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    Congratulations TCO03 Component Design Champion, Pops

    comp-design-winner

    About the Component Design Competition

    Dates:
    September 2nd through December 5th, 2003

    Rounds:
    Two elimination rounds - online
    The Championship Round will be held at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, CT on December 5th.

    Prizes:
    Total Prize Purse: $30,000 in cash

    Finalists:
    The top 2 finishers in the online rounds will advance to the onsite Championship Round

    Finalists

    Rules

    No purchase necessary to enter or win

    The 2003 TopCoder Open sponsored by Intel® Component Design and Development Competition (“CDDC”) will take place between September 2nd and December 5th, 2003. It will consist of two (2) online elimination rounds, and one (1) onsite final round, being the Championship round. The prize purse for this tournament is $30,000 in cash, with $15,000 being awarded for the design contest and $15,000 for the development contest. The top two scorers from each of the last online rounds will advance to the onsite Championship round, being held at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, CT on December 5th.

    Eligibility

    All rated TopCoder members who are 18 years of age or older (as of September 2nd) and who have not been permanently suspended from participating in TopCoder Component Development projects are eligible to compete in the Component Tournament.

    Those members who are eligible to compete in both the Coding Tournament of the 2003 TopCoder Open sponsored by Intel® and in the Component Tournament will be permitted to participate in both. In addition, members will be allowed to compete in both the design and development elements of the Component Tournament. However, if one member participates in Online Round 2 of both the design and development contest AND qualifies as one of the finalists in each, then the member will only be permitted to advance in one of the contests (either design or development). The following criteria will be used to determine which contest the member will advance to:

    • The member will advance to subsequent rounds of the contest according to their seed

    • If the member’s seed is the same in each competition, then the member will advance to the contest in which he/she achieved a higher average score

    • If the member’s average score is the same in both contests, then the member will advance to the contest in which he/she achieved a higher score for his/her level 2 component

    • If the member’s level 2 component score is the same for both contests, then TopCoder will assign the member to one of the contests

    Employees of TopCoder, Inc. and those involved in the production (including prize suppliers), implementation and distribution of this tournament and their advertising or promotion agencies, parent companies, service providers, agents, officers, subsidiaries or affiliates, or any other persons or entities directly associated with the tournament and members of the immediate families and/or persons living in the same household as such persons, are ineligible to enter the tournament.

    About the component tournament schedule
    Each contestant in an online round must submit his or her design and/or development submissions for components as scheduled. If a coder does not participate, for any reason, in an online round he/she has advanced to, it will be treated as an automatic loss in that round of competition.

    Conditions of Participation

    By participating in the tournament, you agree to be bound by these rules and to all decisions of TopCoder, which are final, binding and conclusive in all matters.

    Contestants must not cheat. All designs and/or development submissions must be the work of the contestant alone.

    All decisions relating to the viability of submissions, the ranking of submissions and all other matters pertaining to the tournament shall be within the sole discretion of TopCoder or its designee and shall be final and binding in all respects.

    As a condition of participation in the tournament, all information provided by you in your TopCoder member profile must be comprehensive, accurate and up-to-date. TopCoder may require you to complete an additional registration form to register for the tournament. In order to be eligible to participate in the tournament, you must have completed any and all registration forms required by TopCoder.

    As a condition of winning and redeeming a cash prize, winners will be required to return by Tuesday, November 11th a completed (i) notarized Affidavit of Eligibility and Liability and Publicity Release, (ii) competitor questionnaire, (iii) travel form, and (iv) IRS Form W-9 or W-8BEN, as appropriate, if one is not already on file with TopCoder. In completing the Affidavit of Eligibility and Liability and Publicity Release, a winner (i) confirms his/her eligibility, (ii) represents and warrants that he/she has not cheated; that the design and/or development submission is his/hers alone, (iii) verifies the accuracy of the demographic information submitted to, and contained in, the TopCoder member database, (iv) authorizes TopCoder to publicize the tournament’s results, (v) agrees to sign any applicable forms required by tax authorities, (vi) assigns to TopCoder all rights to all information submitted during the tournament (including rights to source code and other executables), and (vii) releases TopCoder from liability arising out of any prize won. TopCoder requires contestants to complete the Form W-9 or W-8BEN for tax reporting purposes. If prize notification is returned as undeliverable, or if the winner fails to return the Affidavit, or the W-9 or W-8BEN, as specified, the winner will be disqualified and the prize money won by the disqualified winner will be forfeited. Providing false information in the registration process or in the required forms described in this paragraph will disqualify a winner.

    By participating in a tournament and redeeming a prize, a winner releases and agrees to hold harmless TopCoder, its affiliates, subsidiaries, advertising and promotion agencies, sponsors, and prize suppliers, and all of their respective directors, officers, employees, representatives and agents, from and against any and all liability for any loss, property damage or damage to person, including without limitation, death and injury, due in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, from or arising out of participation in this tournament, or participation in any tournament-related activity, or the receipt, use or misuse of a prize. TopCoder specifically disclaims all liability associated with, and makes no warranties with regard to, any prize given.

    In addition, all prizewinners agree to cooperate with TopCoder’s publicity efforts, without further compensation. This includes the agreement to use their name, handle, address (city and state) and likeness for publicity purposes, where legal, for this or similar future tournaments, and to use the statements made by, or attributed to, the winners relating to TopCoder and any and all rights to said use, without further compensation. Furthermore, all prizewinners agree to promptly notify TopCoder if a third-party contacts the prizewinner regarding employment opportunities and/or media interest as a result of the prizewinner’s participation in the tournament.

    TopCoder reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to revoke any and all privileges associated with competing in this tournament, and to take any other action it deems appropriate, for no reason or any reason whatsoever, including if TopCoder suspects competitors of cheating, tampering with the entry process, the operation of the Web site, or the tournament process, or otherwise being in violation of the rules. TopCoder reserves the right to cancel, terminate or modify the tournament if it is not capable of completion as planned for any reason, including infection by computer virus, bugs, tampering, unauthorized intervention or technical failures of any sort.

    Competition Structure

    ALL SUBMISSIONS MUST BE RECEIVED DURING EACH ROUND’S SUBMISSIONS TIMELINE TO BE CONSIDERED A VIABLE ENTRY. THERE WILL BE NO EXCEPTIONS. Following the submission deadline, the TopCoder Review Boards will review and score all eligible entries. After the Aggregation Phase, the winners will be identified and announced. Those winners will advance to the next online round. Coder advancement in Online Round 1 and 2 will be determined by averaging each member’s two highest Review Board scores. One score to be used in calculating the average will be the highest score for a level 2 submission. The other score will be the highest score of any other submission. The competitors with the highest average scores will automatically advance (“Automatic Advancers”). Other members (Wild Card Pool members defined below) may also be eligible to advance to the onsite final round in the event Automatic Advancers are unable to attend. The specific structure of the online rounds is as follows:

    Online Round 1
    All eligible rated members may compete in Round 1 and up to ten (10) Automatic Advancers will advance to Round 2. For the design contest, two of the 10 advancing positions will be awarded to the winners of the two previous component design bonus contests (Pops and TangentZ). If fewer than 10 people (8 people for the design contest) automatically advance, then a Wild Card Pool will be created. The Wild Card Pool will consist of the designers and developers who submitted only one component which passed screening and those members who did not submit a level 2 component. Wild Card Pool members’ scores will be the highest Review Board score received for an individual component.

    Online Round 2
    Up to ten (10) Automatic Advancers from Online Round 1 will compete along with members in the Wild Card Pool. Two (2) members will advance.

    Following the completion of Round 2 Reviews, the advancing two designers and developers will be identified. If there are fewer than two Automatic Advancers who are able to travel to the onsite round, then members in the Wild Card Pool will advance to the Finals. Wild Card Pool members will advance in the following order:

    1. The Wild Card Pool members with the highest Round 2 score, calculated as the average of the highest two component scores, with at least one being a level 2 component.

    2. If advancement spots remain, then those Wild Card Pool members and Automatic Advancers from Round 1 who submitted only one component which passed screening, and those who did not submit a level 2 component in Round 2, will be eligible to advance. The member with the highest individual component score in Round 2 will be the first to advance.

    3. If advancement spots still remain, then the competitor with the highest individual component score from Round 1 will advance.

    Onsite Championship Round 3
    Two (2) members will compete. The member with the highest score of the final submission will be declared the winner.

    Tie-Breakers for Automatic Advancers: In the event of a tie for any advancing position in Rounds 1 and 2, the tie will be resolved in the following manner (in order):

    1. The highest score for the level 2 component submitted during that round

    2. If a tie still remains, then by averaging the tied members’ scores from each round in which all tied participants competed

    3. If a tie still remains, then by TopCoder rating as of September 2

    4. If a tie still remains, then all tied members will advance to the next round

    Tie-Breakers for Wild Card Pool Members: In the event of a tie for an advancing position from the Wild Card Pool to the Final round, the tie will be resolved in the following manner (in order):

    1. The highest individual component score submitted during Round 1

    2. If a tie still remains, then by TopCoder rating as of September 2

    3. If a tie still remains, then all tied members will advance to the next round

    Scoring

    During each online round of competition, eligible competitors will submit design and development solutions for at least two eligible components (including at least one level 2 component) by the submission due date. Submissions will be scored by the TopCoder Review Boards and will be subject to final review and appeal in the same manner as standard component design submissions. Each competitor’s score for the round will be the average of his/her two highest scores (one score must be a level 2 component).

    Onsite Championship Round 3

    The two advancers from Round 2 will travel to Mohegan Sun on Thursday, December 4th to compete in the final review stage (see explanation below) of Round 3 being held on Friday, December 5th. All contestants must arrive at Mohegan Sun no later than 4:00 PM on Thursday, December 4th. If a contestant is unable to attend the onsite rounds, he/she will forfeit his/her eligibility to receive a prize, and his/her spot in the tournament will be given to the next highest overall scorer from Round 2.

    The two advancers from Round 2 will have ten days to complete the final project. Once the project is completed, the submissions will be submitted to TopCoder and reviewed by the TopCoder review board. The finalists will receive the review scorecards at 8:00 am on Friday, December 5th, as well as an addendum to the original requirements for design projects and an additional section of the design for development projects. Each finalist will be scored on the implementation of final fixes for the component as well as the additional design or development of the addendum. This portion of the competition will last 4 hours. (An example addendum for an HTTP Listener component would be to design or develop an SSL module for the component)

    TopCoder will provide travel arrangements for each competitor and a guest of his/her choice, up to a cost of $1,000 per person. (That is, if a contestant’s airfare is greater than $1,000, the contestant will be responsible for the difference between the cost of the airfare and $1,000.) In addition, TopCoder will also provide travel arrangements to and from the airport to the Mohegan Sun Casino and accommodations and certain meals for each contestant and his/her guest. All other expenses are the responsibility of the contestant and his/her guest.

    The Championship Round 3 will be a single round of two (2) members. The winner of Championship Round 3 will be the member with the highest score of his/her component submission.

    Championship Tie-Breaker: In the event of a tie in the Championship Round, the tie will be resolved in the following manner (in order):

    1. By averaging the tied members’ scores from each round in which all tied participants competed

    2. If a tie still remains, then by TopCoder rating as of September 2

    3. If a tie still remains, then the prize money will be distributed equally amongst the tied members

    Other

    The tournament is void in whole or in part where prohibited by law.

    A list of tournament winners by coder handles will be available on the web site at http://www.topcoder.com/, and will be displayed for at least 3 months after the end of the tournament.

    This tournament is brought to you by TopCoder, Inc. (http://www.topcoder.com/) 703 Hebron Avenue (now 95 Glastonbury Blvd), Glastonbury, CT 06033.