YEAR 2012 Competition Rules

1.    Only one entry will be accepted per person per pillar and all entries must fall into one of the outlined pillars.

2.    Students cannot submit the same abstract/ video under different pillars.

3.    All submitted entries will automatically give their permission for their abstract to go public on the website. It is the applicant's responsibility to ensure that such publication does not breach the copyright of others.

4.    All abstracts and videos must be the students own work. Students may submit work already published, provided it is their own work and its publication to the YEAR2012 website does not breach copyright.

5.    The deadline for submission of entries is 15th December 2011, at Mid-night Central European Time. Any entries beyond this time will not be accepted.

6.    All abstracts must be no less than 300 words and no more than 500 words. It may contain up to 5 diagrams, images or figures as appropriate. It is required to be submitted as a PDF file.

7.    The maximum running time of the video presentations (including credits) is five minutes.

8.    No “copyright” infringing content (audio or video) can be included. All music and literary rights need to be cleared before entry. Videos using non-cleared material will not be considered. We will accept video entries in any language; however, foreign language videos must include English subtitles.

9.    Only entries submitted within the online submission section of the YEAR2012 website will be accepted.

10.    The competition is open to early-stage researchers registered in a college or university from across the European Union, EU Candidate Countries, Potential EU Candidate Countries and European Economic Area* .

11.    An early-stage researcher is defined herein as an undergraduate student in the final year of their programme or a postgraduate student in a PhD programme or in a postgraduate programme leading to a PhD .

12.    Students who graduate from a PhD degree before the submission deadline of 1st March 2012 are not eligible to apply.

13.    Group or individual entries are eligible for all pillars; however only one nominee will be supported to travel to TRA 2012.

14.    All successful finalists or group nominees of finalists will be given the opportunity to display their work at the TRA Conference in the form of mandatory posters. Audiovisual displays and/or models may be used depending on space limitations of the exhibition.

15.    Winners will be acknowledged on both the YEAR2012 and the TRA 2012 websites and may be acknowledged on the websites of the stakeholders, e.g. CESA, FEHRL and UNIFE.

16.    All finalists will receive a contribution towards their accommodation and travel expenses to the TRA 2012 Conference in Athens, Greece . The contribution is dependent on the point of origin within Europe  which should be the students’ normal place of study. It is a condition of this award that the student attends the conference.

17.    It is up to all finalists to organize their own travel arrangements to Athens. The organizers will endeavour to make available low cost accommodation, subject to availability. If available, early booking is advised. The cost of such will be deducted from the contribution to travel costs. Alternately, students may make their own arrangements.

18.    The winning student prizes consist of Gold, Silver and Bronze medals and rosettes to display on their exhibition poster. All finalists will be given a certificate acknowledging their achievement.

19.    Entrants must provide all requested details when entering the competition, as outlined in the Application Form.

20.    Entrants must comply with all rules to be eligible for the prizes. No responsibility is accepted for ineligible entries or entries made fraudulently.

21.    Entrants will be deemed to have accepted these rules and to agree to be bound by them when entering this competition.

22.    The YEAR2012 organisers do not accept any responsibility for late or lost entries due to poor performance of the Internet – applicants are advised to apply as early as possible. Proof of sending is not proof of receipt.

23.    Without the expressed permission of the organisers, this competition is not open to employees or contractors of the TRA Conference, or anyone already involved or participating in it, or any person directly or indirectly involved in the organisation or running of the YEAR competition, or their direct family members.

24.    The Judges decision is final in every situation including any not covered above and no correspondence will be entered into.

25.    The Judges reserve the right to have discretion regarding the rules.

26.    The organisers reserve the right to cancel the competition at any stage, if deemed necessary in their opinion, and if circumstances arise outside of their control. The competition will be cancelled if financial support anticipated by the organisers does not materialise. In such circumstances, no costs will be refunded.

* Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Macedonia, Malta, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, United Kingdom.