Judging Process

After submission, all videos will be reviewed to ensure that they meet the general eligibility requirements including:

  • Entry is in a form of moving images, including but not limited to, video, animation, text and audio. Both audio/visual and visual only entries are permitted.
  • Entry is submitted in one of the following formats: .WMV, .AVI, .MOV or .MPG format
  • Entry is less than 100 MB in size.
  • Duration of entry is 60 seconds or less.
  • Entry was received by the Corporation no later than 11:59 PM EDT on June 4, 2010. Receipt of entries will be acknowledged, but entries will not be returned.
  • Entrant is believed to be the sole author and copyright owner of entry or has permission (via license or otherwise) to use or incorporate those entry portions authored or owned by third parties. Materials that infringe on the rights of any third party may not be used unless consent has been obtained. Use of images, music, and other works in the public domain may be incorporated into videos.
  • Video contains an image of the AmeriCorps logo at least once during the duration of the video.
  • Videos has not been entered into any other contest or won any other award.
  • The Video does not contain brand names or trademarks except those related to AmeriCorps or national service programs.
  • The Video does not contain material that is inappropriate, indecent, obscene, hateful, defamatory, slanderous or libelous;
  • The Video does not contain material that promotes bigotry, racism, hatred or harm against any group or individual or promotes discrimination based on age, disability, gender, nationality, race, religion, or sexual orientation; and
  • The Video does not contain material that is unlawful, in violation of or contrary to the laws or regulations in any state where video is created.

Videos that pass this general screening process will be available for public viewing and rating during the submission period at www.AmeriCorpsContest.org and www.YouTube.com/nationalservice. Please note that it may take up to 72 hours after submission for a video to appear online for public viewing.

A panel of judges consisting of national service staff, AmeriCorps program staff, and AmeriCorps alums will review and rate the video submissions and provide their ratings and comments to select the five finalist entries from all eligible submissions.

Judges will base their ratings of video entrants on the following criteria:

  1. Overall Impact (educational, inspiring, persuasive)
  2. Creativity
  3. Memorable Content and Delivery
  4. Clear Message about how AmeriCorps gets things done
  5. Alignment with Mission and Goals of AmeriCorps
  6. Public Rating

The five finalists' entries will then be voted on by the general public at www.AmeriCorpsContest.org between June 28 and July 9, 2010 and will determine the first, second, and third place winners. There will also be an opportunity to vote during the National Conference on Volunteering and Service from June 28-30, 2010.

For public votes, there may be only one vote per person, per active email address. Individual online votes that are either fraudulently generated or duplicated, or associated with inactive or "dummy" e-mail addresses, are subject to disqualification. It is not necessary to register on the website or participate in the Contest to vote online. The online voting period ends at 11:59 pm EDT on July 9, 2010.

Judges' decisions are final. Companies awarding prizes shall have no role, responsibility, or liability in sponsoring or administering the Video Contest. Companies awarding prizes and AmeriCorps Alums are allowed and encouraged to publicize the contest.

The Corporation reserves the right to disqualify and remove any entry which is deemed, in the judging panel's discretion, inappropriate, offensive, defamatory, or demeaning to the Corporation's, AmeriCorps' or any other party's reputation or goodwill. Winners will be notified by e-mail, express mail and/or phone and shall be required to complete an affidavit or declaration of eligibility/liability release and, except where prohibited, a publicity release and such other documents as may be required by the Corporation to protect its right to air and use the winning entry. Required documents must be signed and received within 7 days of the date printed on the prize notification. Failure to comply or return of any prize notification as undeliverable may result in forfeiture of prize and selection of the next highest score entrant as the winner. The Corporation is not responsible for and shall not be liable for late, lost, misdirected, or unsuccessful efforts to notify winners.

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