Definitions

The American Society of Microbiology will be subsequently abbreviated to ASM. Herein "Work" refers to participants' contest submissions, including, but not limited to videos, photos, writing, artwork and/or designs. "Participants" refers to all individuals involved in the creation of said Work and "Submitter" refers to the individual submitting said Work on behalf of all participants to ASM. Submitter accepts the responsibilities detailed below on behalf of any and all additional, associated participants.

Eligibility

This contest is open to all ASM members, as well as non-members. Current ASM staff are not eligible, though ASM volunteers, former ASM staff and the friends and relatives of ASM staff are eligible if they meet the primary eligibility criteria specified above.

Participation in this contest is open to groups of participants limited to 5 participants. 

Two submissions total (“Traditional” + “Open”) by the same Participant are permitted.

Submitters must be 18 years of age or older. As it is relevant to the contest rules specified above, the Submitter must have prior permission from the appropriate legal guardians of any participant under 18 years of age (i.e. a minor) in order to submit work on behalf of said minor(s).

There is no entry fee for participation in the Agar Art contest.

Responsibilities of Participants

The Submitter, on behalf of all associated participants, affirms that: (1) they have authority to submit said Work for this contest; (2) the submitted Work is the original creation of the participants, has not appeared anywhere else in any other form and does not violate or infringe upon any copyright, trademark, privacy or other proprietary rights of any entity or person; (3) the participants have secured any and all permissions and releases from any applicable third parties as required by law in the creation of the Work and royalty-free, irrevocable and perpetual license of said Work to ASM; and (4) for any and all minors (persons under the age of 18 years old) permission for their participation in the creation of said Work has been obtained from their legal guardian(s), prior to participation in creating said Work and after disclosure of any and all risks involved.

The Submitter, on behalf of all associated participants, hereby acknowledges and agrees to the following:

1. Each participant has accepted full responsibility for submitting any necessary ethics-related report(s) to their employer, funding agency and/or appropriate managing office and the responsibility of advising ASM if ASM is required to submit a report to any of these same entities.
2. ASM has the right, but not the obligation, to monitor this contest to ensure compliance with all legal conditions and guidelines. Submitter agrees that the burden of determining the Submitter's legal authority to use, display, submit and license rights of said Work and its components lies solely with the Submitter, who also bears the sole liability for any damages related to infringement upon the aforementioned rights of any other entity or person.
3. Because the “Traditional” portion of the contest involves the use of live organisms, each participant submitting to this category should familiarize themselves with ASM’s Guidelines for Biosafety in Teaching Laboratories. ASM and any relevant partners, affiliates and sponsors are not liable for any and all costs, damages, claims, sickness, illness, injuries, liabilities or expenses of any sort associated with the creation and/or submission of said Work, the acceptance and use of any prize awarded or any public comments made by third parties about said Work upon its public display.
4. ASM is not responsible for any technical failures or problems of any kind associated with any mode of electronic submission used, nor for any delays, restrictions or problems associated with postal delivery of said Work.
5. ASM is not responsible for any damages and/or alterations to said Work resulting from the selected or required delivery method.
6. No component of said Work is permitted to contain any language, imagery or themes that are offensive, objectionable, discriminatory or threatening against any persons or illegal.

Rights of ASM and Governing Law

ASM retains the right to alter, effectively immediately, any component of this contest at any time without prior notification, including, but not limited to, suspending and/or prematurely terminating this contest prior to the close of the submission date. Should ASM decide to prematurely terminate this contest, any materials physically delivered to ASM will be returned to Submitters, electronic submissions will be deleted, and all rights will revert back to the Submitter and any and all additional participants.

All Works and participants associated with any participant suspected or known to be in violation of the legal conditions and guidelines set forth in this contest will be disqualified at ASM's sole determination without the obligation of prior notification or means to appeal.

ASM retains the right to overrule or amend any decisions by non-ASM staff judges, without prior notification.

All ASM contests' legal conditions and guidelines are governed by the laws of the District of Columbia. Any claim, dispute or suit arising from an ASM sponsored contest will be settled in this venue.
Void where prohibited by law.

Final Ownership of Work

Submitter, on behalf of all participants, hereby agrees to license the Work to ASM for the full term of copyright and any extensions thereto on a nonexclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide basis. This license from Submitter to ASM shall include the right to: (i) publish, reproduce, distribute, publicly display and archive the Work in all forms, now known or later developed, (ii) create adaptations or other derivative works based on the Work, (iii) sell copies of the Work with or without other submitted works and (iv) sublicense to others on an noncommercial or commercial basis to do any or all of the above. Submitter affirms that he/she has the legal authority to grant these rights.

Submitter hereby agrees on behalf of all associated participants that the names and/or biographical and demographic information of each associated participant, including the Submitter, may be used by ASM without compensation, unless prohibited by law, for promotional purposes of this current and any future contests or similar contests, including, but not limited to, announcement of contest winners and advertisements. ASM agrees to request additional, subsequent permission for the use of any participant's likeness, image/photograph and/or voice outside of any of these already provided as part of said Work, in the event the need or desire arises.

Agar Art Partner Rights

If the Work was created through a workshop held by an ASM Agar Art Partner, Submitter also agrees to grant that partner a license to publish, reproduce, distribute and publicly display the Work.

Compensation and Prizes

Submitter acknowledges on behalf of all participants that participation in this contest is voluntary and that no participant will receive financial compensation of any type associated with this submission or from any use of the submission by ASM.

Prizes will be awarded to the submitter and/or any other parties specified in the individual contest language, if such language is present. Prizes are non-transferrable. Awardees are responsible for all federal, state and local taxes, surcharges and fees applicable to the prizes. Forfeited prizes, through awardee refusal or disqualification of participant(s)/associated work, must be returned to ASM within 90 days of forfeiture, if dispatched. ASM may, at its sole discretion, decide to award said prizes to other parties entered in the same contest. ASM is not responsible for lost or stolen prizes.