The UniKeep Design Awards were initiated to encourage our users to share their unique and creative ways of customizing their UniKeep View Case Binders. Our goal is to make the widest variety of covers and cover templates available online that can be used by anyone, anywhere.

By hosting your designs on your own site, your contest entries can increase the traffic to your site from a targeted audience.

Entry requirements | Judging criteria | Resources | Cover templates

Entry requirements

There are a few minimum requirements that determine whether an entry can be accepted.

1. All contestants must be 13 years of age or older as of January 1, 2008 to participate.

2. All entries must be files in either Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF), Microsoft Word (.doc), or JPEG format (.jpg).

4. The page where the file is located on your site must contain a description of the cover referring to "UniKeep" in plain text as well as a thumbnail image of the cover for reference. The thumbnail image must be a JPG or GIF approximately 150 pixels wide with the phrase "ukp08" as part of the file name. If you send your files directly to UniKeep, your files may be renamed to conform to contest rules.

5. The designer/contest entrant must own the copyright for all content or post authorization to use copyrighted or use-restricted content that includes approval for rule 6.

6. The designer must display a grant of rights to all visitors for their individual use. See Resources for suggested content. Each entrant must grant UniKeep the right to use and display prints of the cover for marketing purposes.

Sample site listing:

Festive Flag for 1.0 UniKeep Binder Hobbies and recreation / 11 x 17 for 1.0 or 1.5 Binder Download This cover is fashionable and fun to use - I printed two and used them back to back so the colors show on the INSIDE of my clear 1.0 UniKeep View Case Binder. There are two PDF versions - one allows the user to add a title - and a Word version that allows the user to add text or images.

Individual permitted use copyright: You are only authorized to print, use, and to retain a copy of this UniKeep Binder insert page for your own personal use. Do not duplicate, publish, modify or otherwise distribute the material on this site unless specifically authorized by Site Owner to do so. The content on this page is the property of Site Owner and is protected by the U.S. and international copyright laws. All other rights reserved.

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Categories

General categories are required for the purpose of judging and for helping users find templates that are of particular interest to them. There will be some overlap in content, but each entry must choose only one category to participate in.

1. Arts & entertainment. Anything involved in creating, distributing, promoting or displaying any form of artistic expression. May include photo albums, portfolios, scripts, sheet music, recorded music or video.

2. Business & professional. Covers designed to be used for work. May include presentations, reports, archives, personal record keeping, marketing and sales materials or business publications. This is the only category where entries are not required to be useful for others.  You may submit company-specific designs to share your concepts and be eligible to win.

3. Education. Anything used for school or teaching. May include school reports, memory books, homework, notebooks, records, project presentations, teaching plans or school publications.

4. Sports. Big league to little league, anything sports-related fits here. May include record books, rule books, play books, stats, memory books or team rosters.

5. Hobbies & recreation. Fun and non-profit. May include scrapbooks, travelogues, journals, home decorating planners, family albums, or craft and project files.

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Judging criteria

Within each category, entries will be judged using the same judging criteria. Also see the monthly winner page to see judges comments to help you see what they like!

1. Appropriate content (10 percent) Does the content fit the category? Is the content suitable for public use? We won't presume to judge whether or not it's art, but if it wouldn't be acceptable for a Times Square billboard, it won't be accepted here.

2. UniKeep Brand (10 percent) Does the cover embrace the UniKeep brand promise? This doesn't mean it needs to have our logo, but each entry will be judged on its contribution to organization and clear communication.

3. Technical specifications (10 percent) Is the overall size and layout correct? Is the file format JPG, PDF or Microsoft Word and is it under 2MB? Are all the fonts and images embedded in the file?

4. Ease of Use (10 percent) Can the file be downloaded easily from a dial-up connection? Can my mother open and successfully print the file? The answer doesn't have to be yes to these questions, but they could really help your score. Keep in mind we can't judge a file we can't open and print!

5. Overall design (30 percent) Is the layout clean? Does the design communicate well? Is it unique in design and interesting to wide audience of UniKeep users?

6. Overall organization (20 percent) Does this cover help general UniKeep users organize important information in a useful and flexible system?

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Contest rules

No purchase necessary. Although it's a lot of fun to use what you design, you don't actually have to purchase a UniKeep View Case Binder to create a template. You can use our sample templates as a guide for your layouts.

Void where prohibited by law. Any disputes arising under the terms and conditions of this contest will be governed by the law of the State of Ohio, U.S.A.

All contestants MUST be age 13 or over as of January 1, 2008.

Your template MUST be posted on the internet for others to freely download. Your link will be listed at www.unikeep.com Reciprocal links to www.unikeep.com are encouraged, but not required. However, the links must remain active and accessible throughout the contest in order to remain eligible. Entries may be judged ineligible if posted on sites with generally offensive content as determined by general contest criteria. If you send us your files, we reserve the right to rename the files and post them indefinately for our users and your cover file should be no larger than 2MB.

All entries must be submitted online. Entries hosted on contestants' sites must be submitted to UniKeep along with an active URL where the template may be downloaded. The JPG thumbnail must appear on your site along with copyright information allowing at least individual single use rights. Suggested text that you can paste on your site is available in Resources.

Must conform to standard format. All entries must be posted and available for use as PDF, Microsoft Word, or JPEG documents. Templates can be designed for 0.5, 1.0 or 1.5 inch View Case Binders, mini-binders or disc wallets, but ALL must print easily on standard paper sizes: 22 x 17, 11 x 17, 8.5 x 14 inch paper or letter sized paper that can be connected.

All entries must be designed as UniKeep covers or organization systems.  Photos, illustrations and other art that is not formatted for UniKeep products will not be eligible for prizes.  UniKeep reserves the right to post all material that is submitted.

No limit to entries. As long as the entries are significantly different as judged by our jurors, you may enter as many times as you wish. Entries from employees, vendors, or contractors of UniKeep LLC or Univenture, Inc. are not eligible for prizes.

No multiple categories. Each design may ONLY be submitted in one category.

One winner per category per month will be selected from entries received during that month only.  All entries received during the contest will remain eligible for one grand prize in each category at the end of the contest and for one overall Best of Show winner.

No copyright infringement. All work must be released for individual usage or purpose usage grants. And all entries must contain copyright-free art or art released for entrant's and public use. No unauthorized use of any copyrighted images, text, or other material will be accepted.

Jurors' decisions are final. Preliminary judging, including fitness of purpose, will be conducted by UniKeep. Final judging for Best of Contest will be conducted by a panel of design professionals.

Winners will be notified by email. Prizes will be mailed to name and address provided on the entry form. Cash prizes will be awarded directly to the entrant or to an institution or recognized charity of entrant's choice.

UniKeep cannot be responsible for entries not received due to technical issues and accepts no responsibility for technical support of any entries.

Cash prizes will be paid in US dollars. All applicable taxes or fees are the responsibility of the winner.

UniKeep will make every reasonable attempt to deliver prizes to the address indicated. The entrant is responsible to provide correct information. If we can not contact you we can not reward you.

Free binders will only be shipped to the first 50 entrants each month with addresses in the continental US.

UniKeep reserves the sole right to determine eligibility and to adjust contest rules if necessary based on volume of entries or legal requirements. All prizes will be awarded. Contest participants are responsible for checking this site for changes.

Entries will be accepted beginning at 12:00 am January 1, 2008 EST and ending at 11:59 pm EST on December 31, 2008. Monthly and final prizes will be awarded within 30 days of judging. If a prize is undeliverable to a recipient, the prize will be awarded to the next eligible contestant.

All entries will be judged according to the month in which they are received. Entries must be received by midnight EDT/EST on the last calendar day of the month to be eligible for that month's awards. All entries must be received by midnight EST December 31, 2008 to be eligible for grand prizes.

UniKeep LLC is not responsible for any additional content on th esites of our contestants, nor is the company responsible for any damage to contestant or visitor computer equipment or data that may result from system malfunction or corrupted/infected files. Scanning any file prior to download with a virus protection program is recommended.

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Resources

Spread the word
The UniKeep Design Awards contest is open to all UniKeep users. Prizes will be awarded to the entrant or to the entrant's designee. The cash prizes may be used for tuition, as a scholarship, or donated to the charity of your choice in the winner's name.

For information about how to use the UniKeep Design Awards as a class or club project, contact marketing@unikeep.com. Informational posters may be downloaded (PDF) and distributed freely.

Sample copyright text:
Individual permitted use copyright: You are only authorized to print, use, and to retain a copy of this UniKeep Binder insert page for your own personal use. Do not duplicate, publish, modify or otherwise distribute the material on this site unless specifically authorized by <Insert your name here> to do so. The content on this page is the property of <Insert your name here> and is protected by the U.S. and international copyright laws. All other rights reserved.

UniKeep button & link
Linking to the UniKeep site is encouraged, but not required for contest entry. Please use the images and links below WITHOUT alteration.

	Visit UniKeep Gallery
	http://www.unikeep.com/awards_gallery.shtml or insert the following in your code to link directly to the image: <http://www.unikeep.com/ukp_button.gif>

Viewing and creating PDF documents
To view and print PDF documents, you may download Adobe's Acrobat Reader free from the Adobe web site. Adobe also offers versions that let you create PDF documents as well as an online service to create the documents without the software.

Get Adobe Reader

Visit Adobe

Posting your cover on your own web site
You must post your entry on your own, or a third party's, web site in order to be eligible for the UniKeep Design Awards.

Most email accounts offer personal web site hosting as part of the email package or for a nominal fee. Refer to your account administrator or host for more detailed information. Entrants are responsible for making sure that participation in the contest conforms to their service provider's terms of service.

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