STEM-Cast Contest

OFFICIAL RULES

No purchase necessary to enter or win. A purchase will not affect your chances of winning.

1. Sponsor:

The STEM-Cast Contest (the "Contest") is sponsored by PCS Edventures, 11915 W. Executive Dr., Boise, ID (the “Sponsor”). The Sponsor is responsible for all aspects of the Contest. Participation in the Contest constitutes the participant's full and unconditional agreement to these Official Rules, and Sponsor’s decisions, which are final and binding in all matters related to the Contest.

2. Eligibility:

The Contest is only open to participants who are all of the following:

• legal residents of the United States or Canada
• 18+ years old at the time of entry
• and educators working in a public, private, charter, out-of-school-time, or homeschool co-op setting (the “Entrant”).

Employees of PCS Edventures, their respective affiliates, subsidiaries, advertising and promotion agencies, suppliers and their immediate family members and/or those living in the same household of each are not eligible to participate in the Contest. The Contest is subject to all applicable federal, state and local laws and regulations. Void where prohibited or restricted by law, rule, or regulation.

3. Contest Period:

The Contest will be conducted in the following phases:

1. Contest Registration & Submission (the "Entry Period"): 10/05/2023 @ 8 AM - 10/26/2023 @ 11:59 PM Mountain Time
2. Public Voting: 10/12/2023 @ 12 AM - 10/26/2023 at 11:59 PM Mountain Time
3. Grand Prize Winner Announcement: 11/1/2023
4. Prize Fulfillment: On or after 11/10/2023

All times are (GMT-07:00) Mountain Time (US & Canada). Entries submitted before or after the Entry Period will not be eligible. Sponsor’s computer is the official timekeeping device for the Contest.

4. How to Enter:

Step 1. Register. Entrants must first register to be eligible to submit a podcast. Registration grants entrants access to a free trial of Soundtrap, along with other resources to create their podcast.

Entrants must register with their work email address, not a personal account.

Step 2. Submit Podcast. During the Submission period, entrants must upload their podcast entry to the contest Submission form.

The entry must fulfill all Contest requirements, as specified, to be eligible to win a prize. Entries that are not complete or do not adhere to the rules or specifications may be disqualified at the sole discretion of PCS Edventures. You may enter only once and you must provide the information requested. You may not enter more times than indicated by using multiple e-mail addresses, identities or devices in an attempt to circumvent the rules. If you use fraudulent methods or otherwise attempt to circumvent the rules your submission may be removed from eligibility at the sole discretion of PCS Edventures.

Step 3. Voting Period. Entrants collect votes from members of their organization, colleagues, family, friends, etc. and share their submissions to social media. Within each category, the submission with the highest number of votes will be awarded a prize.

5. Qualifying Submissions:

1. Entrants must first submit the Registration form using their work email address, not a personal account.
2. Entrants must select one category for their podcast entry (The Impact of STEM Education on My: Learners, Instruction, or Learning Environment.)
3. Podcast entries must be between 2 and 3 minutes in length, recorded in Soundtrap.
4. Only the educator entering the contest may be recorded in the podcast. Do not share personal information. No personally-identifiable information about students or anyone under 18 years old may be recorded.
5. Entries must be in .mp3 format. Files must be named with the entrant's name (ie. John_Smith.mp3).
6. Entrants must include a photo or recognizable avatar for their podcast. The image size must be under 2MB, at least 1,000 x 1,000 pixels, and can be in a .jpg, .gif or .png format.
7. Entries may not include any copyrighted material.

6. Moderation & Judging:

Moderation. Entries will be moderated by PCS Edventures prior to appearing in the gallery. Any entry that does not follow the submission requirements, is off-topic, or includes offensive content/language will be rejected.

Rejected Entires. Rejected Entrants will be notified by email. If the entry period is still open, rejected entries may be edited and re-submitted.

Public Voting. During the voting phase, 1 winner for each of 3 categories will be chosen by public vote . 

The 3 categories include:

1. The impact of STEM on my learners
2. The impact of STEM on my instruction
3. The impact of STEM on my learning environment

Grand Prize Winner. Of those 3 winners, PCS Edventures will choose 1 Grand Prize winner based on the following criteria:

• Best story (good communication, story progression, clarity, impact)
• Audio quality (clear audio, inflections, little or no background distractions)
• Use of technology (use of music and supporting audio files to complement message)
• Creativity (use of sounds and loops)

7. Prizes:

The approximate retail value of all prizes is $5893 plus shipping & handling (shipping calculated upon fulfillment). The prizes are:

• Grand Prize: Discover Podcasting Complete Program for up to 30 students, and a $100 Visa gift card.
• 2nd & 3rd Place Prize: Discover Podcasting Club packs for up to 10 students, and a $100 Visa gift card.

Prizes are awarded to the winner's organization. To accept the prize, the winner's organization must complete a W9 form and a Prize Acceptance Form.

Visa Gift Cards will be distributed directly to the business email addresses of the Entrants.

Actual/appraised value may differ at time of prize award. The specifics of the prize shall be solely determined by the Sponsor. No cash or other prize substitution permitted except at Sponsor's discretion. The prize is nontransferable. Any and all prize related expenses, including without limitation any and all federal, state, and local taxes shall be the sole responsibility of the winner. No substitution of prize or transfer/assignment of prize to others or request for the cash equivalent by winners is permitted. Acceptance of prize constitutes permission for PCS Edventures to use winner's name, likeness, and entry for purposes of advertising and trade without further compensation, unless prohibited by law.

8. Winner Notification:

Winners of the Contest will be notified via e-mail or phone to the e-mail address or phone number they entered into the Contest on after 10/27/2023. PCS Edventures shall have no liability for a winner's failure to receive notices due to winners' spam, junk e-mail or other security settings or for winners' provision of incorrect or otherwise non-functioning contact information. If the selected winner cannot be contacted, is ineligible, fails to claim the prize before 11/1/2023, or fails to timely return a completed and executed declaration and releases as required, prize may be forfeited. The receipt by winner of the prize offered in this Contest is conditioned upon compliance with any and all federal and state laws and regulations. ANY VIOLATION OF THESE OFFICIAL RULES BY ANY WINNER (AT SPONSOR'S SOLE DISCRETION) WILL RESULT IN SUCH WINNER'S DISQUALIFICATION AS WINNER OF THE CONTEST AND ALL PRIVILEGES AS WINNER WILL BE IMMEDIATELY TERMINATED.

9. Rights Granted by you:

By entering this Contest you understand that PCS Edventures, anyone acting on behalf of PCS Edventures, or its respective licensees, successors and assigns will have the right, where permitted by law, without any further notice, review or consent to print, publish, broadcast, distribute, and use, worldwide in any media now known or hereafter in perpetuity and throughout the World, your entry, including, without limitation, the entry and winner's name, portrait, picture, voice, likeness, image or statements about the Contest, and biographical information as news, publicity or information and for trade, advertising, public relations and promotional purposes without any further compensation.

10. Terms:

PCS Edventures reserves the right, in its sole discretion to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the Contest should (in its sole discretion) a virus, bugs, non-authorized human intervention, fraud or other causes beyond its control corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness or proper conduct of the Contest. In such case, PCS Edventures may judge submissions from all eligible entries received prior to and/or after (if appropriate) the action taken by PCS Edventures. PCS Edventures reserves the right at its sole discretion to disqualify any individual who tampers or attempts to tamper with the entry process or the operation of the Contest or website or violates these Terms & Conditions.

PCS Edventures has the right, in its sole discretion, to maintain the integrity of the Contest, to void entries for any reason, including, but not limited to; multiple entries from the same user from different IP addresses; multiple entries from the same computer in excess of that allowed by Contest rules; or the use of bots, macros or scripts or other technical means for entering. Any attempt by an entrant to deliberately damage any web site or undermine the legitimate operation of the Contest may be a violation of criminal and civil laws and should such an attempt be made, PCS Edventures reserves the right to seek damages from any such person to the fullest extent permitted by law. By entering the Contest you agree to receive email newsletters periodically from PCS Edventures. You can opt-out of receiving this communication at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in the newsletter.

11. Limitation of Liability:

By entering you agree to release and hold harmless PCS Edventures and its subsidiaries, affiliates, advertising and promotion agencies, partners, representatives, agents, successors, assigns, employees, officers and directors from any liability, illness, injury, death, loss, litigation, claim or damage that may occur, directly or indirectly, whether caused by negligence or not, from (i) such entrant's participation in the contest and/or his/her acceptance, possession, use, or misuse of any prize or any portion thereof, (ii) technical failures of any kind, including but not limited to the malfunctioning of any computer, cable, network, hardware or software; (iii) the unavailability or inaccessibility of any transmissions or telephone or Internet service; (iv) unauthorized human intervention in any part of the entry process or the Contest; (v) electronic or human error which may occur in the administration of the Contest or the processing of entries.

12. Disputes:

THIS CONTEST IS GOVERNED BY THE LAWS OF UNITED STATES AND IDAHO, WITHOUT RESPECT TO CONFLICT OF LAW DOCTRINES. As a condition of participating in this Contest, participant agrees that any and all disputes which cannot be resolved between the parties, and causes of action arising out of or connected with this Contest, shall be resolved individually, without resort to any form of class action, exclusively before a court located in ID having jurisdiction. Further, in any such dispute, under no circumstances will participant be permitted to obtain awards for, and hereby waives all rights to claim punitive, incidental, or consequential damages, including reasonable attorneys' fees, other than participant's actual out-of-pocket expenses (i.e. costs associated with entering this Contest), and participant further waives all rights to have damages multiplied or increased.

13. Privacy Policy:

Information submitted with an entry is subject to the Privacy Policy stated on the PCS Edventures Web Site. Read the Privacy Policy here: https://edventures.com/pages/privacy-policy

14. Winners List:

For the names of the winners, please contact us at and in the body of the email type 'Please e-mail me the winners' list for the PCS Edventures Contest.

15. Sharing Disclaimer:

This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with Facebook or Meta, Twitter or X.com, YouTube, Pinterest, LinkedIn or Google. You understand that you are providing your information to the owner of this Contest and not to the listed platforms.