Introduction
The Auggie Awards™ Competition is an initiative of AugmentedReality.org, the producer of AWE (Augmented World Expo). The goal of the Competition is to promote excellence in XR (Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality and Mixed Reality) on various platforms and categories. The Competition is intended to bring the best in the augmented World to the public, and to provide recognition to contestants who develop technology and solutions that demonstrate how to make the world a more interactive place and make our lives and work more engaging, productive, and fun.
Consistent with AWE XR’s mission to educate, connect, and hatch new AR initiatives in the augmented world across the globe, and AR.ORG’s global goal to encourage broadband adoption of AR towards the goal of 1 billion active AR users by 2023, AR.ORG is co-sponsoring this competition, offering award trophies. AugmentedReality.org is the Competition Administrator and has partnered with sponsors to co-fund and co-run it.
Important Dates
How to Enter and Judging Criteria
The 2023 Auggie Award categories are:
Auggie Award categories active during the show only (May 31 - June 2, 2023)
16. Best in Show – Augmented Reality: Any presenting AR company at AWE 2023 (exhibitor, speaker) is eligible to be nominated and the winner will be selected through popular vote at the show
17. Best in Show – Virtual Reality: Any presenting VR company at AWE 2023 (exhibitor, speaker) is eligible to be nominated and the winner will be selected through popular vote at the show
18. Startup to Watch – best startup from AWE USA 2023
19. AWEsome – honoring moonshot concepts or prototypes that are straight out of a Sci-Fi novel
Review the sections below for a more detailed description and important requirements and restrictions.
1. Sponsor and Administrator
Sponsor and Administrator: AWE XR, LLC, 40600 ANN ARBOR RD. E. SUITE 201, PLYMOUTH MI, USA
2. Eligibility
A. The Competition is open only to:
(i) Adults or teams of adults from all over the world excluding China*.
If a minor wishes to participate, their entry must be made by their parent or legal guardian on behalf of the minor.
(ii) corporations or organizations from all over the world (an “Organization”) excluding China*.
Individuals entering an Auggie Nomination on behalf of a team or Organization must be duly authorized to submit on behalf of the team or Organization. An individual may join more than one team or Organization and an individual who is part of a team or Organization may also enter the Competition on an individual basis.
Each team or Organization shall appoint one individual (the “Representative”) to represent and act, including entering an Auggie Nomination, on behalf of said team or Organization. The Representative represents and warrants that (i) he/she is duly authorized to act on behalf of the team or Organization; and that (ii) each member of the team (or in the case of Organization, each participating member) has read the Official Rules and agrees to abide by these Official Rules. The Representative will ensure that each member of the team or Organization shall comply with the Official Rules.
* China contestants are excluded from the Competition due to regulatory laws in China which prohibit Sponsors from awarding cash prizes;
B. The following individuals and entities are not eligible, regardless of whether they meet the criteria set forth above:
(i) the Sponsor, the Administrator and any advertising agency, contractor or other company involved with the design, production, promotion, execution, or distribution of the Competition;
(ii) any individual involved with the design, production, promotion, execution, or distribution of the Competition and each member of any such individual’s immediate family or household;
(iii) any company or individual that employs any Judge or that otherwise has a material business relationship or affiliation with any Judge for the respective award category;
(iv) any parent company, subsidiary, or other affiliate of any company described above; and
(v) all employees, representatives and agents of the entities described above (and their respective parent companies, subsidiaries, and other affiliates) and all members of any such employee, representative or agent’s immediate family or household.
C. For purposes hereof:
(i) the members of an individual’s immediate family include such individual’s spouse, children and step-children, parents and step-parents, and siblings and step-siblings; and
(ii) the members of an individual’s household include any other person that shares the same residence as such individual for at least three (3) months out of the year.
(iii) the terms “Contestant” and “Entrant” are used interchangeably herein to mean the person(s) or entity who submit a software application or hardware for purposes of this competition. “Submission” and “Auggie Nomination” are used interchangeably herein to refer to the software application submitted.
D. The Competition is subject to all applicable United States federal, state, provincial and local laws. Participation constitutes entrant’s full and unconditional agreement to these Official Rules and to the Sponsor and the Administrator’s decisions, which are final and binding in all matters related to the Competition. Winning a prize is contingent upon fulfilling all requirements set forth herein.
3. Competition Submission Period
A. Contestants may enter a Submission between January 11 at 8:00 AM Pacific Time (“PST”) and April 7 at 11:59 PM PST (updated) (the “Competition Submission Period”)(the “Competition Submission Period”). Administrator’s computer is the official time keeping device for this Competition.
B. Any Submission entered following the Competition Submission Period shall be disqualified.
4. How to Enter
A. Registration
(i) Beginning at 8:00 AM PST on January 11 visit https://auggies.awexr.com/ and follow the nomination process.
B. Submission
(i) Create a working software application, Hardware, or Art that complies with the Award category criteria of your submission.
(ii) Products or projects nominated must be created before April 7.
(iii) Before April 7, visit https://auggies.awexr.com/ select the appropriate category for your Submission, enter your Submission and confirm that you have read and agreed to the Official Rules.
If your application is downloadable, add a link to a public website where your Application can be accessed or downloaded by the public or will be available once approved by the relevant app store; or where your Application or Project can be experienced. If your Application is not yet publicly available, or is not available for free, provide a link to a website where your Application can be accessed or downloaded free of charge for purposes of testing and evaluation by the Judges.
(iv) In the event of a dispute pertaining to this Competition, the authorized account holder of the email address used to sign up for the AWE Auggie Award account used to enter the Submission will be deemed to be the Contestant (in case of an individual) and the Contestant’s Representative, in the case of a team or Organization. The “authorized account holder” is the natural person or legal entity assigned an email address by an Internet access provider, online service provider or other organization responsible for assigning email addresses for the domain associated with the submitted address. Contestants generally and potential winners may be required to show proof of being the authorized account holder.
5. Submission Requirements
A. Application Requirements
(i) A submitted product or project may be based on any kind of technology, i.e., for the web, a personal computer, a mobile handheld device, smart glasses, and wearables, a projection system, or any software or hardware platform broadly available to the public.
(ii) Your Submission must include a working software Application or hardware that complies with the Award category criteria.
(iii) A “working software application or hardware” means an Application that can be successfully installed (if applicable), or experienced and reliably run without crashing the technology for which it is intended.
(iv) Applications may, but are not required to, combine the use of third party data or APIs, provided the inclusion and use of the third party data or API does not infringe upon the rights of any person or entity.
B. Image and Video Requirements
(i) The video portion of your Submission:
a. should be no longer than 90 seconds;
b. must clearly demonstrate your Nomination’s features and functionality;
c. should include an audio narration in the demonstration of your Application (or text-based narration/subtitles as an alternative); and
d. must not include music or other copyrighted material unless you have a license to use such material.
(ii) If the video is primarily promotional rather than a demonstration of the Application’s functionality, the Submission may be disqualified at the Sponsor’s and/or Administrator’s sole discretion.
C. General Requirements
(i) A Contestant may submit more than one Submission. However, each Submission or any part thereof, must, at the sole discretion of the Sponsor and/or the Administrator, be substantially different from the Contestant’s other Submissions, or any part thereof. If a Contestant enters two or more Submissions that are substantially similar, the Sponsor and Administrator reserve the right to disqualify Submissions or require the Contestant to choose one Submission to enter into the Competition.
(ii) Sumbissions must consist of a project or product release (or major update) that became available to the public between the end of the prior year's competition submission period (April 7, 2022) and the end of this year's submission period (April 7, 2023).
(iii) Submissions must not be a clear attempt to duplicate a prior Submission in this year or in prior years already submitted in this Competition.
(iv) The submission deadline is 11:59 PM PST on April 7. Once the Competition Submission Period has ended, the Contestant may not make any changes or alterations to any part of the Submission (including the associated Application) until after the judging and public voting periods are complete.
(v) Posting of a Submission to the Competition Website does not constitute a final determination by the Sponsor and/or Administrator of the Contestant or the Submission’s eligibility.
(vi) Submissions must be the original work of the Contestant, and must not infringe, misappropriate or otherwise violate any intellectual property rights, proprietary rights, gender rights, privacy rights, moral rights or any other rights of any person or entity.
(vii) It is an express condition of entry and eligibility that each Contestant warrants and represents that the Contestant’s Submission is solely owned by the Contestant, that the Submission is wholly original with the Contestant and that no other party has any rights or interest, whether known or unknown, in the Submission.
(viii) The Contestant further represents and warrants to the Sponsor and the Administrator that the Submission, and any use thereof by the Sponsor or the Administrator (or any of their respective partners, subsidiaries and affiliates), shall not:
a. infringe upon any statutory or common law copyright, trademark or patent;
b. be defamatory or libelous in any manner towards any person;
c. constitute or result in any misappropriation or other violation of any person’s publicity rights or right of privacy; or
d. infringe, misappropriate or otherwise violate any intellectual property rights, proprietary rights, privacy rights, moral rights or any other rights of any person or entity.
(ix) A Contestant may contract with a third party for technical assistance to create the Submission provided the Application is solely the Contestant’s work product and the result of the Contestant’s ideas and creativity and the Contestant owns all rights to it.
(x) A Submission including, image, video, and textual materials, must be in English. If in a language other than English, the Submission must be accompanied by an English translation of that text.
(xi) The Sponsor, the Administrator and the Judges can, at their sole discretion, at any time, remove the Submissions or any part thereof if the Submission:
a. does not fully comply with these Official Rules;
b. is indecent, obscene, defamatory, libelous, in bad taste, or
demonstrates a lack of respect for public morals or conduct.
(xii) Additionally, Submissions will not be accepted if, at the sole discretion of the Sponsor, the Administrator and the Judges, they:
a. are illegal under applicable law;
b. depict hatred;
c. defame or denigrate (or are derogatory towards) any person or group of persons or any race, ethnic group or culture;
d. threaten a specific community in society, including any specific race, ethnic group or culture;
e. are intended to or might incite violence;
f. contain vulgar or obscene language or excessive violence;
g. contain pornography, obscenity or sexual activity; or
h. disparage the Sponsor.
(xiii) All of the above are to be determined at the Sponsor’s and/or the Administrator’s sole discretion.
(xiv) If the Sponsor, the Administrator or the Judges, at their discretion, find any Submission to be unacceptable, then such Submission shall be deemed disqualified from the Competition.
(xv) The Sponsor may at its sole discretion disqualify Submissions for which legal complaint, demand or assertion of rights, including but not limited to takedown requests made those under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act are received and remove any such Submission or component thereof from https://auggies.awexr.com/.
6. Submission Rights for Entrants
A. Contestants will retain any applicable intellectual property rights in the Submission. By entering the Submission into this Competition, you grant to the Sponsor and the Administrator, and any individuals, entities, or third parties acting on behalf of, or with the authorization of, the Sponsor and/or the Administrator, a non-exclusive, non-revocable, royalty-free, worldwide license to reproduce, modify, distribute, display publicly, perform publicly, and otherwise use for promotional purposes your Submission during the Competition and after the conclusion of the Competition Submission Period. You expressly waive any legal right or claim stemming from any such uses. including but not limited to claims of copyright, trademark, or patent infringement.
B. Once a Contestant enters a Submission and it is available for public voting, the Submission (including the associated Application) cannot be modified in any way.
7. Display of Submissions and Public Voting
A. Submissions will be posted on https://auggies.awexr.com/ on a rolling basis after being screened by the Administrator for basic functionality, accuracy of messaging, and integrity (i.e., security), and appropriateness of content. The Administrator has the right to request additional information and be provided access to the Application in person or via any reasonable manner to verify the Application functions and operates as stated in the Submission. Failure by a Contestant to respond or honor such a request may result in immediate disqualification of the Submission. The members of the general public, including all Contestants, will have equal access to Submissions posted on the website.
B. Non-Contestants interested in the Competition may obtain updates on the competition and vote for their favorite Submissions as part of the Public Voting. Such visitors will be able to cast votes for each of their favorite Submissions during the public voting period.
C. The public voting is scheduled to take place between April 10 at 12:00 AM PST and May 4 at 11:59 PM PST (the “Voting Period”). Public voting will determine the finalists in each category. Use of an automated process or similar device to submit an electronic vote is strictly prohibited. Any attempt to circumvent the one-vote limit per person per Submission, including the use of multiple email addresses or any form of automated vote processes will subject all votes from the person or entity to disqualification. The Sponsor and/or the Administrator reserves the right to disqualify any Contestant at their sole discretion, if a Contestant receives multiple and/or irregular votes from the same user or users, or receives votes in a manner that otherwise may indicate automated or non-automated vote manipulation. If the voting process for the Popular Choice Award fails to operate properly or appears to be tampered with or tainted with errors, fraud or unfair practices, the Sponsor and/or the Administrator at their sole discretion reserves the right to use another means to determine the potential winner of the Popular Choice Award. Contestants may not pay or otherwise compensate anyone or provide any other type of consideration in exchange for votes.
D. Public votes may be displayed on the Competition website, on a real-time basis, before being verified for integrity. These unverified votes will not necessarily reflect accurately the public voting.
E. The Sponsor and the Administrator reserve the right to extend the Voting Period at any time for any reason, and posted/confirmed on https://auggies.awexr.com/.
8. Winner Selection
A. Submissions will be judged by an expert panel of impartial judges (the “Judges”) selected by the Sponsor and the Administrator. Submissions may initially be screened by a qualified internal panel selected by the Sponsor at its sole discretion. Finalist Submissions will then be judged by an expert judging panel determined by the Sponsor. The Sponsor and the Administrator reserve the right to substitute or modify the judging panel at any time for any reason.
B. All Judges shall be and remain fair and impartial. Any Judge may recuse him or herself from judging a Submission if the Judge, the Sponsor or the Administrator considers that it is inappropriate, for any reason, for the Judge to evaluate a specific Submission or group of Submissions. A Submission will not be at a disadvantage if one or more judge recuses him or herself.
C. A Contestant’s likelihood of winning will depend primarily on the number and quality of all of the Submissions, as determined by the Judges using the criteria below. The dates for the judging panel are between May 11 - May 25.
9. Auggie Award Winner in each Award category
A. Criteria
(i) Quality – Application, hardware, tool or art include elements of creativity and originality specifically applied to augmented reality or wearables in a given category
(ii) User Experience – Includes design, ease of use, visual appeal, and an innovative user interaction with the physical world
(iii) Impact – Includes the potential to impact how people use augmented reality or wearables to advance or improve their work or life and help drive adoption
10. Verification of Potential Winners
A. ALL POTENTIAL COMPETITION WINNERS ARE SUBJECT TO VERIFICATION BY SPONSOR AND/OR ADMINISTRATOR WHOSE DECISIONS ARE FINAL AND BINDING IN ALL MATTERS RELATED TO THE COMPETITION. Potential winners must continue to comply with all terms and conditions of these Official Rules. The potential winners will be notified on or about June 1.
B. In the event that a potential winner of a Competition prize is disqualified for any reason, Sponsor may award the applicable prize to an alternate winner who had the highest score remaining of the eligible entries. If a winner is considered to be a minor in his or her state of residence, at Sponsor’s sole option, the prize will either be awarded to the minor winner’s parent or legal guardian on behalf of the winner.
11. Prizes
A. No Prize substitutions will be made except for the right of the Sponsor to make a Prize substitution of equivalent or greater value in the event the Prize or any portion thereof is unavailable. Prizes must be accepted as awarded. No transfer or substitution of a Prize is permitted except at the Sponsor’s and Administrator’s sole discretion. No more than the stated number of Prizes will be awarded. If a team or Organization is selected as a Prize winner, the associated Prize will be provided to said team or Organization’s Representative. It will be up to the winning team or Organization’s Representative to allocate the Prize amongst its team or Organization members, as they deem appropriate.
B. Winners (and in the case of team or Organization, all participating members) are responsible for reporting and paying all applicable taxes in their jurisdiction of residence (federal, state/provincial/territorial and local). It is the sole responsibility of Prize winners to provide certain information to facilitate receipt of the award, including completing and submitting any tax forms when necessary and any applicable withholding and reporting requirements.
C. In the event a winner/potential winner’s employer has a policy that prohibits the awarding of a Prize to an employee, the Prize will be forfeited and an alternate potential winner will be selected. Each Contestant hereby acknowledges and agrees that the relationship between the Contestant, the Sponsor and the Administrator, is not a confidential, fiduciary, or other special relationship, and that the Contestant’s decision to provide the Contestant’s Submission to Sponsor and Administrator for the purposes of this Competition does not place the Sponsor, the Administrator, and their respective agents in a position that is any different from the position held by the members of the general public with regard to elements of the Contestant’s Submission, except as specifically provided in these Official Rules.
12. Entry Conditions and Release
A. By entering, each Contestant (including, in the case of team or Organization, all participating members) agree(s) to:
(i) comply with and be bound by these Official Rules and the decisions of the Sponsor, Administrator, and/or the Competition judges which are binding and final in all matters relating to this Competition;
(ii) indemnify, defend and hold harmless the directors, officers, members, agents, and contractors of Sponsor, Administrator, and their respective parent, subsidiary, and affiliated companies, the Prize suppliers and any other organizations responsible for sponsoring, fulfilling, administering, advertising or promoting the Competition, and all of their respective past and present officers, directors, employees, agents and representatives (the “Released Parties”) from and against any and all claims, expenses, and liability, including but not limited to negligence and damages of any kind to persons and property, defamation, slander, libel, violation of right of publicity, infringement of trademark, copyright, patent or other intellectual property rights, property damage, or death or personal injury arising out of or relating to a Contestant’s entry, creation of an entry or submission of an entry, participation in the Competition, acceptance or use or misuse of the Prize (including any travel or activity related thereto) and/or the broadcast, transmission, performance, exploitation or use of entry; and
(iii) indemnify, defend and hold harmless the Sponsor and Administrator and the Released Parties from and against any and all claims, expenses, and liabilities (including reasonable attorneys fees) arising out of or relating to a Contestant’s participation in the Competition and/or a Contestant’s acceptance, use or misuse of Prize.
13. Publicity
A. Except where prohibited, participation in the Competition constitutes a winner’s consent to Sponsor’s, Administrator’s and their agents’ use of the winner’s name, likeness, photograph, voice, opinions, comments and/or hometown and state/province/territory of residence (and, as applicable, those of all other members of the team or participating members of the Organization which participated in the Submission) for promotional purposes in any media, worldwide, without further payment or consideration, following the conclusion of the Competition.
14. General Conditions
A. Sponsor and Administrator reserve the right to cancel, suspend and/or modify the Competition, or any part of it, if any fraud, technical failure or any other unanticipated factor or factor beyond Sponsor’s and Administrator’s control impairs the integrity or proper functioning of the Competition, as determined by Sponsor and Administrator at their sole discretion. The Sponsor and Administrator reserve the right at their sole discretion to disqualify any individual or Contestant it finds to be tampering with the entry process (for example by using the aid of computer software programs to auto-fill entries) or the operation of the Competition or to be acting in violation of these Official Rules or in a manner that is inappropriate, not in the best interests of this Competition, or a violation of any applicable law or regulation.
B. Any attempt by any person to undermine the proper conduct of the Competition may be a violation of criminal and civil law, and, should such an attempt be made, the Sponsor and the Administrator reserve the right to take proper legal action, including, without limiting, referral to law enforcement, for any illegal or unlawful activities.
C. The Sponsor and/or the Administrator’s failure to enforce any term of these Official Rules shall not constitute a waiver of that provision. The Sponsor and the Administrator are not responsible for incomplete, late, misdirected, damaged, lost, illegible, or incomprehensible Submissions or for address or email address changes of the Contestants. Proof of sending or submitting will not be deemed to be proof of receipt by Sponsor or Administrator. The Sponsor and the Administrator are not responsible for, nor are they required to count any vote which, in their sole judgment, is incomplete, late, misdirected, damaged, unlawful or illicit, including those secured through payment, votes achieved through automated means or by registering more than one e-mail account and name, using another Contestant’s e-mail account and name, as well as those lost for technical reasons, defective or otherwise in violation of these rules.
D. In the event of any discrepancy or inconsistency between the terms and conditions of the Official Rules and disclosures or other statements contained in any Competition materials, including but not limited to the Competition submission form, or point of sale, television, print or online advertising, the terms and conditions of the Official Rules shall prevail.
E. The Sponsor and the Administrator reserve the right, without liability, to amend the terms and conditions of the Official Rules at any time, including the rights or obligations that the Contestant, the Sponsor or the Administrator may have. The Sponsor and Administrator will post the terms and conditions of the amended Official Rules (“Corrective Notice”). As permitted by law, any amendment will become effective at the time the Sponsor and/or Administrator post the amended Official Rules.
F. All intellectual property related to this Competition, including but not limited to trademarks, trade-names, logos, designs, promotional materials, web pages, source codes, drawings, illustrations, slogans and representations are owned or used under license by the Sponsor and/or the Administrator. All rights are reserved. Unauthorized copying or use of any copyrighted material or intellectual property without the express written consent of its owners is strictly prohibited. Contestants may use the trademarks AUGMENTED WORLD EXPO and AUGGIE AWARD™ in the course of accurately conveying to the public, or to any segment thereof, that the Submission was submitted to the Contest or that it was awarded an Auggie Award™ prize. Contestants may not, however, use these or any other of Sponsor’s trademarks in a manner that suggests any sponsorship, connection, affiliation, endorsement, or approval between Sponsor and Contestant or between Sponsor and the Submission.
15. Limitations of Liability
A. By entering, all Contestants (including, in the case of a team or Organization, all participating members) agree to be bound by the Official Rules and hereby release the Sponsor, the Administrator and each of its and their employees, officers, directors, affiliates, related entities, partners, partnerships, principals, representatives, agents, licensees, sponsors, successors and assigns (together with the Sponsor and the Administrator, the “Released Parties”) from any liability in connection with the Prizes or from participation in the Competition.
B. Without limiting the foregoing, the Released Parties are not responsible for:
(i) any incorrect or inaccurate information, whether caused by the Sponsor’s, the Administrator’s or a Contestant’s electronic or printing error or by any of the equipment (including the SummerStage API) or programming associated with or utilized in the Competition;
(ii) technical failures of any kind, including, but not limited to malfunctions, interruptions, or disconnections in phone lines, internet connectivity or electronic transmission errors, or network hardware or software or failure of awexr.com;
(iii) unauthorized human intervention in any part of the entry process or the Competition;
(iv) technical or human error which may occur in the administration of the Competition or the processing of Submissions; or
(v) any injury or damage to persons or property which may be caused, directly or indirectly, in whole or in part, from the Contestant’s participation in the Competition or receipt or use or misuse of any Prize. If for any reason any Contestant’s Submission is confirmed to have been erroneously deleted, lost, or otherwise destroyed or corrupted, the Contestant’s sole remedy is to request the opportunity to resubmit its Submission, which request will be determined at the sole discretion of the Sponsor and the Administrator if the Competition Submission Period is still open.
16. Disputes
A. Entrant agrees that:
(i) any and all disputes, claims and causes of action arising out of or connected with this Competition, or any prizes awarded, other than those concerning the administration of the Competition or the determination of winners, shall be resolved individually, without resort to any form of class action;
(ii) any and all disputes, claims and causes of action arising out of or connected with this Competition, or any prizes awarded, shall be resolved exclusively by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan or the appropriate Michigan State Court;
(iii) any and all claims, judgments and awards shall be limited to actual out-of-pocket costs incurred, including costs associated with entering this Competition, but in no event attorneys’ fees; and
(iv) under no circumstances will entrant be permitted to obtain awards for, and entrant hereby waives all rights to claim punitive, incidental and consequential damages and any other damages, other than for actual out-of-pocket expenses, and any and all rights to have damages multiplied or otherwise increased. SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE LIMITATIONS OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THE ABOVE MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.
B. All issues and questions concerning the construction, validity, interpretation and enforceability of these Official Rules, or the rights and obligations of the entrant and Sponsor in connection with the Competition, shall be governed by, and construed in accordance with, the laws of the State of Michigan, without giving effect to any choice of law or conflict of law rules (whether of the State of Michigan or any other jurisdiction), which would cause the application of the laws of any jurisdiction other than the State of Michigan.
17. Privacy
Sponsor and Administrator collect personal information from you when you enter the Competition. Read our Privacy Policy here.
18. Competition Results
For Competition results attend AWE for the Auggie Award Ceremony on June 1 in Santa Clara, or go to the AWE site on or about June 1 where results will be posted.
19. Contact Us
If you have questions regarding the Competition email [email protected]