FAMELAB HONG KONG COMPETITION 2011

1.The competition is organised by the British Council (henceforth called the Organiser), based in Hong Kong, 3 Supreme Court Road, Admiralty.

2.The aim of the FameLab Hong Kong competition is to attract participants from Hong Kong, Kowloon, and the New Territories and identify the best new talent in science communication.

3.Participants must be between 20 and 35 years of age (on 19 October 2011), legal residents of Hong Kong (possessing a HKID card or other valid documentation showing your right of abode in Hong Kong) and pursuing studies or working in a scientific field. They will be given a maximum of three minutes in which to impress the judges with an entertaining, original and scientifically accurate presentation. Please note that a different 3-minute presentation is required for each of the rounds. Employees of the British Council and their next of kin are not allowed to participate in the competition.

4.Participants can either audition in person or submit a video entry via YouTube. For those who want to audition in person, online registration must be completed by Wednesday, 19 October 2011. For those who want to submit a video entry, submissions must be uploaded onto the official FameLab Hong Kong YouTube site by Wednesday, 19 October 2011.

5.Participants are not allowed to use any props that they cannot carry onto the stage by themselves. There will be no access to electrical outlets on the stage. The use of Powerpoint is definitely not allowed. For video entries, the same regulations will apply and will be taken into consideration when being judged..

6.If you are selected to the final competition on Saturday, 19 November 2011, you will be asked to present a different 3-minute presentation.

7.The Organiser has the right to extend or reduce the duration of the competition for a good reason or for force majeure.

8.For those who want to audition in person but did not register online (“drop-in's”), they should be at the Hong Kong Science Museum by 4:30pm on Friday, 21 October 2011 to increase their chances of being able to audition. The Organiser has the right to refuse “drop-in's” from auditioning if all time slots are full.

9.Presentations can be in either English or Cantonese during the live auditions and video entries. Presentations in either language will be weighted equally and without bias. However, presentations must be in English during the FameLab Hong Kong Final competition.

10.During the live auditions, judges'feedback can be given in either English or Cantonese, depending on the language used in the presentation. However, their feedback will be in English during the FameLab Hong Kong Final competition.

11.The Organiser reserves the right to disqualify any applicant that is found to be violating rules of eligibility (refer to condition 3). The British Council also reserves the right to refuse entry from a person whose eligibility is in question or is otherwise ineligible to enter.

12.Participants may bring a few friends or family to watch the live auditions and definitely as many people as possible to the FameLab Hong Kong Final competition. No flash photography will be allowed during the auditions to avoid distracting the contestants. Any photos or videos that observers take of contestants cannot be copyrighted for their own use so as to prevent the Organiser from using its own footage of the contestants for its own purposes.

13.The Organiser reserves the right to amend the Programme according to the number of registrations.

14.The competition winners will be announced at the end of the FameLab Hong Kong Final competition on Saturday, 19 November 2011 and on the British Council website www.britishcouncil.org.hk/FameLab on Monday, 21 November 2011.  

15.The ten finalists who qualify for the final round are obliged to attend a (2-day) weekend MasterClass in science communication, where they will have the opportunity to work with science communicators/media trainers and improve their media presentation skills. If a competitor cannot attend the MasterClass, s/he will be disqualified from the competition. No exceptions will be made.

16.The winner of the FameLab Hong Kong 2011 competition will attend the Cheltenham Science Festival in the UK in June 2012, where s/he will be able to participate in FameLab International together with FameLab winners from other countries. The winner and two runners-up will also receive cash prizes. There will also be an “Audience Choice Award” which will be determined at the FameLab Hong Kong Final competition on Saturday, 19 November 2011. A “Best Institution Award” will also be presented to the institution that sends the most number of contestants. Lastly, a “Viewer's Choice Award” will be presented to one of the 10 finalists whose live audition presentations or video entries will be available for online voting. The Organiser accepts no responsibility in the event that prizes are not collected by Monday, 19 December 2011. After 19 December 2011, the Organiser has no obligation to award the prizes. The Organiser accepts no responsibility if the address given is incorrect or if the post office and/or the e-mail addresses provided by the contestants are not functioning.

17.All decisions regarding this Programme and the selection of members remain with the Organiser and are final and binding.

18.The prizes are personal and cannot be transferred to another person or exchanged for money.

19.The winner consents to appear in related promotional material and to have his/her name and photo or video used for the purposes of promotion by the Organiser, without receiving any remuneration or indemnity.

20.The Organiser reserve the right to use your visual material(s) or any visual material(s) that you submitted – including any images, video, text, photographs, graphics or audio - for the purpose of promoting their activities. This may include placing your visual material(s) in our publications, on our websites and in our promotional materials.

21.By entering, applicants consent to the announcement of their names and the use of their names, voices, statements, photographs and/or videos of them taken during activities by the Organiser for advertising and promotional purposes worldwide using any form, media or technology now known or later developed without any further compensation to the selected applicant or any other person.

22.The information that you provide on the online registration form will be used for the purpose of statistical and market analysis. We may occasionally wish to publish feedback and data but we will not connect this with any individual without specific permission. Your personal details will only be used in line with British Council standards. The British Council will not sell or disclose your details to third parties for commercial or other reasons. The British Council will treat all personal details in accordance with UK law and its own privacy policy. We cannot guarantee that the privacy legislation for online information in your own country gives the same protection as UK legislation. Under UK Data Protection law you have the right to ask for a copy of the information we hold on you, for which we may charge a fee, and the right to ask us to correct any inaccuracies in that information. If you want more information about this please contact your local British Council office or the Data Protection team at dataprotection@britishcouncil.org.

23. In order to communicate science effectively and accurately, we encourage that you check the content of your presentation with your professors/superiors to ensure that the scientific concept you are delivering is accurate and reflects the latest science.

24.The Organiser is not responsible for any injury or damage to persons or property that may be caused, directly or indirectly, in whole or in part, from accessing or downloading any material from the Organiser’s websites, regardless of whether the material was prepared by the Organiser or a third party, and regardless of whether the material is connected to the Organiser's website(s) by a hypertext link.

25.Participation in the competition presupposes and entails unreserved acceptance of all the terms and conditions presented herewith.

26.Participation in the competition presupposed and entails explicit and unconditional consent to the Organiser to keep personal data as valid, according to Law 2472/1997, Law 2774/1999 and the decisions/instructions of the Data Protection Authority. The data that the Organiser collects in the framework of this particular competition will be used exclusively for the needs of this competition, for statistical purposes, as well as for communication with the winner, unless stated otherwise during registration. Participants have the right to ask for a copy of the information the Organiser holds on him/her, and the right to object to, modify or delete this personal information, and have temporary judicial protection, according to the specific provisions of the relevant legislation.

27.If you show symptoms of being ill, please consider the health of others and do not participate in any FameLab events that will involve other people. Please contact famelab@britishcouncil.org.hk or call 2913 5159 if you've already registered and need to cancel your participation.