No fees or payment necessary to enter the competition.

English language skills necessary for participation.

1. Overview

The 2023 Embassy of Switzerland in Zimbabwe Hybrid Vehicle Branding Design Contest/Competition (the "Contest") is a once off competition that seeks to attract the best professional and student designers to create exciting branding design(s) for the recently acquired hybrid vehicle by the Embassy (Organiser). The Winners (defined below) will be invited to the final presentation of their designs by the Embassy, which will be the culmination of the Contest.

2. Eligibility

The Contest is open to individuals or organisations (Entrants) who meet all of the following requirements:

2.1. Age – Individuals must be at least the age of majority in their jurisdictions of residence.

2.2. Citizenship – the competition is strictly open to Zimbabwean and Swiss residents only.

2.3. Employer/Entity Permission/Acknowledgement – Individual contestants hereby represent and warrant that his/her participation in the Contest will not violate any third-party rights or obligations, including without limitation policies or procedures of an employer or an entity created pursuant to the laws of its jurisdiction. To the extent an Individual’s participation is within the scope of his or her employment as an employee, contractor, or agent, or the purview as a student, member, representative or otherwise of an Entity, the Individual must have notified his or her employer or the Entity, as applicable, at the time of entry in the Contest, including without limitation the potential receipt of a prize.  For the avoidance of doubt, Individuals who are students or employees of entities must meet the requirements of this subsection. The Embassy reserves the right to request documented confirmation of any such approval or acknowledgment from Entrant’s employer or any Entity, as applicable.  The Embassy may disqualify any Entrant who fails to provide such documentation immediately upon request.

2.4. English – Individuals must fluently speak, read, write, and understand English.  All discussions with the Embassy and adjudication panel, as defined below, will be conducted in English.

3. General Conditions of Participation

3.1. An Individual/organisation that meets the applicable eligibility requirements set forth in Section 2 of these Official Rules, signifies agreement to these Official Rules in full, and participates in the Contest is an Entrant ("Entrant").

3.2. By submitting a design, Entrant signifies Entrant’s acceptance of these Official Rules in their entirety.  Receipt of any prize offered in this Contest is dependent upon Entrant’s compliance in full with these Official Rules.

3.3. The Embassy seeks no promises or favouritism for itself or any of its related organisations in exchange for the opportunity to participate in the Contest.  By entering the Contest, Entrant represents, warrants, and agrees that (i.) Entrant’s participation in the Contest – including acceptance of any prize – will not violate any law, regulation, policy or rule; and (ii.) any potential prize is not in exchange for an agreement to influence a recent, pending or anticipated act or decision that may result in Organiser obtaining or retaining business or a business advantage.

3.4. To the extent permitted under applicable law, Entrant agrees that the Embassy may cancel, suspend and/or modify the Contest, or any part of it, if any fraud, technical failures, human error or any other factor impairs the integrity or proper functioning of the Contest.

3.5. Entrant agrees that Organiser may disqualify any Entrant it finds to be tampering with the operation of the Contest or to be acting in violation of the Official Rules or in an unsportsmanlike or disruptive manner.  Any attempt by any Entrant to deliberately undermine the legitimate operation of the Contest may be a violation of the law, and Organiser reserves all rights to seek damages from any such Entrant to the fullest extent permitted by law.

3.6. Organiser is not responsible for incorrect or inaccurate content submitted by Entrant whether caused by internet users or by any of the equipment or programming associated with or utilized in the Contest or by any technical or human error out of the Organiser’s control which may occur in the administration of the Contest.

3.7. Multiple Entrants by an individual are not permitted.  Any attempt by any Entrant to enter more than one design will void that Entrant’s entry and that Entrant will be disqualified.

3.8. Entrants must comply with the applicable laws, decrees, regulations and guidelines of their jurisdiction of residence, and Organiser will have no obligation to change or modify any of these Official Rules or take any further action as a result of such laws, decrees, regulations or guidelines of any jurisdiction, except as is otherwise provided in these Official Rules.

3.9. Organiser’s decisions are final and binding in all matters relating to this Contest, including, but not limited to, interpretation and application of these Official Rules.  By entering the Contest, Entrants fully and unconditionally agree to be bound by these rules and the decisions of the Judges, which will be final and binding in all matters relating to the Contest. Unless explicitly requested by Organiser and the Judges pursuant to Section 5 below, once the initial Submission is submitted, Entrant may not make any alterations.

4. Timing of Contest Stages

4.1. Time frames for Contest stages are set forth below.  All times are expressed in Central African Time ("CAT").

• "Initial Submission Stage": Starts on Monday 3 April 2023 to Sunday 30 April 2023.
• "Shortlisted Entrants" will be contacted on Friday 12 May 2023. 
• "Finalist Designers Stage": will be submit their final designs on Wednesday 31 May 2023. 
• Winning Designers Announcement: Friday 09 June 2023.

5. Contest Structure/Stages

5.1. You must designate yourself as either a "Student" or a "Professional" Entrant and name your country of origin.

5.2. If you designate yourself as a "Student", you must include the name of your current course of study and institution where you study, its address, and its phone number.

5.3. If you are not currently enrolled in a course or study, you must designate yourself as a "Professional". The term "professional" does not require that the Individual works in the field of design. 

5.4. Limit one (1) Submission per Individual. Individuals are not permitted to submit a Submission more than once Duplicate Submissions by the same person will be subject to disqualification.

5.5. All eligible Submissions will be judged by Organiser and Organiser’s judging team.

5.6. All Submissions will be judged based on the following equally-weighted judging criteria (“Judging Criteria”):

• how successfully the Submission adheres to the Design Brief and Design Philosophy, described and defined below;
• the quality of design execution. 
• Organiser and/or the Judges collectively reserve the right to either disqualify any ineligible Submissions or to request that any Entrant re-submit a Submission to conform to these Official Rules during the Submission Stage, or within a time-frame communicated by Organiser.  Should any Entrant be asked to re-submit a Submission and fail to do so during the Submission Stage or within the time-frame and/or manner communicated by Organiser, such Entrant may be disqualified in Organiser’s sole discretion?

5.7. Shortlisted Designers Stage

• Upon the close of the Submission Stage, the Judges will select five (5) Submissions submitted by Student Entrants from both Zimbabwe and Switzerland with the highest average scores from all qualified Student entries received ("Student Shortlisted Designers") and five (5) Submissions submitted by the Professional Entrants with the highest average scores from all qualified Professional entries received ("Professional Shortlisted Designers") to advance to the Final Designers Stage. 
• In the event of a tie, the tied Submissions will be evaluated based on the "quality of design execution" criterion, as determined by the Judges in their sole discretion. 
• Organiser reserves the right to select fewer than 10 total Shortlisted Designers if fewer Entrants are submitted.

5.8. During the Initial Submission Stage, the Professional Shortlisted Designers and the Student Shortlisted Designers shall have the opportunity to progress and further develop their original Submissions in response to feedback from the Embassy, which session may be conducted via video conference or teleconference.

5.9. By the close of the Shortlisted Designers Stage, each Shortlisted Designer must submit his/her final designs in the format designated by Organiser (the "Digital Model"). 

a) All Digital Models in pdf format will be judged by the Judges pursuant to the following criteria:  

• how successfully the design meets the Design Brief;
• how well it shows an exciting concept for the Embassy vehicle; and
• the technical quality of the design itself.

6.   Finalist Stage

6.1. Upon the close of the Shortlisted Designers Stage, the Judges will select the five (5) Submissions submitted by Student Entrants with the highest average scores from all qualified Student entries received ("Student Finalist Designers") and the five (5) Submissions submitted by the Professional Entrants with the highest average scores from all qualified Professional entries received ("Professional Finalist Designers") to advance to the Finalist Designers Stage.

6.2. In the event of a tie, the tied Digital Models will be evaluated based on the "technical quality of the design itself" criterion, as determined by the Judges in their sole discretion.

6.3. Organiser reserves the right to select fewer than 10 total Finalist Designers if fewer Shortlisted Designers submit Digital Models.

6.4. Organiser will notify the Finalist Designers on or around 12 May 2023, by email.

6.5. Finalist Designers will also be subject to a certification process whereby Entrants will be required to provide certain information to Organiser within a designated period of time. Based on the information provided by the Finalist Designers, Organiser will determine, in its sole and absolute discretion, whether each Finalist Designer will advance to the Finalist Designers Stage.

6.6. Pursuant to its certification process, Organiser may require Finalist Designers to:

• Submit a copy of an official government-issued identification for proof of identity, residency, and age;
• Agree, sign, and submit documents confirming Eligibility; Agreement to have his or her Digital Model enlarged to fit the vehicle, Agreement to keep status as a Finalist Designer confidential until Organiser makes a public announcement; and Agree, sign, and submit a publicity release, to the extent permitted in the Entrant’s jurisdiction of residence;

7. Intellectual Property

7.1. By entering, each Entrant warrants and represents the following with respect to Entrant’s Submission:

• Entrant is the sole and exclusive owner of the Submission and Entrant has all appropriate rights, powers and authority to grant Organiser all licenses to the Submission as set forth herein;
• Entrant is not subject to any prior contractual, employment or third party commitments that would restrict Entrant’s ability to create and enter the Submission; 
• the Submission will not infringe on any rights of any third parties, and Entrant has all appropriate rights to use, and to grant Organiser the right to use, any third party content used to develop or contained in the Submission; 
• to the extent possible under applicable law, no party can invoke any moral rights in relation to the Submissions that have not been duly waived;
• the Submission and Entrant’s participation does not violate any local, state, provincial, national or foreign law; 
• the Submission does not contain the confidential information of any third party, and to the extent it contains Entrant’s confidential information, such information immediately becomes non-confidential the moment Entrant submits the Submission to Organiser and 
• the Submission is not being submitted on behalf of any Entity, including without limitation, any education institution or any other third party.

7.2. For the avoidance of doubt, Organiser may publish, distribute, display and otherwise exhibit the Digital Models and Digital Prototypes at any time on a worldwide, perpetual basis, in conjunction with the name, biographical information, photograph or likeness of any Shortlisted or Finalist Designer, in any form, media or technology now known or later developed (including without limitation the Site, Organiser’s websites and social media channels), for display, promotional or marketing purposes, to the fullest extent permitted by law. Entrants acknowledge that visitors to the Site have the right to access information posted to the Site in accordance with the Terms and Conditions of the Site.

7.3. Entrants agree that entering the Contest may affect his/her legal rights, including, but not limited to, each Entrant’s ability to obtain patent rights, copyright registration, trade secret protection, or other intellectual property or proprietary rights with respect to the information disclosed in the Submission.  Entrants agree that Organiser has not induced any Entrant to enter the Contest, and is not responsible or liable to any Entrant for any loss of right suffered by any Entrant for entering the Contest.

8. Submission Guidelines:

8.1. The initial Pdf Submission must include three (3) separate images showing the design from three different vantage points.

8.2. Content Restrictions:

• The Submission must not contain material that violates or infringes any rights of any other party, including but not limited to copyright, trademark, privacy, publicity or any other intellectual property rights;
• The Submission must not have been previously displayed or exhibited publicly;
• The Submission must not disparage Organiser or any other person or party;
• The Submission must not contain material that is inappropriate, indecent, obscene hateful, tortious, defamatory, slanderous or libelous; 
• The Submission must not contain material that promotes bigotry, racism, hatred or harm against any group or individual or promotes discrimination based on race, gender, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age;
• The Submission must not contain material that is unlawful, in violation of or contrary to the laws or regulations of any jurisdiction where Submission is created or submitted; 
• The Submission must be consistent with the image and values of Organiser and be consistent with and satisfy the purpose of the Contest.  In particular, the Submission must align with the Design Brief.

9. Prizes

Two (2) Grand Prizes.  Subject to verification and compliance with these Official Rules, a winner from Zimbabwe and from Switzerland (“Grand Prize Winners”) shall each receive:

9.1. Prizes in cash and/or in kind worth around US$5,000 in total will be awarded.

9.2. An opportunity to work together to finalise the design concept

10. Not an Offer of Employment

Nothing in these Official Rules is an offer or contract of employment of any kind with any Individual.  Entrant acknowledges that Entrant’s Submission and Digital Model have been submitted voluntarily and not in confidence or in trust.  Entrant acknowledges that no confidential, fiduciary, agency or other relationship or implied-in-fact contract now exists between Entrant and Organiser or any of the Released Parties and that no such relationship is established by submission of any Content pursuant to these Official Rules.