Terms and Conditions

The competition is open Dec 1, 2008, to Jan. 19, 2009, only, to all young people enrolled in grades 9-12, who are age 18 or younger, as of Jan. 19, 2009. The competition is only open to permanent residents of California. Employees of British Council and the California Air Resources Board (ARB), and any of their subsidiaries, families, agents and anyone professionally associated with this competition, are not allowed to enter.

The entrant must be the person who creates the work submitted and who completes the application form. Closing date for receipt of entries is Jan. 19, 2009 at 11:59pm PST.

Entries must be submitted via the online application system (coming soon!), via e-mail to climatechampions@arb.ca.gov, or by mail to ARB. See How to Apply for information on where to send your application.

Incomplete, illegible or altered entries, or those not in accordance with the entry instructions or guidelines, are invalid. Any entries exceeding the word or time limits indicated will not be considered in the judging process. Only one applicant can be considered for each entry received (in other words, while we will accept entries that were created with a group, each applicant wishing to be considered for the program must submit their own separate, unique entry).

All entries are subject to verification. Entries become the property of the British Council and ARB and cannot be returned. Please ensure you keep a copy for yourself.

1. News Story Submission Guidelines

a) The submission must be original.

b) The submission must be about climate change.

c) The submission can take the form of one of the following:

• a written article that could appear in a newspaper or magazine,

• an online news page (could include multimedia elements),

• a video,

• an audio recording, such as a radio news report or podcast.

d) Submissions, while encouraged to be in the format of a news story, do not need to have been previously published, but previously published submissions will be considered as long as material is original.

e) Entries will be considered invalid and will not be considered if they are:

i. Copyrighted, protected by trade secret or otherwise subject to third party proprietary rights, including privacy and publicity rights, unless you are the owner of such rights or have permission from their rightful owner to submit the material to this competition in full compliance with these Terms;

ii. False, inaccurate, misleading, unlawful, obscene, defamatory, libelous, threatening, pornographic, harassing, hateful, racially, ethnically or otherwise offensive, or encourages conduct that would be considered a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability, violate any law, or is otherwise inappropriate, as may be determined by the program sponsors, or contrary to the program’s other stated policies and procedures, where applicable.

f) Entries will become the property of the California Climate Champions Program and will not be returned. The British Council or ARB may publish entries to promote the competition and/or the International Climate Champions program.

g) In order to be considered, applicants must include the submission along with a fully completed entry form with information including the entrant’s name, date of birth and contact details, including a mailing address and phone number. Contact information for a parent or guardian must also be included.

h) The winning entries will be those that are considered the most apt or original and that demonstrate the best ideas and show the best potential for successfully communicating with others about climate change.

2. Judging and Selection

a) Once the competition closes on Jan. 19, 2009, valid entries will be sorted and judged by a panel. The panel of judges will include at least one member who is independent of the British Council and the California Air Resources Board.

b) The panel will select the best entries as finalists for the California Climate Champions program. Finalists will be chosen at the discretion of the judging panel, whose decision is final. No correspondence with entrants will be entered into prior to this selection.

c) Finalists will be notified by Jan. 26, 2009, and invited to an in-person interview to be scheduled Jan. 30 - Feb. 2, 2009.

d) Notification of finalist status will occur by telephone; a representative of ARB or the British Council will contact the entrant and/or the parent or guardian listed on the entry form at the telephone number(s) provided on the entry form.

e) In-person interviews will be conducted with all finalists in order to identify up to 20 California Climate Champions, and select up to two champions to participate in an all-expenses-paid trip to the United Kingdom in February 2009. Alternate representatives will also be selected.

f) A list of the champions and their winning entries will be available on the program website after Feb. 9, 2009.

g) To qualify for consideration for the international component of the program, entrants must be (i) 16 years of age or older, and (ii) available to travel to the United Kingdom in February 2009.

3. International Travel Details

a) Up to two champions will be selected to participate in one international trip: Edinburgh, United Kingdom (February 2009). Additional international opportunities may become available over the course of the year for which all champions will be eligible, but not guaranteed, to participate.

b) The British Council and/or ARB will provide one adult to travel, as a guardian, with the champions selected for the Edinburgh trip.

c) All travel and accommodation costs for the Edinburgh trip will be paid by the British Council. Travel will include return economy airfare from Los Angeles or San Francisco to the destinations, internal travel costs to allow linkage with the international flight and transfers between the hotel and any venues. Accommodation will be arranged in a hotel at the discretion of the British Council, and will include breakfast daily at the hotel, lunch and an evening meal. Any other meals taken outside of those arranged for the events are not included and will be at the expense of the individual.

d) Telephone calls, laundry and use of any other in-room facilities are not included and must be settled by each individual upon departure from the hotel.

e) Travel insurance is not included and it will be the responsibility of each winner and accompanying adult to make sure that they are fully insured. British Council will cover the costs for travel medical insurance for the portion of the trip that occurs outside the United States.

f) Champions selected for the international travel component of the program will be required to hold full 5-year or 10-year U.S. passports valid at least through April 2009.

g) Each champion selected for international travel will be required to declare any medical or dietary requirements and will need to take any medication with them.

h) Emissions for all travel undertaken by champions as part of the program will be offset through a carbon-offset mechanism. Details will be available on the program website when finalized.

4. Climate Champions Program Details

a) California Climate Champions will be required to participate in a number of duties throughout 2009-2010. This may include meetings with government representatives to discuss climate change, engaging peers in communicating about climate change and speaking to members of the media about the Climate Champions program as well as about climate change awareness.

b) As part of their selection as California Climate Champions, participants commit to undertaking a project, for which British Council and ARB will provide support throughout the coming year. While circumstances may dictate some changes to the project plan or schedule, participants should only submit proposals for projects that they intend to complete, or attempt to complete.

c) California Climate Champions will participate in interactive online activities and discussions as part of the International Climate Champion program for the upcoming year.

d) If and when the program is opened to other states, California Climate Champions will become part of a larger U.S. Climate Champions program.

e) Other trips and/or activities may be made available to Climate Champions throughout the upcoming year.

5. General competition conditions

a) Responsibility cannot be accepted for entries that are incomplete, delivered wrongly, damaged or those not received for whatever reason. Proof of mailing is not proof of receipt.

b) By submitting the entry form the applicant agrees to allow entries to be used for promotional purposes, to be contacted for follow-up if necessary and to accept and abide by the rules.

c) No cash or other alternative in whole or part of selection as a champion will be offered. The British Council reserves the right to offer an alternative prize of equal or greater value to the international trip.

The California Climate Champions program, sponsored by the California Air Resources Board and the British Council, is one of a number of similar initiatives established in many countries around the world. Learn more about the International Climate Champions Program.