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Official Rules of NIC's Green Corrections Challenge

Each entry must have met the following requirements. Entries not meeting each of the requirements were disqualified.

Presentation

  1. Presentations must be the original creation of the contest participant.
  2. Presentations must have a unique title.
  3. Presentations must be developed for consideration in one of the following categories:
    • Correctional Facilities
    • Education and Training
    • Reentry Programs
    • New Green Corrections Concepts
  4. Presentations must describe a program or activity. Supporting information or measurable outcomes such as cost savings and information on how to replicate or expand the program or activity is strongly encouraged.
  5. Presentations must be educational, not promotional in nature (i.e., a commercial for a product or service) and should tell a story.

Presentation Format

  1. Presentations may be no longer than 7 minutes (420 seconds) in length.
  2. Must be viewable as a timed presentation with voiceover.

Disqualifiers

  1. Presentations may not include creative material including personal appearances, images, original writing, music, photography or illustrations that infringe on any third party rights without appropriate permission secured from the holder of such rights and provided with the submission of the Entry Form. Presentations previously developed by the contest participant for other organizations may be submitted.
  2. Presentations must not have been previously produced for compensation, posted on any DOJ/NIC or FHI 360 webpage, or submitted to DOJ prior to the contest.
  3. Presentations may not incorporate the use of the DOJ/NIC seal or logo or the FHI 360 logo.
  4. Presentations may not contain violence, profanity, sex, images of a prurient nature, or direct attacks on individuals or organizations.

Contest Participants

  1. The challenge forms (including the Entry Form and Certification and Release and Consent Form) must be submitted together in a single e-mail to bop-nic/general@bop.gov.
  2. Only one presentation may be submitted per organization.
  3. All presentations, accompanied by the Entry Form and Certification and a single file of Presentation Release and Consent Forms, must be received by mail no later than 11:59 pm ET on November 3, 2014 at:
    National Institute of Corrections
    c/o Green Corrections Challenge
    500 First Street, NW
    Washington, DC 20154
  4. Only one presentation may be submitted per organization.
  5. Entrants are responsible for obtaining all necessary permissions. All Contest submissions must adhere to the rules of the contest.
  6. Winners must provide a copy of the original presentation to the Hosts and, if requested, a transcript of words spoken or sung in the voiceover.

Questions can be e-mailed to sdavison@fhi360.org. Also view the FAQ page.

Download the Official Rules document here.

Background

The U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Corrections (hereafter DOJ/NIC) and FHI 360 (the “Hosts”) are sponsoring Share Your Green Practices, a contest to share innovative practices within correctional systems and reentry programs. The Hosts are looking for creative presentations from state, county and city departments of corrections and correctional facilities, including correctional contractors, and appropriate partners such as nonprofit organizations, faith-based organizations and probation and parole offices. Presentations should focus on innovative practices and how those practices may be replicated elsewhere and must highlight at least one innovative strategy. Strong presentations will include measurable outcomes, such as cost savings, energy and waste savings, or reduction in recidivism/increased employment placement.

Basic Criteria, Categories, and Winner Recognition

Presentations will be judged on the following criteria:

  • Overall innovation of program or practice.
  • Ability to describe an innovative program or practice.
  • Ability to demonstrate success of program or practice through measurable outcomes.
  • Creativity and originality.

One award will be given in each the following categories:

  • Reentry program
  • Facilities management / complex operations
  • Training program
  • Other / miscellaneous (The hosts reserve the right to change the title of this category upon award.)

National recognition of winners in each category will include:

  • Feature of their innovative practice and video presentation during a national webinar.
  • Promotion and dissemination of their green practices within the greater corrections community by NIC.
Important Dates
  • Submission Period: April 10, 2014 to November 3, 2014, 11:59 pm ET
  • Judging Period: November 4 to November 17, 2014, 11:59 pm ET
  • Winners Announced: On or before November 21, 2014
  • Contest Participant Eligibility
    The Contest is open to local, state and federal agencies, partners including nonprofit organizations and faith-based organizations, and contractors providing services to correctional organizations in the United States and its territories including, but not limited to, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam. The use of federal funding, whether grant, contract or loan proceeds in the development and/or production of any video entry will result in immediate disqualification.

    How to Enter the Contest

    Interested persons should read the Background and Official Rules before entering the contest. Contest information and entry forms are available here.

    In addition to creating an original video presentation, contest participants must:

    1. Download Consent and Release Forms for each individual appearing or providing original material for use in the presentation, and secure the original signatures of each participant or contributor; parents or legal guardians must sign for anyone under age 18.
    2. Complete the Entry Form and Certification found at http://nicic.gov/greencorrectionschallenge.
    3. Complete the Entry Form and Certification.
    4. Submit the entry forms (including the Entry Form and Certification and Release and Consent Form) together in a single e-mail to bop-nic/general@bop.gov.
    5. Save a copy of the presentation with voiceover to a compact disc and mail to:
      National Institute of Corrections
      c/o Green Corrections Challenge
      500 First Street, NW
      Washington, DC 201534

    Presentations may be entered into only one of the four specified categories. Please note that the contest participant cannot make any changes or alterations to any part of the submission once the presentation and entry forms have been submitted. All presentations will be screened by FHI 360 for compliance with contest rules. Failure to meet all contest rules will result in disqualification from the contest.

    Winners

    One winner will be selected for each of the four specified categories. Contest winners (collectively, “Winners”) will be notified by email on or before November 21, 2014 and their names will be posted on the contest and/or NIC website. In the event a winner is disqualified for any reason, DOJ/NIC may select an alternate contest participant to receive the award.

    Winners will be invited to participate in a webinar to share their presentation and innovative practice with the larger corrections community.

    The Hosts may choose to hold an awards ceremony to announce the Winners. In the event an awards ceremony is held, any travel arrangements, including transportation, lodging, meals and incidental expenses will be the sole responsibility of the Winner.

    Judging

    The Hosts will conduct an initial screening of all submissions and make a determination with respect to the eligibility of each Contest participant and their presentation.

    The Hosts will create four volunteer judging panels – one for each of the four specified categories. Each judging panel will be comprised of three to five volunteer judges chosen from federal agencies involved in green activities, national nonprofit stakeholders and/or industry. Each judge will be screened by FHI 360 to ensure he/she does not have a familial relationship or a personal or financial interest in any contest participant.

    Winners will be selected based on an overall score against the stated criteria. All judging is in the Hosts’ sole discretion and all decisions are final. In the event of a tie, the Winner will be selected at the discretion of the Hosts.

    The Hosts reserve the right to eliminate any of the four stated award categories if, in their sole discretion, it is determined that there are no eligible submissions or if eligible submissions are judged to be of poor quality.

    Disclaimer
    The Hosts and their agents are not responsible for:
    • Any incorrect or inaccurate information, whether caused by contest participants, printing errors, or by any of the equipment or programming associated with or utilized in the contest
    • Technical failure of any kind, including, but not limited to malfunctions, interruptions or disconnections in phone lines or network hardware or software
    • Technical or human error which may occur in the administration of the contest or the processing of entries
    • Any injury or damage to persons or property which may be caused, directly or indirectly, in whole or in part, from contest participant’s participation in the contest or receipt, use or misuse of any prize.

    If for any reason a contest participant’s entry is confirmed to have been erroneously deleted, lost, or otherwise destroyed or corrupted, the contest participant’s sole remedy is another entry in the contest.

    General Conditions

    Contest hosts are the U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Corrections, 500 First St. NW, 2nd Floor Washington, DC 20534, (DOJ/NIC) and Family Health International (FHI 360), 1825 Connecticut Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20009. The Hosts will make all decisions related to the development, management, and implementation of the contest.

    The Hosts reserve the right at any time, for any reason, to cancel, suspend, and/or modify the contest, or any part of it.

    Privacy Policy

    Any personal information collected from presentation submitters to the DOJ/NIC FHI 360 Share Your Green Practices Video Contest 2014 will never be sold. The information collected for this Contest will only be used for purposes of the contest to contact presentation submitters in direct relation to the contest. The contest winners’ names will be announced publicly as a part of DOJ/NIC’s contest award recognition process.

    Applicable Law

    This contest is subject to all applicable Federal laws and regulations. Download the Background document here.