OFFICIAL RULES: STATE FARM® Coding Competition

1. No purchase necessary to enter or win.
2. To Enter: Complete the official entry form. Only one entry per team is allowed. Teams may be either 1 or 2 persons. Sponsor is not responsible for late, damaged, illegible, incomplete, or incorrect entries. Entries become the property of Sponsor and will not be returned. The official rules are posted and copies of the official rules are available on the "Rules" page (http://www.sfresearchcenter.com/codingcomp/rules.aspx).
3. Contest Start and End Dates: Contest begins on 12:00 PM CT, October 3, 2009 and will end at 6:00 PM CT, October 3, 2009. Registration and coding submissions can only be submitted from 12-6 PM on October 3. Submissions received after 6:00 PM CT on October 3 will not be accepted. Eligibility: Contest open to full-time undergraduate students at the following schools: (DeVry University, Eastern Illinois University, Howard University, Illinois State University, Jackson State University, Mansfield University, Millikin University, North Carolina A&T State University, Northwestern State University, Purdue University, Southern Illinois University, University of Illinois, University of Illinois - Springfield, University of Iowa, University of Northern Iowa, University of Texas - El Paso, Washington University, Western Illinois University) on October 3, 2009. Full-time employees and Agents of Sponsor, full-time employees of Agents of Sponsor, its affiliate, and students who participated in the development of the problem statement are not eligible to enter the contest. All federal, state and local laws apply. Void where prohibited.
4. Other Requirements: Failure to comply with the official rules or to complete required affidavit/release will result in disqualification, forfeit of any prize and, at Sponsor’s discretion, an alternate winner may be selected from all remaining eligible entries.
5. Judging: The submissions will be graded by a team of experienced State Farm Java developers with 3 – 8 years experience in object-oriented technologies. Submissions will be graded as follows: 70% completion of the problem, with a functioning solution; 15% Code Readability (this includes the use of Comments and Refactoring of duplicate code); and 15% Code Freestyle (in addition to the core requirements, competitors will have the ability to enhance the application as desired using the specified tools and versions). The decisions of the Sponsor on all matters relating to this contest are final. The prize winners will be notified by email. Prize notification email returned as undeliverable will be disqualified and an alternate winner selected.
6. Prize Notification and Acceptance: The prize winners will be notified by email. Prize notification email returned as undeliverable will be disqualified and an alternate winner selected. All prize winners will be required to complete an affidavit of eligibility and release before prizes will be awarded. Affidavits that are not returned within seven (7) business days may result in disqualification.
7. Finalist Prize Details: Four prizes of $800 each will be awarded to the top 4 individuals or teams. If a two person team wins a prize, they will split the money. No prize substitution allowed by winner. Prizes are not transferable. All Federal, State, and local taxes on prize are the sole responsibility of the winner.
8. Grand Prize Details: The four finalists will be given an all-expense paid trip to State Farm in Bloomington, IL on November 5 – 6, 2009 to participate in the final round of the competition and have the chance to win the $1500 grand prize award (one prize only). Only the finalists attending will be considered for the grand prize. The final round will consist of a 10-15 minute informal presentation by each finalist, or team of finalists, of their submission. The presentations will be graded by three experienced State Farm employees in leadership positions. Judges will grade on the process the entrants took to develop their solution (20%), ease of use of the application (20%), visual appearance of the application (20%), future features (how could they improve on the solution if given more time) (10%), and the overall professionalism and excellence of the presentation (30%). The final round score will be combined with the online code submission score to arrive at a Grand Prize winner. Casual attire is acceptable. If winning entry is from a two-person team, the prize will be split.
9. Prize Delivery: Finalist Prize winners will receive prize by registered mail or other delivery service.
10. Details for Submissions: Coding submissions must be the entrant(s)’ own original work and entrants must abide by all contest rules. Potential winners will be required to complete an affidavit of eligibility, liability & publicity release or entrant may be disqualified, the prize will be forfeited and Sponsor may select an alternate winner. Submissions must be written in the Java programming language. Submissions may use any one or more of the following applications.
    • Java 1.6
    • Eclipse IDE for Java EE Developers (Ganymede)
    • Tomcat 6.0
    • Glassfish v2.1
    • MySQL 5.1
    • MySQL/J Connector
    • MySQL GUI Tools
    Submissions should include both source code and an executable binary file; such as a JAR with a Main class, a WAR, or an EAR.
11. Use of Name and Likeness: By entering, entrants agree that Sponsor and its designees shall have the right and permission to use entrant’s name and/or picture, photograph, image or biographical information or voice and/or other likeness and prize information for trade, advertising, promotional and/or any other purposes in any media or format now known or hereafter devised throughout the world in perpetuity without any further compensation, consideration, permission or notification except where prohibited by law.
12. Liability and Release: By entering this contest, entrant agrees that the Sponsor and its subsidiaries, and affiliates, and each of their respective directors, employees, and agencies will be released and held harmless for any injuries, losses, or damages of any kind related in any way or sustained in connection with participation in the contest, travel to the contest, acceptance, use or misuse, of the prize. The Sponsor has neither made, nor is in any manner responsible or liable for, any warranty, representation, or guarantee, express or implied, in fact or in law, relative to any prize, regarding the use, value or enjoyment of the prize, including, without limitation, its quality, mechanical condition or fitness for a particular purpose.
13. Miscellaneous: Sponsor reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to revoke any and all privileges associated with the competing in this contest and to take any other action they deem appropriate, for no reason or any reason whatsoever, including if Sponsor suspects entrants of cheating, tampering with the entering process, the operation of the Web site, or the contest process, or otherwise being in violation of the rules. Sponsor 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. In the event of termination of the contest, Sponsor may, at its discretion, select the winner(s) from all eligible, non-suspect entries received prior to event requiring such termination.
14. Trademarks: Any trademarks used in this promotion are the property of the respective trademark owners and are used for identification purposes only.
15. List of Winner(s): List of winners will be posted on the Coding Competition home page within 30 days following the competition or mail a self-addressed, stamped envelope to State Farm Coding Competition, Winners’ List, Attn: Margaret Christopher, One State Farm Plaza C4, Bloomington, Il 61710 after November 15, 2009, and before January 30, 2010 – VT residents may omit return postage.
16. Sponsor: State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company; 3 State Farm Plaza, Bloomington, IL 61791. State Farm is in the business of insurance and financial products and services.