Enter our new Generation Freedom competition!

Attention! The competition results will be published around 31.08.23

Innovation for Freedom is more than just a slogan. It’s a call to action

Take the challenge.

Win a visit to Poland and seat at the unforgettable the Three Seas Generation Freedom Conference in Warsaw at the Warsaw University of Technology in 22 September 2023. Become one of 50 winners who will receive EUR 350 for a journey to Warsaw and will spend two days with some of the region’s brightest minds.

Your entry will also have a chance to win Grand Prix prize: EUR 4000 – a special award to support your Project.

The competition is open to young adults between 18 and 27 years old from the Three Seas region, 12 countries in Central Eastern Europe (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Austria, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovenia and Croatia).

Competition Title: “Innovation Challenge”

Challenge Details:

The “Innovation for Freedom Challenge” calls on you to manifest your vision for a world in which innovation serves as a driver for freedom. Be it through freedom of speech, freedom of action, freedom from oppression, or any other meaningful interpretations of freedom that matters to individuals and communities.

Your task is to come up with a compelling text or a 2-minute video describing and justifying an innovative project that champions freedom. How would your concept influence the freedom of speech, people, and yourself?

Video Submission Guidelines:

The video should not exceed a length of 2 minutes.
The video should be recorded in English, with clear audio and video quality.
Include a brief introduction about yourself and the project.
Describe your innovative project, and explain how it supports and amplifies freedom. Be creative and precise in your explanation.
Discuss the impact your innovation could have on individuals and communities.
The video can be recorded in any style that you feel best conveys your idea (e.g., documentary, animation, slideshow with voiceover, etc.).
Remember to end your video with a strong conclusion, wrapping up your ideas and leaving a memorable impact.

Written Submission Guidelines:

The text should not exceed 1000 words.
The text should be written in English with proper grammar and punctuation.
Start with a brief introduction about yourself and the project.
Elaborate on your innovative project, explaining how it supports and amplifies freedom.
Discuss the potential impact of your innovation on individuals and communities.
Your text can take any form such as an essay, poem, short story, etc. Be creative and compelling.
Conclude your text in a way that leaves a memorable impression and neatly encapsulates your concept.
Evaluation Criteria:

Submissions will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

Creativity: How original and unique is your idea?
Relevance: Does your project address the theme ‘Innovation for Freedom’?
Potential Impact: Does your idea have the potential to bring about positive changes to individuals or communities?
Presentation: How well did you communicate your ideas and concept?
Feasibility: Can your idea realistically be implemented?

Remember, the goal of this competition is not only to inspire innovation, but to inspire freedom. We can’t wait to see your ideas come to life!
Good luck!

Contest Rules and Regulations

§ 1. Organizer

1. The Organizer of the Contest titled „Innovation for Freedom Challenge” (hereinafter the “Contest,) is the State of Poland Foundation, located at Al. Jerozolimskie 7, Warsaw, 00-955, NIP 7010917548, REGON 383016091, KRS number 0000779650 (hereinafter the “Organizer”).
2. The prizes are funded by the Organizer.
3. The Contest Rules and Regulations (hereinafter the “Rules”) list the conditions for participation and the rules of the Contest, and specify the rights and responsibilities of Contest’s participants, as well as the rights and responsibilities of the Organizer.
4. All inquiries regarding the Contest are to be submitted via email to the Organizer’s address: hello@stateofpoland.pl.

§2. Aim of the Contest

The aim of the Contest is to select the best written or video submissions on the topic: „Innovation for Freedom Challenge“. Make a 2 minute video or write a description and justification of the project. Your task is to come up with a compelling text or a 2-minute video describing and justifying an innovative project that champions freedom. How would your concept influence the freedom of speech, people, and yourself? (hereinafter the “Entry”).

1. Entries must fulfill the following criteria:
   1. the submissions, both project description or video, must include applicable factor (feasible projects that can be implemented into reality);
   1. length of project description: max 1000 words; length of the video: 2 minutes;
   1. the project description must be written in English; the video should have English voiceover or subtitles.

§3. Contest Participants

1. The Contest is open to the public.
2. Participation in the Contest is voluntary and free of charge.
3. The Contest is open exclusively to Participants aged from 18 up to 27 years.
4. The Contest is open exclusively to citizens of any of the following countries: Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Austria, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia, and Croatia.
5. The Contest is open exclusively to individuals who own the copyright to Entries, created individually or collaboratively. In the event that the copyright to a work is owned by more than one individual, those individuals participate in the Contest as a group.
6. Each Participant may submit only one Entry.
7. Employees of the Organizer and their relatives, members of the Panel Judges and their relatives, and employees of entities represented by members of the Panel of Judges and the relatives of said employees are prohibited from participating in the Contest.

§4. Conditions for Participation

1. In order to take part in the Contest, each Participant must:
   1. read and accept these Rules;
   1. submit Entry that meets the criteria specified in these Rules, within the period specified herein, via email, to the address: hello@stateofpoland.pl.
2. Entries must be written or recorded independently and must be original works of writing or recordings that have not previously been used or awarded.
3. By participating in the Contest, each Participant consents to the publication of their Entry through the State of Poland Foundation’s communication channels.
4. The Contest is subject to the provisions of these Rules.
5. The Rules shall be published on the Organizer’s website, at the following address: www.stateofpoland.pl.

§5. Submission of Entries

1. The project description must be submitted to the Contest in the form of a document. The Document mentioned should be submitted to the Organizer in PDF format.
2. The Video must be submitted to the Contest in mp4 format.
3. The Organizer shall not be held liable for errors, omissions, loss, damage, substitutions, unauthorized access to submissions, or delays in their delivery, caused by external factors beyond the Organizer’s control and which affect the correctness of the submissions.
4. Entries that fail to fulfill the criteria specified in these Rules will not be accepted as Contest entries.

§6. Panel of Judges

1. Members of the Panel of Judges are appointed by the Organizer.
2. The Panel of Judges comprises employees or regular collaborators of the State of Poland Foundation.

§7. Contest Schedule and Assessment of Entries

1. The Contest begins 26 June 2023, and ends at 12:00 pm (noon) CET on 14 August 2023, the non-extendible deadline for submission of Entries.
2. Entries submitted to the Contest will be assessed for formal eligibility by the Panel of Judges appointed by the Organizer.
3. The Panel of Judges appointed by the Organizer will, by 16 August 2023, judge all submitted Entries and select the winners, who will be announced on the website www.stateofpoland.pl and on the Organizer’s Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/stateofpoland.
4. Furthermore, Participants of the Contest will be notified via email at the address from which they submitted their Entry.

§8. Prizes and Honors

1. The Panel of Judges will select the winners by choosing the best Entries among the submitted Entries (hereinafter: the Winners).
2. Save for the provisions of point 4 below, fifty (50) equal and unranked prizes will be awarded. The Organizer of the Contest reserves the right to award a smaller number of prizes in the event that the submitted Entries are not qualified/selected by the Panel of Judges.
3. Prizes – the Winners will receive an invitation to the Three Seas Generation Freedom Future Leader Conference, which will take place on September 22, 2023, in Warsaw at the Warsaw University of Technology (hereinafter the “Conference”) as well as will be given the opportunity to participate in the workshops entitled „Creating innovations for freedom” to learn how to create innovative solutions that respond to important social problems, which will take place on September 23, 2023, in Warsaw at the Warsaw University of Technology (hereinafter the “Workshops”). The Winners will receive cash award in the amount of EUR 350 as part of the award. The cash Prize will be given to the Winners after Workshops.
4. The Panel of Judges will select the Grand Prix Winner by choosing the best of the Entries. Grand Prix will be a special award in the form of financial support in the amount of EUR 4000 that may be used for implementation of the project/support for conceptual work as described in the Entry winning Grand Prix.
5. The receipt of the prize and Grand Prix award by the Winner is conditioned upon signing a contract transferring the copyrights to the winning Entry to the Organizer and the submission of the Winner’s tax residency certificate.
6. The Grand Prix award worth more than PLN 2,000 will be subject to an advance personal income tax of 10% of the value of the Grand Prix award in the case of Winners with tax residency in Poland and those who have not submitted a tax residency certificate.
7. In the event that the Conference is canceled for any reason (in particular, due to restrictions associated with the Covid-19 pandemic), the Organizer will not be required to provide any substitution prize. However, in such an event, the Organizer will reimburse the Winner for any incurred expenses associated with Winner’s planned participation in the Conference (transportation), particularly the cost of purchased travel tickets.

§9. Personal Data

1. The Participant, by providing his or her personal data, consents to the publication, in the event that the Participant is chosen as a winner, of his or her first and last name in the communication channels used by the Organizer (including but not limited to the Organizer’s website, Facebook page, and Instagram profile).
2. The Contest Participants’ personal data will be used exclusively for the purpose of conducting the Contest, pursuant to the law on Personal Data Protection of May 10, 2018 (Dz. U 2019, item 1781) and Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation). Each Participant of the Contest has the right to access and rectify his or her personal data.
3. By agreeing to the provisions contained in these Rules and by taking part in the Contest, the Participant furthermore agrees to the publication of his or her first and last name for the purpose of conducting the Contest and the announcement of the results thereof.
4. Personal data is provided on a voluntary basis; however it is a necessary condition for the Participant’s receipt of the prize.

§10. Copyrights

1. The Participant states that he or she owns full economic and moral rights to the Entries submitted by the Participant.
2. The Participant states that his or her Entry does not violate any rights of any third party. The Participant shall indemnify the Organizer and hold it harmless against any and all third-party claims, and shall satisfy such claims in full. In the event of a claim made by a third party, the Participant undertakes to immediately join the case on the Organizer’s side and satisfy all valid, legally adjudicated or granted claims of the plaintiff along with the due costs.
3. The Organizer is entitled to disqualify any Entry that violates the copyrights or other rights of third parties.
4. By submitting Participant’s Entry to the Contest, each Participant grants the Organizer permission to use and dispose of the Entry for the purpose of the Contest.

§11. Final Provisions

1. The Organizer reserves the right to cancel the Contest in the event that:
   1. no submissions are received;
   1. the submissions fail to meet the conditions of these Rules;
   1. circumstances beyond the control of the Organizer prevent the completion of the contest.
2. Individuals who fail to meet any of the requirements listed in these Rules or who provide false information shall be disqualified from the Contest.
3. By taking part in the Contest, the Participant accepts the provisions of these Rules.
4. Each Participant shall bear any and all costs involved in preparing and submitting their Entry.
5. The Organizers of the Contest will cover the cost of lodging of the Winners participating in the Conference and the Workshops, at a location of its choosing in Warsaw for the duration of the Conference and the Workshops (i.e., September 21–24, 2023), as well as the meals during the Conference and the Workshops.
6. The Contest Organizer reserves the right to amend these Rules provided that said amendments do not violate the Participant’s acquired rights. Amendments to the Rules will enter into force upon the publication of the amended Rules and Regulations on the Organizer’s website, www.stateofpoland.pl.
7. All issues not settled herein are regulated by the Civil Code.
8. Any disputes arising between the Participants and the Organizer shall be settled by the common court having jurisdiction over the location of the Organizer.