Terms & Conditions for The Sherwin I. Seligsohn Innovation Award Competition

PART A – INTRODUCTION

  1. The terms and conditions contained herein (these “Terms & Conditions”) provide for the rules to participate in The Sherwin I. Seligsohn Innovation Award competition (the “Competition”).
  2. The Competition is sponsored by UDC, Inc. (“UDC”), with an address of 250 Phillips Blvd., Ewing, New Jersey 08618, USA.
  3. Information contained on the homepage and in the sub-domain pages of the Competition website seligsohnaward.com (the “Competition Website”) regarding a description of the Competition and submission criteria, how to enter the Competition, and details on the award granted to the winner of the Competition (the “Award”) form part of these Terms & Conditions.
  4. By electing to participate, individuals or organizations that enter the Competition (“Participants”) accept and agree to be bound by these Terms & Conditions.
  5. Idea and invention descriptions along with other required information to be submitted by Participants for consideration in the Competition (“Submissions”) must comply with these Terms & Conditions to be valid.
  6. Where there is an inconsistency between anything on the Competition Website regarding the Competition and the Terms & Conditions on this page, these Terms & Conditions will prevail.
  7. Except where indicated otherwise, all copyright and other rights that subsist in the Competition Website are owned by UDC.
  8. Use of the Competition Website is governed by such website’s Privacy Policy and Legal Terms & Conditions, with links to each found in the footer on each page of the Competition Website.

PART B – PRIVACY

  1. To participate in the Competition, Participants are required to provide personally identifiable information (including but not limited to their name, address, telephone number and/or email address) (“personal information”) through application submission on the Competition Website.
  2. UDC will collect and use personal information provided to, among other things, conduct the Competition (which may include disclosure to third parties for the purpose of processing and conducting the Competition), communicate with Participants, and for publicity regarding the Competition, including to announce the Award winner and winning Submission.
  3. By entering the Competition, Participants consent to the use of their personal information as described above and in the Competition Website Privacy Policy.

PART C – WHO CAN ENTER THE COMPETITION

  1. The Competition is open to all Participants worldwide, including academics, non-academics and students, over the age of 18 by July 31, 2025 (the deadline for Submissions) who submit their work according to the submission rules of the Competition.
  2. Participants may enter Submissions individually or as a group of individuals or on behalf of an organization, subject to the limitations described herein. All group individual Participants will be required to individually accept these Terms and Conditions.
  3. If the winner of the Award is under 18 years of age, the Award will not be awarded, and will be awarded to the runner up.
  4. Directors and employees (and their immediate family members) of UDC and its affiliated companies or agencies, or of UDC suppliers, customers, consultants, affiliated research groups, partners or competitors, or any such related organizations (all as may be determined by UDC in its sole opinion) are not eligible to enter the Competition.
  5. Participants cannot be any person, entity, organization or other party identified in any government restricted or otherwise sanctioned parties list.

PART D – HOW TO ENTER THE COMPETITION

  1. To enter, each Participant (which includes each individual in a group Submission) must comply with and complete the Application Form, consent to these Terms & Conditions, and submit their Submission as instructed on the Competition Website.
  2. Submissions will not be accepted via email or other channels unless officially announced via the Competition Website. If technical difficulties prevent the Competition Website from receiving Submissions, an alternate submission method will be announced on the Competition Website.
  3. More than one Submission per Participant is permitted, up to three (3) separate Submissions by Participant. Each Submission must be unique and submitted separately.
  4. Submissions must not have been used to win awards or prizes in a prior year’s Competition.
  5. All Submissions must be in English.
  6. Submissions may be submitted on the Competition Website beginning at 12:00 AM Eastern Time (ET) on September 18, 2024 up until 11:59 PM ET on July 31, 2025, which is the deadline for entries.
  7. A Submission cannot be modified after it has been submitted unless otherwise permitted by UDC.
  8. UDC accepts no responsibility for late, lost, misdirected or unsubmitted Submissions or other Participant communications.
  9. Participants are responsible for retaining a copy their Submission. All Submissions entered will not be returned by UDC in any format.
  10. UDC reserves the right, at any time and in its sole discretion:
    1. to request verification of the age, identity, address or other information relevant to participation in the Competition of any Participant. UDC reserves the right to disqualify any Participant who provides false or misleading information or fails to provide information that is reasonably requested by UDC;
    2. to refuse to accept Submissions which are incomplete, indecipherable, offensive, contain a computer virus or other material that may be harmful to UDC’s computer systems, do not comply with these Terms & Conditions, or which contravene any applicable laws or regulations; and
    3. to disqualify any Participant who has breached any of these Terms & Conditions, has engaged in unlawful or improper conduct, whose Submission appears to be legally or otherwise problematic (e.g., infringes the patent, copyright, or other intellectual property, privacy or ownership rights of others, is defamatory, etc.),  or otherwise acts to cheat or undermine the fairness of the Competition by, for example, tampering with, or using or exploiting errors in, the entry process to obtain a competitive advantage over other Participants.
  11. The validity of a Submission is solely within the discretion of UDC.
  12. Any costs incurred by a Participant to provide a Submission and enter the Competition will be the sole responsibility of the Participant.
  13. Participant agrees to comply with applicable trade and export laws, rules, regulations, policies and procedures prior to and in connection with making a Submission.
  14. For any information regarding the entry process, submitting work, awards, timing or any technical issues regarding the Competition Website, Participants may contact UDC through the contact methods listed on the Competition Website.

PART E – AWARD

  1. UDC may select up to one winning Submission of the Competition, with the submitting Participant of such Submission receiving the Award equal to US $75,000 in cash. The winning Participant also will have the opportunity to present their winning Submission to and meet with UDC scientific leadership at the company’s headquarters in Ewing, New Jersey, USA, and to enter a future sponsored research and/or consulting arrangement with UDC upon mutually agreeable terms.
  2. If the winning Submission is submitted by a group of individuals or on behalf of an organization, the total amount of the Award will remain at US $75,000, with each member of the submitting group receiving a proportionate amount of the Award, or in the instance of a participating organization, the Award being awarded to the organization (and not to one individual).
  3. The winning Participant must supply bank payment details to UDC to receive payment. Payment transfer will be made within 30 days after announcement by UDC of the Award and UDC’s verification. If bank details are not timely provided, the winning Participant may forfeit their opportunity to receive the Award.
  4. The Award is nontransferable or non-exchangeable and may be used by the winning Participant for any legal purpose, without restriction. The Award is not to be used in conjunction with any other offer.
  5. The payment of any applicable taxes and insurance on the Award and any other related expenses is the sole responsibility of the winning Participant who receives the Award.
  6. A winning Participant’s use of the Award is entirely at their own risk.
  7. UDC will reimburse previously approved, reasonable travel expenses for the winning individual Participant to travel to UDC’s headquarters to present their Submission to and meet with UDC’s scientific leadership team.

PART F – HOW THE WINNING SUBMISSION IS DETERMINED

  1. Each valid Submission will be judged individually on its merits by a Submissions Review Committee consisting of a group of senior UDC scientists and engineering professionals.
  2. The winning entry will be the Submission to best satisfy the content criteria as described on the Competition Website, as determined in the sole opinion of the Submissions Review Committee.
  3. There will be up to one winning Submission selected.
  4. The winning Participant will be notified by the email address registered in their Submission application on the Competition Website.
  5. The winning submission will be announced on the Competition Website on or about 11:59 PM ET on September 30, 2025. UDC may also issue a press release and/or post on social media or its company website regarding the Competition and the winning Submission and Participant.
  6. The Submission Review Committee’s Award determination will be final and binding, and no correspondence with non-winning Participants or other individuals may be provided after a decision is made.
  7. UDC may in its sole discretion not select any winner of the Competition if the Submissions Review Committee determines no Submissions are deemed to merit an Award.
  8. UDC reserves the right to discontinue, cancel, modify or suspend the Competition at any time for any reason, with any such changes to be posted on the Competition Website. UDC may determine in its sole opinion not to hold similar competitions in the future.

PART G – OWNERSHIP AND USE OF SUBMISSIONS; PUBLICITY

  1. Participant certifies that the Submission is their own original work and they have not copied others’ ideas, inventions or other intellectual property contained in the Submission, nor have they, nor are they under an obligation to assign, license or otherwise grant any intellectual property or economic interest in the ideas and inventions set forth in the Submission to any other party unless as expressly set forth in their Submission.
  2. Participant certifies that to the best of their knowledge the Submission does not misappropriate or infringe any third-party rights (including intellectual property and/or privacy rights) and the information submitted in the Submission is represented accurately and sourced appropriately.
  3. To the extent any aspect of the Submission is covered by an existing patent and/or pending patent application, Participant agrees to disclose in its Submission application the details of any such patent or application.
  4. Participant certifies that the contents of the Submission and the Submission itself are not considered a trade secret and are not subject to any confidentiality obligations owed to Participant or to a third party by UDC.
  5. Participant retains ownership rights in the intellectual property owned by them in the Submission. By entering the Competition, and in consideration for the opportunity to enter a Submission and win the Award, Participant hereby agrees to license to UDC and its affiliated entities on a perpetual, non-exclusive and worldwide basis, without compensation, for UDC and its affiliates to develop, make, have made, use, reproduce, market, import, offer to sell and sell, and to otherwise distribute commercial products and technology that implement intellectual property rights (including, without limitation, rights under patent, copyright, trademark, trade secret, unfair competition and related laws) contained in the Submission, regardless of whether Participant is deemed to be the winner of the Competition.
  6. Participant agrees that UDC has non-exclusive permission to use the Participant’s Submission and/or Participant’s name, image and audio and/or visual recordings of Participant in any publicity with due credit. End usage of such information by UDC may include articles in newspapers, magazines, websites, social media posts, blogs, printed materials at UDC’s awards ceremonies, videos and photos, case studies, books and presentations.

PART H – LIABILITY

  1. UDC has, in preparing the Competition information, used its commercially reasonable efforts to ensure that the information contained in these Terms & Conditions and elsewhere on the Competition Website is true and accurate, but accepts no responsibility and disclaims all liability in respect of any errors, inaccuracies or misstatements contained herein.
  2. UDC is not responsible for any injury or damage to a Participant’s or any other person’s computer systems relating to their participation in the Competition or their use of the Competition Website. UDC is not responsible for any error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission, communications line failure, theft, destruction, alteration of or unauthorized access to Submissions, or Submissions lost, damaged or delayed because of server functions, technical issues, viruses, bugs or other causes outside of UDC’s reasonable control.
  3. By participating in the Competition, Participants agree to release, discharge and hold harmless UDC, its respective parents, affiliates, subsidiaries, advertising and promotion agencies, the Sherwin I. Seligsohn Estate or any individual Seligsohn family members, and other individuals engaged in the development or execution of the Competition, from any liability, claims, losses, and damages arising out of or relating to their participation in the Competition or the acceptance, use, misuse, or possession of the Award received in the Competition.
  4. Any electronic or social media platform or medium which UDC may use to communicate regarding the Competition has in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered the Competition and will in no way have responsibility or liability associated with the Competition.

PART I – GENERAL

  1. The decision of UDC in relation to any dispute about these Terms & Conditions, conduct, results, Award grant decision and all other matters relating to the Competition is final in its sole discretion.
  2. The Competition and these Terms & Conditions are governed by the laws of the State of New Jersey, USA. Any dispute arising under the Competition shall be resolved in the United States federal courts serving Trenton, NJ, USA or in the courts of the State of New Jersey, as may be applicable.
  3. UDC may revise these Terms & Conditions at any time by amending this page. Participants are expected to check this page from time to time to take notice of any changes made, as they are binding on all Participants.