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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What do I need to do to win the Grand or Runner Up Prize?
You need to post the mandatory introductory and final summary blogs and any extra credit blogs you choose to write. The judges and element14 will award points for each. The two participants who earn the maximum number of points will win the top prizes.
Can I still be eligible for the Grand Prize or Runner Up Prizes if I am not selected for one of the kits?
Yes, on the condition that you purchase the kit parts and perform experiments with them, and post your blogs in the competition area.
Do I have to post more than 2 blogs to successfully finish the competition?
No. To finish the competition, you have to write and post the introductory and final blogs in the competition area. If you want to, you can post up to 5 more optional blogs for extra credit.
How do you determine who wins the competition?
We award points for blogs based upon their quality, creativity and technical merit. See the judging section for details.
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Tips on Writing Your Application
The key to writing a winning application is to provide as much meaningful information about your proposed experiments as possible.
The application entry form should be adequately detailed to give a good idea of what you plan to do and how you plan to pull it off. By answering each of the following questions in your application, you will provide enough information:
- Describe your technical background.
- Why are you interested in this competition?
- What kind of experiment(s) do you plan to perform? (Be as specific as you can)
- Have you participated in the element14 Community? If so, how many posts have you written?
- 0-5 blogs
- 6-10 blogs
- 11-20 blogs
- 20 or more blogs
All interested element14 members must submit an application entry form before the end of enrollment date.
Here are some other suggestions for completing a winning application:
- Please complete all required information (contact information, etc.) Always use the email address that is associated with your element14 member account.
- Answer all of the application questions. Incomplete applications are deemed ineligible.
- Tell us why you want to be selected.
- Before deciding what you want to write, think about the following things: You are entering a competition. The most persuasive applications are the ones that attract the eye of the judges.
- Be as detailed as possible, but don't write a book.
A single sentence application will never be selected. This competition is not a game of chance. The applications are thoroughly read and reviewed by the program manager.
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Judging
element14 members volunteer to judge the competition. Typically, our judges come from our Top Members group. (In some cases, we use members who are experienced engineers, but not a Top Member.)
| element14 Community Judges element14 Community Team |
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Judging is based upon a point system described below:
Introductory Blog: You must complete the introductory blog and post it to element14 by the deadline (see Timeline Table). This blog should describe what experiments you plan to conduct and any other relevant information that would be of interest to a judge or a blog reader. To get you going, we will award 60 points if you fulfill these conditions.
Judging is based upon a point system described below:
Final Summary Blog: This blog is a standalone, detailed blog that covers the premise of your testing, a description of your experiments, testing methodology, the results of your experiments, and what you learned (e.g., tips, tricks and lessons learned) all WITHIN the blog. You can provide links to your extra credit blogs in a References section. IMPORTANT NOTE: Do not treat this blog as a table of contents or index to your other blogs; if you do, you will not score as high as if you included all the important information in a single final summary blog. This blog will go to the judges. It is worth up to 300 points, based on the judge’s discretion.
Extra Credit Blog: These are blogs that support your experiments and add into your total points. Each extra credit blog can earn up to 20 points. They will be judged in the following manner:
You will be awarded 15 points for explaining the technology providing a closer look or in depth discussion of an experiment.
- You will be awarded 10 points for providing "getting started" steps or a tutorial that explains how to do something that’s relevant to one of your experiments.
- You will be awarded 10 points for providing a kit unboxing or other product photos/videos.
- You will be awarded 1 point for a general update (e.g. I received the kit) or a progress update (e.g., I have been delayed because I am waiting on another part).
- You will be awarded 5 points if you align your blog to accepted best practices of search engine optimization (SEO).
Forum Participation: element14 will review the forum associated with this challenge and award up to a total of 40 points for the following:
- 10 points for asking a question regarding your experiments
- 15 points for providing substantive assistance to another participant
- 5 points for making a general comment