Calling out all technology enthusiasts!
Are you an IT professional or a tech news junkie? Do you have a lot of opinions that you want to share about technology but need a platform that’s both relevant and has established readers?
IT World Canada is providing a great way for you to start blogging or increase readers for your pre-existing blog by signing up for our blogging competition. Contestants have a chance at winning one of four possible prizes and additional giveaways.
Have I gotten your attention yet? I thought so!
The contest is simple. Starting on Monday, Aug. 11, we will be posting a blog post topic every two weeks with three topics in total. Participants can submit blog posts to IT World Canada using WordPress. The posts may be submitted any time up until the deadline, Sept. 22. Participants should share their blog posts through social media and engage in conversation through comments, in fact, doing so will definitely increase the chances of winning.
As mentioned, there are four possible categories and four chances to win through your blog posts:
- Most amount of total traffic to all blog posts submitted by a single author which will be measured by the amount of unique visitors to the page.
The Prize: Pioneer iPod/Android Car Deck with Bluetooth and MIXTRAX
- Best use of media and most visually appealing blog posts, that will be judged based on the amount of media used, the variety and the added value of the media to the post.
The Prize: Canon Mobile Scanner
- Most reader engagement from Disqus comments and social buzz based on the number of comments and social media shares.
The Prize: Dropcam
- Best contribution from an editorial perspective which will be given a total score out of 15 by a panel of editorial judges based on the following categories:
- Creativity (5 points)
- Writing style (5 points)
- Relevancy (5 points)
The Prize: VOIP system
There will also be random draw prize giveaways of $10 Tim Hortons cards during the contest! Your chances of winning increase if you take our audience into consideration while writing your blog posts, which are primarily well versed IT professionals.
How to enter:
In order to enter, send me an email at hahmed@itwc.ca with “blog contest entry” as the subject, a 50-word descriptive summary of yourself, and a head shot. Once you have submitted your intent to enter, you will receive an e-mail with information on how to set up your WordPress account, where you can submit your blog post entries.
The first topic will be about IT security.
Good luck and happy blogging!
Official Rules of the Blog Contest
1. DESCRIPTION OF THE CONTEST: IT World Canada’s Blogosphere contest (“Contest”) is designed to encourage technology professionals to share their experiences in using IT to enhance business value.
2. ELIGIBILITY: This contest is open only to Canadian individuals who post original content. Persons in any of the following categories are not eligible to participate or win the prize(s) offered: (a) Employees or agents of IT World Canada, their parent companies, affiliates and subsidiaries, public relations agencies and prize suppliers; (b) immediate family members (defined as parents, children, siblings and spouse, regardless of where they reside) and/or those living in the same household as any person in (a) above. You must also have access to the Internet and a valid e-mail address in order to enter or win.
3. HOW TO ENTER: This contest begins at 12:01 A.M. Eastern Time (ET) Zone on August 8th, 2014. Contestants will e-mail IT World Canada community manager Hibah Ahmed at hahmed@itwc.ca . Contestants will be contacted via e-mail with information on setting up a profile on the blog network, including a private user name and password. Contestants will be offered coaching on blogging techniques via e-mail. The contest will conclude at 12:00 A.M. Eastern Time (ET) Zone on September 19th, 2014.
4. POSTS: Contestants will be given topics to write on by IT World Canada that will be provided via e-mail on August 22, 2014, and September 5, 2014. Contestants are encouraged to post at a length of approximately 500 words per post. Writing all three blog posts is not required to be in the running but will increase chances of winning. Do not include any company confidential information or details that may be inappropriate to share with the general public. By participating contestants give IT World Canada all copyright to the created content for use online, in print, at live events or in marketing materials. All entries may be edited, copied, modified or distributed at the discretion of IT World Canada. All entries must be written in English. Entries that are lewd, obscene, pornographic, or otherwise contain objectionable material may be disqualified at IT World Canada’s sole and unfettered discretion and removed from the Web site. Contestants will be free to post blog entries on other topics, provided they relate to the use and management of enterprise IT, but additional blog entries will not be counted towards the contest.
5. PRIZES AND APPROXIMATE RETAIL VALUE: IT World Canada will select a panel of judges who will evaluate the overall results of the contestants’ efforts per category. At the end of the contest, the judges will choose the contestant whose posts performed best under the category. ALL TAXES AND ANY APPLICABLE WITHHOLDING AND REPORTING REQUIREMENTS ARE THE SOLE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE WINNER
6. CONDITIONS OF PARTICIPATION. IT World Canada reserves the right to substitute a prize for an item of equal or greater value in the event all or part of a prize becomes unavailable. Return of any prize/prize notification may result in disqualification and selection of an alternate winner. Any potential winner who cannot be contacted within 15 days of attempted first notification will forfeit his/her prize. Potential prize winner(s) will be required to discuss their experience as a blogger and as an IT professional for a profile in IT World Canada either online, in print, on video or at an event.
A participant may be prohibited from participating in this Contest if, at IT World Canada’s sole discretion, it reasonably believes that the participant has attempted to undermine the legitimate operation of this Contest by cheating, deception, or other unfair playing practices, or annoys, abuses, threatens or harrasses any other participants, or associated agencies. 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 winner will be selected.
7. DATA PRIVACY: Participants agree that personal data, especially name and address, may be processed, stored and otherwise used for the purposes and within the context of the Contest and any other purposes outlined in these Official Rules. If participant’s data is not provided or is canceled, participants’ Entries will be ineligible.
8. WARRANTY AND INDEMNITY: Entrants certify that their entry is original and that they are the sole and exclusive owner and right holder of the submitted entry and that they have the right to submit the Entry in the Contest. Each participant agrees not to submit any Entry that (1) infringes any 3rd party proprietary, intellectual property, industrial property, personal rights or other rights, including without limitation, copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret or confidentiality obligation; or (2) otherwise violates applicable law in any countries in the world. To the maximum extent permitted by law, each participant indemnifies and agrees to keep indemnified IT World Canada its parent, subsidiaries, agents, directors, officers, employees, representatives and assigns harmless at all times from and against any liability, claims, demands, losses, damages, costs and expenses resulting from any act, default or omission of the participant and/or a breach of any warranty set forth herein.
9. ELIMINATION: Any false information provided within the context of the Contest by any participant concerning identity, postal address, telephone number, ownership of right or non-compliance with these rules or the like may result in the immediate elimination of the participant from the Contest. IT World Canada further reserves the right to disqualify any Entry that it believes in its sole and unfettered discretion infringes upon or violates the rights of any third party or otherwise does not comply with these official rules.
10. INTERNET: IT World Canada is not responsible for electronic transmission errors resulting in omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operations or transmission. IT World Canada is not responsible for theft or destruction or unauthorized access to or alterations of entry materials, or for technical, network, telephone equipment, electronic, computer, hardware or software malfunctions or limitations of any kind. IT World Canada is not responsible for inaccurate transmissions of or failure to receive entry information by IT World Canada on account of technical problems or traffic congestion on the Internet or at any Web site or any combination thereof, except to the extent that any death or personal injury is caused by the negligence of IT World Canada. If for any reason the Internet portion of the program is not capable of running as planned, including infection by computer virus, bugs, tampering, unauthorized intervention, fraud, technical failures, or any other causes which corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness, integrity, or proper conduct of this Contest, IT World Canada reserves the right at its sole discretion to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the Contest. IT World Canada reserves the right to select winners from eligible entries received as of the termination date. IT World Canada further reserves the right to disqualify any individual who tampers with the entry process. Caution: Any attempt by a contestant to deliberately damage any Web site or undermine the legitimate operation of the game is a violation of criminal and civil laws and should such an attempt be made, IT World Canada reserves the right to seek damages from any such contestant to the fullest extent of the law.