#HireMeHalifax Pitch Competition: Official Rules

Please read these contest rules (“Contest Rules”) in their entirety before entering the Halifax Partnership’s #HireMeHalifax Pitch Competition (further known as “the Contest”). Do not enter the Contest unless you agree to these Contest Rules. Participation in the Contest constitutes unconditional agreement and acceptance of these Contest Rules which are final in all matters relating to the Contest. By entering this Contest you agree to be bound by the decisions of contest judges which are final and binding in all respects.

1. CONTEST PERIOD:

The #HireMeHalifax Pitch Competition runs from February 12 to March 26, 2020 (the “Contest Period”). There are two phases to the Contest Period. The first phase is the Video Entry Phase which will run from February 12 to March 9, 2019 via online and through social media. The second phase is the Video Judging Phase which will run from March 10, 2019 until March 26, 2019 with a panel of judges selected by the Halifax Partnership.

2. ELIGIBILITY:

This contest is open to all local and international students in search of experiential learning opportunities and all local and international recent graduates (who have graduated within the past three years) in search of full-time employment who are eligible for work in Canada before the start of the Contest Period. Limit one entry per person. Employees of the Halifax Partnership and those with whom they are domiciled, its subsidiaries, affiliates, agents, advertising or promotional agencies or the independent contest organization are not eligible.

3. HOW TO ENTER:

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. To enter, contestants must:

A) Visit www.hiremehalifax.ca during the Video Entry Phase and follow the online instructions. Using your smartphone, record your video and upload your video (the “Submission”) to YouTube. Before entering the Contest, participants agree to these Contest Rules. All video submissions must comply with these Contest Rules and the SUBMISSION GUIDELINES stated in section 4.

B) In your video, tell us why a Halifax employer should hire you. The maximum length of each Video Entry is 30 seconds. Contestants will have a maximum one (1) opportunity to complete the challenge.

Your pitch should include:

• Your name
• Your degree and field of work
• Whether you’re in search of a full-time or experiential learning opportunity
• Your career ambitions
• The type of company you want to work with
• What makes you stand out (relevant experience, soft and hard skills)

Pitch Criteria:

• 30 seconds max video
• Highlights your skills and what you can offer a business
• Professional language and presentation
• Business attire
  

C) Fill out the contest form and submit your video by copying and pasting the YouTube link to your video.

D) A panel of judges selected by the Halifax Partnership will select, in their sole and absolute discretion, a maximum of 10 videos (“Finalists”), from the Video Entry Phase based on the pitch criteria above and the following video qualities: Professionalism, Clarity, Poise, Imagination and Creativity. The Finalists will be invited to perform their pitch live at the #HireMeHalifax networking event in front of a panel of live judges. Three (3) prizes in the Contest will be awarded to the pitches, as deemed by the scores of the live judges (50%) and the scores of the video judging (50%).

4. SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:

Submissions cannot defame, misrepresent or contain disparaging remarks about Halifax or the Halifax Partnership and its services, products, or other people, products or companies or communicate messages or images inconsistent with the positive images and/or goodwill to which the Halifax Partnership wishes to associate. The Halifax Partnership reserves the right to and will screen submissions prior to posting them to the Halifax Partnership website and its social media channels. Submissions that are not in accordance with the guidelines as stated herein or are not received during the Video Entry Phase will be ineligible. Submissions cannot: (a) be sexually explicit or suggestive, violent or derogatory of any ethnic, racial, gender, religious, professional or age group, profane or pornographic, contain nudity or any materially dangerous activity; (b) promote alcohol, illegal drugs, tobacco, firearms/weapons (or the use of any of the foregoing), any activities that may appear unsafe or dangerous, or any particular political agenda or message; (c) be obscene or offensive, endorse any form of hate or hate group; (d) contain trademarks, logos or trade dress owned by others, or advertise or promote any brand or product of any kind without permission, or contain any personal identification, such as license plate numbers, personal names, email addresses or street addresses without permission; (e) contain copyrighted materials owned by third parties other than the submitters' photographs, sculptures, paintings, music, and other works of art or images published on or in websites, television, movies or other media) without permission; (f) contain materials embodying the names, likenesses, photographs, or other indicia identifying any person, living or dead, without permission; and (g) depict, and cannot itself be in, a violation of any law. By submitting a submission you warrant and represent that it: (a) does not infringe upon the copyrights, trademarks, rights of privacy, publicity or other intellectual property or other rights of any person or entity; (b) that publication of the submission via various media including online posting, will not infringe on the rights of any third party. Any such submitter will indemnify and hold harmless the Halifax Partnership and parties donating prizes from any claims to the contrary. Any submitter whose submission includes likenesses of third parties or contains elements not owned by the submitter (such as, but not limited to, depictions of persons, buildings, trademarks or logos) must be able to provide legal releases for such use, in the model/image release form provided on the contest website or another form satisfactory to the Halifax Partnership, upon request, prior to award of prize and/or naming of submitter as a finalist. Any submission that, in the sole opinion of the Halifax Partnership, is deemed to be inappropriate for publication is ineligible.

5. ASSIGNMENT OF RIGHTS IN VIDEO SUBMISSION AND USE OF VIDEO ENTRIES:

All Video Entries shall become the property of the Halifax Partnership and will not be returned nor copy provided to the contestant. By agreeing to submit a Video Entry, the entrant grants to the Halifax Partnership and/or its subsidiaries, and/or any of their licensees, agents and promotional agencies, the right to use the Video Entry including an entrant’s name, image, likeness or voice or any part thereof, for any purpose whatsoever, whether for internal or external communications in any marketing material whether in print, radio, television, interactive media, or any other media throughout the world in all languages, in perpetuity in connection with this contest.

Contestants agree that all rights to the Video Entry or other submissions, including copyright and moral rights, will be irrevocably assigned to the Halifax Partnership, to be used by the Halifax Partnership for any purpose it deems appropriate.

6. PRIZE(S):

Three (3) prizes will be awarded, consisting of cheques for $1,000, $300 and $200 CDN. These prizes will be awarded to the top three pitches, as deemed by the panel of judges, submitted by the individuals.

7. WINNING VIDEO SELECTION:

A panel of Halifax Partnership staff will select, from all Video Entries received and which meet the submission guideline, the top 20 video submissions. A panel of external judges selected by the Halifax Partnership will select, from the top 20 video submissions, the top 10 Finalists. Three (3) prizes in the Contest will be awarded to the pitches, as deemed by the scores of the live judges (50%) and the scores of the video judging (50%).

Judging of the Video Entries will be based on the candidate’s professional 30 second “elevator pitch” on why a company should hire them. The candidate is encouraged to speak to their educational and professional background and skills. Judges will be looking for professionalism, clarity, poise, imagination and creativity used in the video; as well as the "pitch criteria" stated in section 3.

Select videos will be visible online at the Halifax Partnership's website and on its YouTube channel. The viewing of these videos will be facilitated and hosted on behalf of the Halifax Partnership and posted on Facebook and Twitter.

8. CONSENT TO MARKET TO ENTRANTS:

By entering this Contest, each entrant permits the Halifax Partnership, its agents, promotional agencies, representatives and contest judges to collect the information submitted with your entry and to use it to administer the Contest. The Halifax Partnership may communicate with you through various channels, including telephone, computer or mail, using the contact information you have provided. You acknowledge that as a result of such sharing they may advise us of those products or services provided. We will respect your preferences otherwise recorded with us.

9. ADDITIONAL TERMS:

All entries become the property of the Halifax Partnership who assumes no responsibility for garbled, inaudible, lost, late, delayed, destroyed or misdirected mail, voice messages, e-mail or any computer errors or malfunctions. The Halifax Partnership does not assume any responsibility for incorrect or inaccurate capture of entry information, technical malfunctions, human or technical error, seeding or printing errors, lost, delayed or garbled data or transmissions, omission, interruption, deletion, effect or failures of any telephone or computer line or network, computer equipment, software or any combination thereof. Entry materials/data that have been tampered with or altered are void. In the event of a dispute over email entries, the winner will be deemed to be the holder of the email account.

If for any reason, in the opinion of the Halifax Partnership, in its/their sole discretion, the Contest, and/or the Woobox functionality is not capable of running as originally planned, or if the administration, security, fairness, integrity or the property conduct of the Contest is corrupted or adversely affected, including but not limited to, by reason of infection by computer virus, bugs, tampering, unauthorized intervention, fraud, technical failures or any other causes, the Halifax Partnership reserves its/their right, without need of individual notice, to cancel, terminate, modify, amend, extend or suspend the Contest in whole or in part, including, without limitation, canceling any method of entry, and/or selecting a winner from previously received eligible entries. Halifax Partnership reserves the right in its sole discretion to disqualify any individual it finds to be tampering with the entry process or the operation of the Contest, Woobox or to be acting in violation of the Contest Rules or otherwise in a disruptive manner. Any attempts to deliberately damage any website, video or to undermine the legitimate operation of this Contest is a violation of criminal and civil laws and should such attempt be made the Halifax Partnership reserves its right to seek remedies and damages to the fullest extent of the law. The Halifax Partnership shall not be held responsible for any errors, malfunction, interruption, deletion or negligence that may arise or occur in connection with the Contest and Woobox including any damage to an entrant’s computer equipment, system software or any combination thereof, as a result of their participation in this Contest or from downloading any material from the Contest website, where applicable.

Contestants acknowledge and agree that the Woobox website is not owned or operated by the Halifax Partnership. The Halifax Partnership does not make any express or implied warranties or representations with respect to Woobox, Facebook, Facebook’s “Like” functionality, Twitter, YouTube, and/or to comments or postings made on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube through this Contest, as applicable. The Halifax Partnership shall not be held liable or responsible for any modification, tampering or management of the video entries and/or on any outcomes that this may have on the Contest. The Halifax Partnership does not endorse and is not responsible or liable for damages relating to Woobox, its respective privacy policies or practices, links or any other content.

This contest is subject to all Federal, Provincial and Municipal laws and regulations applicable in Canada. This contest is void where prohibited or otherwise restricted by law.