Qt;Athon – Rules, Terms & Conditions – 2024

1. Preamble & Acceptance

1.1. The Qt;Athon is a coding competition meant for students in a degree program aiming for bachelor's or master's degree (each a “Participant”). All competition tasks can be done individually or in a team of 2-3 people. Students are responsible for forming the teams. To participate, candidates must sign up to the competition by the given deadline stated in this document (“Rules”).

1.2. By signing up to the competition, Participants accept of these Rules in their entirety. Failure to comply with these Rules shall result in the participation being suspended or terminated, at Qt’s free and absolute discretion.

1.3. Any aspects relating to the Qt;Athon coding competition not considered by these Rules shall be handled and decided by Qt at its free and absolute discretion.

2. Organizer 

2.1. The Qt;Athon is organized by The Qt Company Oy, a Finnish company with its registered office at Miestentie 7, 02150 Espoo, Finland (“Qt”).

3. Participants

3.1. Participants must be students at a recognized educational institution (university, college, or similar education institution with the primary purpose of teaching enrolled students) located in a region where Qt is legally allowed to grant educational licenses, and who hold an email address from such educational institution. Due to the sanctions against Russia and Belarus, competition entries from educational institutes located in these countries cannot be accepted, nor can competition entries from any sanctioned country, region, or listed entity. 

3.1.1 By entering the competition, Participants agree to provide Qt any verification of eligibility upon request. Failure to do so may result in immediate disqualification. 

3.2. Participants must be at least 18 years of age to enter the competition. 

4. Eligibility

4.1. Qt will select the first 100 first accepted applicants, who will then receive an approval email from Qt confirming participation as a Participant. 

4.2. Qt will exercise its own criteria during the selection and eligibility of the participants at any point during or after the competition.

5. Registration

5.1. To participate in the competition, applicants need to sign up by Friday 25th of October 2024 using the form on the competition web page and receive an approval email from Qt confirming participation. The 100 first accepted sign-ups will be approved to participate in the competition. The Participants must sign up with their educational email address, so that their student status can be confirmed.

5.2. When signing up for the competition, one needs to define whether to participate alone or with a team. The ones signing up with a team need to name all team members and the team lead. In the sign-up form, each Participant will indicate:

5.2.1 Full name of the Participant (first and last name).

5.2.2 Official address.

5.2.3 The student institutional e-mail address. 

5.2.4 The educational institution where their studies are taking place.

6. Date and Location of the Qt;Athon

6.1. The Qt;Athon coding competition will be held virtually in two rounds. The first round opens on Wed 30th of October 2024 at 9 CET and ends 24 hours later, on 31st of October at 9 CET. A maximum of ten individuals/teams from the first round will be accepted to the second round. The second round starts on Monday 25th of November at 9 CET and ends on Monday 2nd of December at 9 CET.

7. Competition Tasks

7.1. The team lead will receive the competition tasks, instructions, as well as the rules applicable to each of these tasks via email when the competition starts for the first round, and (s)he is responsible for sharing the tasks with the other team members. 

7.2. The Participants advancing to the second round will be informed via email before the start of the second round in the same manner as in the first round.

7.3. Competition work must be submitted following the guidelines provided in the competition task email, otherwise the competition work will be disqualified. 

7.4. All competition tasks will be submitted in the manner indicated by Qt. The details for submitting will be sent to the signed-up participants via email on the competition start time.

7.5. Qt will assess and evaluate the merit of each submission by its own criteria. The second-round Participants are expected to showcase their work to an expert panel consisting of the competition judges online. Qt will decide the winning entry, based on its own criteria, but taking in consideration the opinion of the main competition judges.

7.6. Qt shall, at any time, decide and alter these competition tasks’ rules for any reason, including whenever this is necessary for organizational matters.

8. Intellectual Property Rights

8.1. The submitted work for Qt;Athon must be the Participants' original work. Any aspect of competition work, including submitted work, must abide by intellectual property laws including respect of copyright, trademark, and other intellectual property rights of any third party. 

8.2. Fully AI generated work shall not be allowed. Subject to the terms and conditions of these Rules, Participants are allowed to use coding helpers based on AI, to the extent that the majority of their work is a product of their own efforts and creativity. A suspicion that the majority of the project was written with AI will lead to disqualification of the group/Participant. 

8.3. Competition tasks, submission, or entries at certain rounds require use of Qt software. Participants must use either a valid Qt Educational License or Qt Community Edition. Use of either a Qt Educational License or Qt Community Edition is subject to the respective license requirements of such products. Any software, platforms or tools utilized during the Qt;Athon by Qt for the purpose of the Qt;Athon that is the intellectual property of Qt (e.g., Qt Educational Licenses or Qt Community Edition), shall at all times remain the intellectual property of Qt.

8.4. The rights to the work done as part of Qt;Athon stays with the creators of the work (Participants), to the extent that it was their original work and subject to any applicable laws and license restrictions (e.g., open-source license requirements). 

8.5. Qt may utilize or make available to Participants software, sites, or other tools that are the intellectual property of third parties. The Participants shall utilize these software, sites,  or tools in the manner prescribed by its licensors.  

8.6. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, the Participants hereby grant Qt a sublicensable, assignable, irrevocable, perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free and fully paid-up license, under all of the Participant’s intellectual property rights, to reproduce, adapt, translate, modify, and prepare derivative works of, publicly display, publicly perform, sublicense, make available and distribute such work as Qt sees fit at its free and absolute discretion.

9. Prizes

9.1. The winning individual or team will win tickets, flights, and accommodation to Qt World Summit 2025, May 6th & 7th in Munich, Germany, according to the following parameters: 

9.2. Qt will take care of the transportation and the accommodation in a manner according to an average standard of comfort (i.e., flights will be economy class, and accommodation shall be of average price). 

9.3. The final winners of the competition are responsible for managing their own valid travelling documents and capability to travel (including visas, passports, or any insurances). Qt does not take part in the possible visa application process or any other costs, such as possible taxes that the winners might need to pay from the prizes. 

9.4. Under no circumstance shall any prizes or any other considerations be paid in cash, nor can they be changed for cash, unless at Qt’s free and absolute discretion. 

10. Limited Warranty and Limitation of Liability

10.1. PARTICIPANTS AGREE AND UNDERSTAND THAT QT ORGANIZES THE QT;ATHON PRO BONO AND THAT, TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW:

10.1.1 (I) QT DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL LIABILITY IN CONNECTION WITH THE QT;ATHON AND THESE RULES,

10.1.2 (II) QT DISCLAIMS ALL CONDITIONS AND WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, WITH REGARDS TO THE QT;ATHON, BUT SPECIALLY WITH REGARDS TO ANY TRANSPORTATION, ACCOMMODATION, OR ANY OTHER SERVICES OR RIGHTS.

11. Data Protection

11.1.1 Participants agree and understand that Qt has a need to process their personal data for the purpose of these Rules and the Qt;Athon. Any personal data gathered by Qt in connection with the Qt;Athon will be processed according to the Qt's privacy policy, available at https://www.qt.io/terms-conditions/privacy-policy.

11.1.2 The Participant accepts that, if they are awarded the Prize, the Participant will cooperate in a reasonable way with Qt for publicity purposes in order to the Qt;Athon and related Qt software (e.g., Qt Community Edition and Qt Educational Licenses). In particular, Qt shall be permitted to publish: 

1. the name of the winning Participant;
2. the educational institute of the Participant; 
3. information regarding the Participant’s submitted work (e.g. features and functionality); 
4. the amount of the Prize and its nature and purpose. 

11.1.3 Participants may have the right to access, rectify or delete their personal information which may be exercised by an electronic request at gdpr@qt.io.

12. Governing Law and Dispute Resolution

12.1. These Rules shall be construed and interpreted in accordance with the laws of Finland, excluding its choice of law provisions. All disputes arising out of or in connection with these Rules shall be finally settled in accordance with the laws of Finland, excluding its choice of law provisions. Forum for any dispute shall be Helsinki, Finland.