Guidelines and Assessment:

Welcome to the Nike-Changemakers, “Gamechangers: Change the Game for Women in Sport” Collaborative Competition, which aims to find innovative solutions and catalyze a community of changemakers around the use of sport to improve community, accelerate development and drive social change for girls and women.

For more information on entering, the online review, and voting please view the competition criteria and time line below, or contact us at gamechangerswomen@changemakers.net

Eligibility Criteria

The competition is open to all types of organizations (charitable organizations, private companies, or public entities) from all countries. We consider all entries that:

• Reflect the theme of the competition: Change the Game for Women in Sport. The scope of the competition is to identify innovative solutions that use sport to improve community, accelerate development and drive social change. Entries are invited from organizations and individuals in all countries.
• Are beyond the stage of idea, concept, or research, and, at a minimum, are at the demonstration stage and indicate success. While we support new ideas at every stage, and encourage their entry, our judges are only able to evaluate programs that are beyond the conceptual stage, and have demonstrated a proof of impact, even at small scale.
• Complete the entire entry form and submit before the deadline.

Assessment Criteria

The winners of this Changemakers Collaborative Competition will be those entries that best meet the following criteria:

• Innovation: This is the knock-out test; if the work is not innovative the judges will not give it high rankings. The application must describe the systemic innovation that it is focused on. The innovation should be a unique model of change and ready for large-scale spread.
• Social Impact: It is important that the innovation has begun to have an impact on the field it addresses. Some innovations will have proven success at a small level, while others will have scaled to engage millions of people. Regardless of the level of demonstrated impact, it is important to see that the innovation has the ability to be applied in the U.S. and other countries. This will be judged by considering the scale strategy, ability to be replicated, clear how-tos, and a map to reach the big goals.
• Sustainability: For an innovation to be truly effective it must have a plan for how it will acquire financial and other bases of support for the long-term. Are strong partnerships in place for it to have a ripple effect? Is there a clear financial plan in place?

Competition Deadlines, Procedures, and Rules

Online competition submissions are accepted until February 11, 2009 at 6pm, U.S. Eastern Daylight Time. Any time before this deadline, competition participants could revise their entries based on questions and insights that they receive in the Changemakers discussion. Participation in the discussion enhances one's prospects in the competition and gives the community and the judges an opportunity to understand one's project more completely.

There are three main phases in the competition:

• Entry Stage, November 12, 2008 – February 11, 2009: Entries can be submitted until 6 pm Eastern US time on February 11, 2009, and anyone can participate in an online idea review discussion with the entrants.
• Online Review and Judging February 12 – March 18, 2008:Online idea review discussion continues. In parallel, a panel of judges well-versed in the topic and Ashoka staff select the competition finalists.
• Voting March 30 – April 13, 2009: The Changemakers community votes online to select the three award winners from the field of finalists. The Changemakers Collaborative Competition winners, the three finalists that receive the most votes, will be announced on April 15, 2009 and will each receive a cash prize of US$5,000.

Participating in the competition provides the chance to receive feedback on your blueprint from fellow entrants, Changemakers staff, judges and the Changemakers community. Showcasing your blueprint and the challenges involved in creating social impact advises potential investors about how best to change funding/investing patterns for the sector and to maximize the strategic impact and effectiveness of their future investments.

Prizes

Early Entry Prize 1: The best entry submitted by 6:00 p.m. EST, December 12th will win a camcorder and digital camera (Equal value of US $1000) with the subsequent profiling of a video on the Changemakers site! Being an Early Entry Prize winner does not preclude you from winning the competition in any way, or guarantee finalist status—all entries will be equally evaluated per the Changemakers criteria at the completion of the entry period.

Early Entry Prize 2: The best entry submitted by 6:00 p.m. EST, January 16th will win a camcorder and digital camera (Equal value of US $1000) with the subsequent profiling of a video on the Changemakers site! Being an Early Entry Prize winner does not preclude you from winning the competition in any way, or guarantee finalist status—all entries will be equally evaluated per the Changemakers criteria at the completion of the entry period.

Competition Winners: The top three entries will win US $5,000 each. After the judges select the 10-15 finalists from the entire competition, the Changemakers online community will vote for 3 winners from among the finalists.

Disclaimer — Compliance with Legal Restrictions

Ashoka complies fully with all U.S. laws and regulations, including Office of Foreign Assets Control regulations, export control, and anti-money laundering laws. All grants will be awarded subject to compliance with such laws. Ashoka will not make any grant if it finds that to do so would be unlawful. This may prohibit awards in certain countries and/or to certain individuals or entities. All recipients will comply with these laws to the extent they are applicable to such recipients. No recipient will take any action that would cause Ashoka to violate any laws. Additionally, Ashoka will not make any grant to a company involved in the promotion of tobacco use.

This contest is open only to those aged thirteen or over, and for whom entry is allowed under the laws of their jurisdiction. Entrants under age 18 affirm that they have their parent's consent to provide personally-identifiable information and to enter the contest.