1.   Registration Web site: To qualify to participate in the contest, you must first complete the on-line registration form no later than 11:59 PM in your time zone by end of day on March 15, 2005. Registration begins February 8, 2005. Access the registration Web site at: www.ibm.com/university/gridchallenge. Follow all instructions and complete the on-line registration form in its entirety. This process does not constitute entry, but rather registration as a potential entrant. You must be 18 years of age or older and a college student as described in Rule #4.

2.   Submitting your entry: Once you have completed the on-line registration form, you can now enter the contest. You must select one (1) of the following options: (1) an innovative open standards/architecture proposal; (2) a detailed evaluation of an existing standard or implementation; or (3) a proposal for proof of concept or prototype implementation or contribution to an open source grid implementation (services, middleware components, or application development tools/environments). Perform the Challenge and then write an essay on how you performed the Challenge, what the results were and what you learned from the Challenge. To submit your essay, return to the Web site at: www.ibm.com/university/gridchallenge, login and upload your essay. Your essay may be submitted starting the day after you have registered. Your on-line entry must be received by the sponsor no later than 11:59 PM April 8, 2005 in your time zone. Entry is deemed submitted by the authorized account holder of the e-mail address used as the user name at the time of registration. Authorized account holder is defined as the natural person who is assigned to the e-mail address by an Internet access provider, on-line service provider, or other organization responsible for assigning e-mail addresses for the domain associated with the submitted e-mail address. If either your registration form or your entry form is incomplete, you will not be eligible for the contest. Sponsor assumes no responsibility for computer system, hardware, software, network program, or other errors, failures, or malfunctions of any kind, whether human or technical in nature, in the transmission or receipt of entries. Your essay should be in English only and no longer than 2000 words. Essays will be judged according to criteria in rule #3.

3.   Entries will be judged by a panel of qualified judges beginning on or about April 12, 2005. Judges’ decisions are final in all matters relating to the contest. Entrants will be judged on the following criteria: (1) originality – 1 to 10 points will be awarded; (2) technical value – 1 to 20 points will be awarded; (3) completeness – 1 to 15 points will be awarded (results subject to verification by Sponsor, as set forth in Rule 9); (4) feasibility of implementation – 1 to 15 points will be awarded. Maximum amount of points available is 60. In the event of a tie, the winner will be the entrant having the highest score in the number (2). If there is still a tie, a new judge will re-judge the tied entries, except in Wisconsin, where duplicate prizes will be awarded. Sponsor reserves the right to cancel or suspend this contest should virus, bugs or other causes beyond sponsor’s control corrupt the administration, security, or proper judging of the contest. Submission of an entry constitutes your acceptance of the conditions of the contest.

4.   Contest is open to students or student team (maximum 3 students) who are enrolled full-time at a two, three, or four-year accredited college or university. Regardless of Challenge chosen, student or student team may only submit one entry into the contest. Students or student teams who have not registered for the contest during the registration period will not be eligible to submit an entry to the contest. Proof of enrollment may be required. Employees of IBM and judges of the Grid Challenge and the immediate family members and household members of each are not eligible to enter the contest. 

5.   First Prizes (1): One Prize will be awarded to the student or student team who has submitted the essay with the highest score. The prize is an IBM Thinkpad T-Series Model. Approximate Retail Value: $2,500 USD.

6.   Second Prizes (2): Two Second Place Prizes will be awarded to the students or student teams who have submitted the essays with the next highest scores. The prize is an IBM Thinkpad T-Series Model. Approximate Retail Value: $2,500 USD.

7.   University Prize (1): IBM will award a prize to the college or university that has the first prize winner. The purpose of this participation prize is to show appreciation to those schools that encouraged students to get involved in the Grid challenge. University prize will be an IBM eServer Cluster 1350, or equivalent. Approximate Retail Value: $26,000.

Approximate total retail value of all prizes: $33,500 USD. No cash value or substitutions of prizes except by Sponsor who may change prizes or models of equipment as availability changes or make such substitutions as necessary to meet export requirements. Limit one (1) prize per entrant. All individual prizes will be awarded, provided 20 qualifying entries are received. College/university prize will be awarded provided at least one institution qualifies.

8.   Except where prohibited, by accepting prize, winner consents to the use of his/her name, likeness, and biographical information for advertising and promotional purposes worldwide without limitations and without additional compensation. Prizes won by minors will be awarded to parent or legal guardian, who must sign required documentation.

9.   Winners will be notified by express mail and via e-mail on or about May 10, 2005, and will be required to sign and return an affidavit of eligibility and release of liability/publicity within 7 days of notification (except where prohibited) or prize will be forfeited and may be awarded to an alternate winner on the basis of the criteria set forth herein.

10.   By submitting entries, entrant grants the sponsors and their agents of this contest the right to publish, use, adapt, sell, edit and/or modify such entry in any way, in commerce, and in any and all media worldwide, including but not limited to the Internet, without limitation and without compensation to the entrants. Entrant also grants sponsors worldwide irrevocable, nonexclusive and royalty free right and license to use, have used, copy, reproduce, transfer, modify and/or display any information contained in their entry in whole or part and in any form without compensation. Entries must be entrant’s own original creations, must not infringe on third party rights, must not have won previous awards, must not have been posted on another Web site prior to submission and must be suitable for publication. Winners may be required to sign an additional affidavit/license (except where prohibited) to this effect. Taxes on all prizes, if any, are the sole responsibility of the prizewinners. Entrants agree to be bound by the official contest rules.

11.  At the sponsor’s discretion, entrants may be required to submit source code to substantiate results reported in the entry. Any such source code must be made available for free distribution under either the IBM Open Source License (http://www.opensource.org/licenses/ibmpl.html), the GPL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html) or any license on the list (http://www.opensource.org/licenses/index.html) approved by the Open Source Initiative (http://www.opensource.org/index.html).

12.   For a list of winners visit the www.ibm.com/university/gridchallenge after August 1, 2005 or send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to: IBM Grid Scholar Challenge, P.O. Box 419 Ramsey, NJ 07446, to be received no later than June 10, 2005. Sponsor: IBM, Route 100, Somers, New York 10589.