. Eligibility
The Contest is open to legal residents of the following countries of Central and Eastern Europe who are between 18 and 30 years of age at the time of entry: Albania, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Hungary, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Ukraine.
Employees of the Trust for a Civil Society in Central and Eastern Europe, the jury members and persons directly related to them are not eligible to participate.The Contest is void where prohibited.
 
3. Registration
To participate in the Contest, you must register at the Contest site at http://www.csf.ceetrust.org/article/contest-submit-work by following the onscreen instructions.
Registration is free. If you submit a group entry, only the person who registers for the group will be deemed an entrant for purposes of awarding a prize. As part of the registration process you must signify that you have read these official rules and our privacy policy and agree to be bound.
 
4. The Entries
You may enter Submissions in any or all of the following three categories: essay, photo story or video.
All works must refer to the theme of civic engagement and activism specified in the Contest’s introduction.
You may enter only once in each category, for a limit of three Submissions per person.
Each subsequent work must be submitted with a new entry form available at the Contest site http://www.csf.ceetrust.org/contest
For identification reasons all works must be signed with author’s name and surname.
All works must be submitted in English.
Entries must be submitted by midnight CET on 12th July, 2009.
 
 i. Essay Category
Essays must contain no more than 2000 words and must be written in English.
You must provide a short summary of submitted essay not to exceed 100 words.
 
ii. Photo Story Category
Photo stories may contain from one to maximum five related pictures.
Photos should be of good quality and of reasonably large size.
A single picture can not exceed the size of 5MB and should be formatted in .jpg, .gif, or .png.
A series of related pictures must be zipped down to one file to be submitted.
You must provide a short description of submitted work not to exceed 100 words.
 
iii. Video Category
The maximum length of a video is three minutes.
Videos must have English subtitles, unless they are originally in English.
Video entries must be under 500MB and should be formatted in .wmv, .mov, .mpg, or .avi.
Style of the submitted videos is not defined and depends solely on the creativity of the author.
You must provide a short description of submitted work not exceeding 100 words.
 
5. Contest Specifications
All Submissions, regardless of entry method must comply with the following:
 
a. They are your original work, created solely by you, and must not infringe on the copyright, trademark, moral rights or the rights of privacy or publicity of any person.
b. They do not contain any content that is lewd, obscene, sexually suggestive or explicit, that disparages any person, race, religion or ethnic background or that promotes bigotry, hatred or racism.
c. They do not contain any commercial content designed to sell a product or service.
d. They are submitted with releases from any person(s) who appears in any photo or video, other than the entrant, in which they specifically grant permission to the Organizer to use their names or likelinesses in connection with advertising or promoting the Contest.
e. They are submitted with a release from any party who owns any content or element of the Submission not owned by the entrant. The release must specify that the entrant and the Sponsor may use the content for Contest related purposes.
 
6. Licenses
By entering the Contest, you hereby agree to have your submission posted at various sites for public display and you grant Sponsor a license to display, edit, modify or make derivative works of your submissions for Contest related purposes in any media, without geographic or time limitation. You retain the intellectual property rights on your submission.
 
7. Entry Errors
Organizer is not responsible for lost, late, incomplete, damaged, stolen, invalid, unintelligible or misdirected entries. Organizer is not responsible if online service or equipment is interrupted including without limitation (1) interruptions to any network, server, Internet, Web site, telephone, satellite, computer or other connections, (2) failures of any telephone, satellite, hardware, software or other equipment, (3) garbled, misdirected or jumbled transmissions, or traffic congestion, or (4) other errors of any kind, whether human, technical, mechanical or electronic, or (5) the incorrect or inaccurate capture of entry or other information or the failure to capture any such information.
 
8. Judging Criteria
All eligible entries will be judged by an international jury consisting of the CEE Trust team members, independent activists and professionals, whose decisions are final and binding in all respects.
The jury will evaluate submitted entries according to the following criteria: creativity and originality, relevance to the Contest theme, effort undertaken, message conveyed and its potential impact. 
 
9. Prizes
 
i. The contest prizes include:
 
a. Online publication of the best submissions from all the three categories, including publication on the CEE Trust website, the Contest’s MySpace and Facebook profiles, and the Civil Society Forum YouTube channel
b. Publication of the best essays and selected pictures in the Civil Society Forum post-event publication
c. Exhibition of the best submissions from video and photo category during the Civil Society Forum
d. Invitation of the top three candidates in each of the three categories to the Civil Society Forum with flights and accommodation costs covered, including the opportunity to work in an international team of young people documenting the forum in writing, photography and film, for a symbolic remuneration
e. Scholarship of up to 2000 USD that will be granted for the best three winners
 
ii. The CEE Trust will cover round trip air transportation (economy fare) from major airport nearest winner’s residence and accommodations costs in Bratislavafor the selected winners invited to the Civil Society Forum.
Winners must travel on dates specified by the Organizer.
The CEE Trust will not cover other costs, unless it is agreed by both sides in due time.
 
iii. Members of the documentary teams will establish online contact with each other and their mentors before the Civil Society Forum to plan their future work. All the team members will meet together with their mentors in Bratislava a day before the event for final arrangements. Participants will work individually after the forum is over and will maintain online contact with the rest of team, their mentors and the Civil Society Forum coordinator.
The participants of the documentary teams will work with their own equipment.
The CEE Trust will offer symbolic remuneration of 100 USD for all the documentary teams’ members.
 
iv. The winners of the main prize will be asked to provide a detailed proposal of their personal development project, including financial data. Organizer has the sole right to approve use of a scholarship. Scholarships will be granted on individual basis.
 
v. The CEE Trust reserves the right not to award the contest’s prizes in case the submitted works do not fulfill the contest conditions, or their level is not satisfactory.
 
10. Substitution; Taxes
No assignment or transfer of prize will be permitted, except at Organizer’s sole discretion. The prizes can not be exchanged for cash.
WINNERS ARE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL INCOME TAXES THAT MAY BE ASSOCIATED WITH THE RECEIPT OF ANY PRIZE.
 
11. Potential Winners
Winners will be notified via e-mail or telephone approximately 5 days following the determination of the potential winner. Entrants are responsible for insuring that all phone and e-mail information is up-to-date and accurate.
The names of the winners will be posted.
The winners will be announced at the beginning of August 2009.
 
12. Acceptance Official Rules
As a condition of entry, you fully and unconditionally agree to these Official Rules and to Organizer’s decisions, which are final and binding in all respects. Winners may be required to execute and returna declaration of eligibility and a liability/publicity release which must be returned within 10 days of notification, except where prohibited by law. Failure to timely return the documents may result in disqualification upon sole decision of the Organizer.
 
13. Disputes
In the event of a dispute as to any online entry, potential winners may be required to show proof of identification. Organizer may require that a potential winner provide proof that he/she is the authorized account holder of the e-mail address and/or username associated with the winning entry.
These Rules shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the District of Columbia, United States of America.  Any disputes relating to these Rules shall be brought exclusively in the applicable federal and state courts located in the District of Columbia.
 
14. Conditions of Participation
 
a. Conduct. Organizer reserves the right in its sole discretion, to modify, cancel, terminate, and/or suspend the Contest and to disqualify any individual who tampers with the entry process or violates these official rules. In the event that the Contest is terminated early, Organizer reserves the right, but not the obligation, to award prizes to persons who entered prior to the date of termination. Without limiting the foregoing, Organizer may lock out any entrant who, in Organizer's sole judgment, has been disqualified, has questionable eligibility or is otherwise ineligible to enter.
 
b. Release. By participating in this Contest or receiving a prize, you agree to release and to indemnify and hold harmless Organizer for any liability, injury, death, loss or damages to entrant or any person or entity, including without limitation, damage to personal or real property, caused in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, by your participation in this Contest (or related activities) or the acceptance, possession or use/misuse of a prize.
 
c. Publicity. Your participation in this Contest constitutes your consent to Organizer and its or their agents' to use your name, likeness, voice, opinions and biographical information for publicity, advertising or promotional purposes in any media or manner, now known or hereafter devised, worldwide, without further payment, consideration, notice or approval.

15. Privacy
Personally identifiable information that is submitted by entrants as part of this Contest will be used to administer the Contest, select prize winner and fulfill prize, and will be treated in accordance with Organizer's privacy policy  accessible on its Web site at http://www.ceetrust.org/pages/privacy.html