Rules & Restrictions

Nominations | First Round Review | Judge Participation

Nominations

Eligible Products: any service, application, resource or solution that is available in digital form via disk/internet download, network, the Web, software as a service (SaaS), or the cloud or data center environment.
Entries & Category Placement: Each product must be nominated separately. Nominated products may be entered in up to three categories
Product Availability: Products must have been launched and/or available for purchase by October 1, 2012 in order to be eligible for the 2013 CODiE Awards.
SIIA reserves the right to cancel any CODiE Awards category with fewer than 5 nominations. If a category is cancelled, nominees in that category will have the option to move to another category (if appropriate) or receive a full refund of the nomination fee.
Validation/Verification of Placement: Nominations must include explanatory text that supports the placement of the product in the category or categories. Additionally, SIIA reserves the right to re-assign nominations to a more appropriate category.
Nominations Deadline: The primary deadline for submission of nominations is 5:00 PM EST on September 28 (content categories) or 5:00 PM EST on October 5 (software and education categories).
Late Nominations Period (software and education categories only): Entries received after 5:00 PM on October 5 but prior 5:00 PM on October 19 will be charged an additional $100 late nomination fee.
Nominations must be paid in full by the submission deadline.
Cancellation Policy: SIIA’s policy regarding cancellations is as follows:
- Any nomination cancelled by 5:00 PM on Spetember 14 (content categories) or 5:00 PM on September 21 (software and education categories) will receive a full refund.
- Prior to the start of the judging phase, any nomination that is deemed a poor fit in a category and, upon review by SIIA staff, the nominating entity and judges, cannot appropriately fit into any other category, will receive a full refund.
- After the start of the judging phase, no refunds will be approved.

First Round Review

Assignment of Judges: All nominated products are assigned to at least two judges. Each judge is assigned a maximum of five nominated products, unless more are requested by a judge. Nominees are provided with key information about assigned judges in advance of the review phase.
Nominee-Judge Communication. Nominee communication with judges must be directly related to the review process or in response to requests for information about the product under review. All other communication is prohibited.
Nominee Campaigning. Employees and contracted personnel are prohibited from conducting promotional efforts to garner support from judges or members of SIIA.
Accuracy of Information or Presentation: Nominating entities are expected to provide accurate information about the nominated product. If any information provided on the nomination form should change, it is the responsibility of the primary contact to notify SIIA of the change. SIIA takes no responsibility for inaccurate information if not notified of changes.
Nominee Concerns with Judges: Any concerns relating to judge qualifications, conflicts of interest, or any other issue that might negatively affect the judging process must be submitted to SIIA staff in writing prior to the start of the review phase.
Inappropriate Claims or Representation: If, during the review process, a judge or SIIA staff discovers and confirms the existence of inappropriate claims about the nominated product, said information will be removed from consideration and one warning will be provided. A second offense will result in removal of the nominated product from consideration without a refund of the nomination fees.
Professional Conduct: all employees of a nominating company, contracted representatives of said company, and judges are expected to conduct themselves according to the highest levels of professionalism, courtesy, respect, and integrity. SIIA staff will investigate any and all complaints of misconduct on the part of nominees and judges.

Terms & Conditions for Judge Participation

All persons agreeing to serve as a SIIA CODiE Award Judge shall abide by the following terms and conditions.

Qualifications: To qualify to participate as a CODiE Judge, an individual must have proven experience in the category they would like to review. Potential judges must disclose any possible conflicts of interest. Judges cannot review any products from companies they have worked with in the past 3 years.
Review of Nominations: By agreeing to participate as a member of the Judge Panel, you agree to review every nomination in every category you are assigned to by SIIA.
Conflicts of Interest: A Judge must recuse themselves from discussing, reviewing and voting on particular nominations with which he/she could be perceived of having a conflict of interest. All SIIA CODiE Awards Judges must promptly notify SIIA in writing of any existing or potential conflicts of interest so that SIIA can determine whether a real or perceived conflict of interest exists and what action SIIA and the Judge shall take to obviate or remedy the conflict. A conflict occurs, for example, where the category includes a nomination of one's own company product/service, or that of a close friend or family member. It can also occur when a nominated product or company is one in which you personally, a company you own, or your employer has an investment/financial relationship. It also occurs if you, a company you own or your employer participated in the design, testing or marketing of the nomination product or service. A conflict may also exist if you previously worked for a company whose product or service is nominated, or previously participated in the design, development, or marketing of the product or service, but do not do so currently. No Judge will review nominations where they have a conflict, as determined by the SIIA CODiE Awards Program.
Conduct: Judges are asked to carry out their judge responsibilities in a professional manner. If an assignment reacts in a way that a Judge deems inappropriate, please notify the Awards Program Manager of the infraction. If a complaint is lodged against a Judge from a nominee, SIIA will fully explore the matter and take action. If a second complaint is filed, SIIA will strip the offending judge of his or her CODiE responsibilities.
Permitted and Prohibited Uses: All Judges must abide by the terms and conditions of any license agreement that accompanies any nominated product or service reviewed by the Judge. Judges must not engage in any activity that would be considered to be a violation of U.S or international copyright law, this includes, but is not limited to:
- modifying, merging, or transferring copies of the nominated product or service, except as expressly authorized in any license agreement accompanying the product or service;
- disassembling, decompiling or "unlocking," or in any manner decoding the nominated product or software for any reason;
- placing the nominated product or service onto a server in a manner that makes it accessible to others via a public network such as the Internet.
Recusal: If, at any time during the CODiE Awards review and/or voting process, a Judge believes that he or she cannot comply with any of these terms and conditions the Judge must notify SIIA immediately and submit a letter to SIIA recusing themselves from discussing, reviewing and voting in the CODiE Awards competition, and returning any nominated product or services to its owner.
Gifts: A Judge shall not accept a fee, gift or personal benefit that is connected directly or indirectly with the performance of the Judge's duties, except where except such compensation authorized by law or a gift or personal benefit is received as an incident of protocol or social obligation.