Competition Terms and Conditions

The 2024 GSA SPARK Competition (the “Competition”) is subject to the competition terms and conditions set out below (the “Competition Terms”). Entry into the Competition is also subject to the Website Terms and Conditions and the Competition Terms should be read in conjunction with the Website Terms and Conditions.

1. The Competition is promoted by GSA Capital Partners LLP whose registered number is OC309261 and whose registered office is at Stratton House, 5 Stratton Street, London W1J 8LA, UK (“GSA”).
2. Employees (other than interns) of GSA or anyone else connected in any way with the Competition or helping to set up the Competition shall not be permitted to enter the Competition. Family members of employees of GSA may, in GSA’s discretion, be permitted to enter the Competition, but shall not be eligible for any prize.
3. To be eligible to submit an entry to the Competition, the entrant must have an e-mail address with the suffix “.ac.uk” or “.edu”. Entrants with e-mail addresses affiliated to other academic institutions will be permitted to enter the Competition, subject to GSA’s discretion. Entrants with such an e-mail address who wish to enter should contact GSA (spark@gsacapital.com).
4. There is no entry fee and no purchase necessary to enter the Competition.
5. The opening date of the Competition is 29 November 2024 09:00:00 GMT and the overall closing date for the Competition is 19 December 2024 23:59:59. After this date no further submissions to the Competition will be permitted.
6. No responsibility can be accepted for entries not received for whatever reason.
7. The rules of the Competition (the "Rules") are set out below under the heading “Competition Rules”.
8. Entrants will retain copyright in their submissions and any code submitted therein. However, by entering, all entrants grant to GSA a worldwide royalty-free perpetual licence to edit, publish and use each submission in any and all media.
9. GSA reserves the right to cancel or amend the Competition and these terms and conditions without notice in the event of a catastrophe, war, civil or military disturbance, act of God or any actual or anticipated breach of any applicable law or regulation or any other event outside of GSA’s control. Any changes to the Competition will be notified to entrants as soon as possible by GSA.
10. Winners will be chosen in accordance with the Rules.
11. Winners of the Daily Prize Draw will be notified within 24 hours of the Daily Cut Off Time, and the winner(s) of the Grand Prize will be notified by email within 21 days of the overall Competition closing date. If any winner cannot be contacted or does not claim their prize within 14 days of notification, GSA reserves the right to withdraw the prize from the relevant winner and pick a replacement winner.
12. Any non-U.K. resident winner of the Daily Prize Draw will receive an Amazon voucher equivalent in value to that day’s prize.
13. GSA’s decision in respect of all matters to do with the Competition will be final and no correspondence will be entered into.
14. By entering this Competition, an entrant is indicating their agreement to be bound by the Competition Terms and the Website Terms and Conditions.
15. The Competition and the Competition Terms will be governed by English law and any disputes will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.

Competition Rules

1. An individual may only enter the Competition once per year.
2. There are two separate prize categories, the Daily Prize Draw and the Grand Prize.
3. A new question will be released daily at 9:00:00AM GMT.
4. The cut off time (the “Daily Cut Off Time”) for submission into the Daily Prize Draw will be 11:59:59PM GMT on the same day that the question is released.
5. Once released, questions will remain accessible and answers editable until the Competition closing date. However, submissions made after the Daily Cut Off Time shall not be considered eligible for the Daily Prize Draw.
6. The last saved answer before the Daily Cut Off Time will automatically be considered as the final and only submission for that day’s question and for entry into the Daily Prize Draw.
7. Contestants submitting a correct answer before the Daily Cut Off Time in relation to a given day’s question shall be entered into the Daily Prize Draw for the prize(s) offered in relation to that given day.
8. Certain questions require contestants to submit code in addition to their answer. Contestants should submit the code by completing the accompanying function stub, as specified in the question text.
9. Contestants submitting correct answers before the Competition closing date shall accrue points for the Grand Prize. Contestants will be awarded 1 point for a correct answer. If a question requires submission of code, an additional point will also be awarded if the submitted code passes all of the hidden test cases. On days where multiple questions are asked, each correct answer will be awarded 1 point.
10. A snapshot of the Leaderboard is published to the Competition website at 00:00:00AM GMT on each day of the Competition. The Leaderboard will show the contestants current score as at the end of the previous day.
11. The only permitted programming language in which to submit code for the competition is Python 3.8.20. Contestants are not permitted to use libraries that do not already come with version 3.8.20.
12. The exact nature of prizes is, at all times, subject to availability. GSA reserves the right to substitute any named prize with an alternative prize of similar value.
13. Prizes for the Daily Prize Draw will be revealed daily at 9:00:00AM GMT on the Competition website after signing in.
14. The Grand Prize will be awarded to the contestant with the highest total score over the 21 days. In the event of tied scores, the contestant with the fastest average submission time shall be selected as the winner. Submission time will be calculated as the time the question was first opened to the time of the last submitted answer. In the remarkable situation where contestants have equal average submission times the prize will be awarded to the contestant whose code, in GSA Capital’s sole discretion, is considered the best quality. If there is no clear distinction in code quality GSA may choose to split the prize among the relevant number of contestants being considered.
15. Hacking is not permitted. If the Competition administration identifies hacking, the contestants responsible will be disqualified from further participation in the Competition and shall forfeit eligibility for any prizes.