2007 Project Horror Story Official Rules

Tell us your scariest project horror story and how you survived it, and win a copy of Scrappy Project Management by Kimberly Wiefling.

Eligibility: No purchase necessary. All contest entrants must be at least 18 years of age. The contest is open to any registered Member of ProjectConnections -- in other words, anyone who has a valid ProjectConnections username. There is no charge to become a ProjectConnections Member, and no obligation to purchase anything when you do. You may register at http://www.projectconnections.com/jsp/register.jsp.

To avoid any taint of favoritism, we must regretfully exclude the following individuals from the contest: Past and present employees or affiliates of ProjectConnections and their immediate families, including our columnists (featured in the Articles section of the site). It's not that we don't love you guys, but you know how it is; "Caesar's wife �." You can submit all the entries you like, and we'll happily include them in the final publication, but you're not eligible to win any prizes.

If, for any reason, you are not eligible, you do not meet all of these requirements, or you do not agree to and abide by these rules, then you cannot be awarded any prizes, and we may disqualify any entries you submit at any time.

We won't insult you by saying that all applicable federal, state, and local laws apply, because you already know that. But just in case, we do have to remind you that this contest is void where prohibited -- for example, in any locality that requires contest rules to be published in a language other than English in order to be valid and legal. (We're really sorry, but you'd be sorrier if you had to read what passes for French or German around here.)

Entry Dates: The contest begins at noon Pacific Time on 10 October 2007 and entries will be accepted until midnight Pacific Time on 17 October 2007. All entries must be received by ProjectConnections, as recorded and shown by our computer systems, on or before the deadline.

Contest Entries. Your entry should be your own original work. Multiple entries are permitted, but we will only award one prize per person. If you choose to submit multiple entries, you must send each entry in a separate email. Entries should be submitted by email to contests@projectconnections.com with the subject line Project Horror Stories Contest. The body of your email should include the following:

• Your full legal name and physical postal address.
• The email address you would like us to use in corresponding with you regarding your entry, if this is not the same as the email address you use to send the entry. (If you'd like to include an alternate email too, to be sure we can reach you, that's fine with us.)
• Your Project Horror Story, which must be written in English and transmitted in a readable text, rich text, HTML, or MS Word format. If we can't open it, we can't judge it. Entries may be submitted in the body of the email, or as an attachment to the email in one of the formats indicated above.

There is no minimum or maximum word limit on your story, but it must include:

• The setting. "It was a dark and stormy project" is permissible, but you'd do better to describe the project in a bit more detail.
• How the nightmare started. What were the signs? Were there any early warnings, or odd tapping sounds in the hallways? When did you know you were really in trouble? Was anyone wished into the cornfield?
• How you coped. How did the team react to the difficulty, and what steps were taken to correct the issue(s)? Be as specific as you can without violating any rules or confidences. This is the part everyone learns from.
• What finally happened? Did the project have a happy ending? Did anyone disappear mysteriously, left to wander a desert of unmonitored Gantt charts for all eternity? "And in a cold fiscal year, if you listen over the sound of the cappuccino machine, you can still hear them �"
• Bonus points if you also describe what lessons were learned, or what could have been done to solve or avoid the problem in the first place.

Your entry should NOT include anything explicit, profane, or obscene; any endorsement of illegal activities; express or implied commercial endorsements (keep it vendor neutral, please); any copyrighted, trademarked, or otherwise protected material you do not own. We will not accept entries we deem to contain offensive or derogatory characterizations of any person or group, period. "He couldn't manage his way out of a wet paper bag" is acceptable, but "He was a bumbling, wart-faced buffoon who smelled as bad as he looked" will get you disqualified in a heartbeat, and the usual litany of illegal or unlawful disparagements and epithets also applies. See our Terms of Service at http://www.projectconnections.com/company/termsofservice.html if you're not clear what we mean. Play nice. Attack the project, not the person.

Entries must be original, and you should own all the rights to them. You should not submit entries you have previously published elsewhere (your blog doesn't count, as long as you can reasonably demonstrate that it's your blog), and you definitely should not submit something that is copied, borrowed, derived from, based on, or otherwise plagiarized from someone else's work. (But you wouldn't do that, would you?) You also should not submit any entry that includes proprietary information -- particularly not the kind that would get you or someone else fired when it shows up next to your name online -- because we don't want you to get into trouble. For pity's sake, change the names to protect the guilty. If necessary, you may fictionalize your entry in order to steer clear of these rules, but remember that truth is almost always stranger than fiction. (See our remark about "authenticity" below, under Judging.)

Judging. Contest entries will be judged by ProjectConnections staff on the basis of qualities like originality, humor, and creativity. We reserve the right to apply other criteria relating to the quality of the work. You don't have to be Hemmingway or Dorothy Parker, but we do want to see entries that have an air of authenticity and that are generally intelligible and coherent. All judging is at the sole discretion of the judging staff, and all decisions are final. We reserve the right to disqualify entries from ineligible participants or entries that violate the contest rules at any time.

Entries will be anonymous during judging, and names will be revealed only after winners have been selected. Judging will begin at 8:00 a.m. Pacific Time 18 October 2007, and all winners will be selected by 5:00 p.m. 19 October 2007. Winners will be notified by email during the week of 22 October 2007 (so make sure that you're getting email from us). We reserve the right not to award all prizes if, in the sole discretion of ProjectConnections staff, not enough qualifying entries are submitted.

Prizes: Winners will receive a copy of Scrappy Project Management in paperback, a US$19.95 value. We reserve the right not to award all prizes if, in the sole discretion of ProjectConnections staff, not enough qualifying entries are submitted. Prizes will be shipped by first class mail using the USPS no later than 1 November 2007. We honestly believe that a single book is not going to cause a stir in anyone's customs office, but we can't guarantee that, nor can we be responsible for it. So the winners must be responsible for all taxes, fees, or duties that may be incurred, whether foreign or domestic.

You may submit any number of entries, but we will only award one prize per person.

Use of Your Entry. By entering the contest, you grant ProjectConnections perpetual, non-exclusive, irrevocable, worldwide license and right to use, display, and distribute your entry. We will, of course, give you credit, but we do have to have this permission in order to publish and/or publicize your entry in our newsletter and on our website, as well as in whatever forms our content may eventually be converted into in the future. Entries won't be returned (but you'll keep a copy for yourself of course), and we reserve the right to edit them to fit our standards.

This is the part we find a bit silly, but which we apparently have to include: Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, you acknowledge that ProjectConnections shall have the right to use, modify, reproduce, publish, perform, display on all forms of media, distribute, make derivative works of, use same in advertising and promotional material, and otherwise commercially and non-commercially exploit your entry, in perpetuity and throughout the universe (grandiose, much?), in any manner or medium now existing or hereafter developed, without notice, attribution or compensation to you or any other person or entity and you waive your moral rights in your entry accordingly. Whew, that was a mouthful!

By the way, none of this precludes you using your entry in whatever way you wish once the contest is concluded -- that's the "non-exclusive" bit. As a courtesy to your fellow contestants and to us, we do require that you wait until 1 November 2007 to take any independent action with your entry, with the exception of quoting small portions in emails or web postings that direct readers to the contest page for the remainder of the entry.

Collection of Information. When you submit an entry to us, you have to include identifying information like your name and your address so we can ship your prize if you win, and your email address so we can communicate with you. That's all we're going to use it for. We're not going to sell it, or rent it, or give it to anyone else. When we publish the names of the winners we will include state and/or country, and may include city, but not your actual address, and not your email address (unless you ask us to). You can read our Privacy Policy at http://www.projectconnections.com/company/privacy.html if you're into that sort of thing.

General Disclaimer and Releases. Still with us? Good. This is all the stuff we wish we didn't have to say, but probably should. The contest and its rules will be governed by the laws of the State of California, and you agree to play by the rules. ProjectConnections is not responsible for lost, misrouted, illegible, garbled, or otherwise unreadable submissions. Because of the short turn-around time on this contest, we cannot accept late entries for any reason, even if your internet connection went down or the dog ate it. Also keep in mind that just because your outbox shows your email was SENT doesn't mean it was definitely RECEIVED by us. We will make a good faith effort to acknowledge all entries received, but we can't guarantee it. If you have any question at all, call us; we'll let you know whether or not we've got it. Also, you release us from any liability that may arise from submission or publication of your entry -- whatever you submit to us is your responsibility, and we won't answer for it if you've said something you shouldn't or stolen someone else's work. So don't do that.

Winners List; Official Rules. Winners will be posted online and published in our newsletter the week of 22 October 2007. If you like, we will also email the winner's list to you; drop us a line at contests@projectconnections.com after 1 November 2007 and before 31 January 2008, and we'll send it to you. Official rules are online at http://www.projectconnections.com/contests/2007-horror-story-rules.html.

Sponsors. This contest is sponsored by Emprend Inc, aka ProjectConnections.com, which is a California corporation located at 493 Seaport Court, Suite 102, Redwood City, California 92677.

©Copyright 2000-2012 Emprend, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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