RULES
SUMMARY
This is a quick reference summary for South African use. For more detailed rules, please consult the following links. All links open in a new browser window/tab.
For the complete list of international rules, please click here.
For the complete evaluation criteria and team requirement rules, please click here.
For the complete rules regarding coach requirements, please click here.
DATES
Consult the Dates page.
AGE GROUPS
Consult the
Age Groups page.
AWARDS AND PRIZES
Click here to see Awards and Prizes
TEAM REQUIREMENTS
- A team must be comprised of at least three and no more than six student members and one coach each (a "team").
- A team may also include one assistant coach (optional).
- A team may have no more than two student members who have been on winning ThinkQuest teams in the past.
- Teams may be comprised of students and coaches from within a single classroom or from many different classrooms, schools, communities, or countries around the world. Multi-location teams are encouraged. (See Evaluation Criteria.)
COACH REQUIREMENTS
Coaches may provide guidance, administration, and practical assistance to their teams. Coaches may help students form teams and locate resources (human, technical, and information). Coaches may NOT work directly on any portion of the website. A coach may be coach to more than one team.
The coach must:
- Be employed by and working in a teaching or resource capacity (e.g. teacher, librarian, technology coordinator, etc.) at an eligible school.
- Be at least age 21 on the day of the entry submission deadline.
- Acknowledge and agree to comply with and be bound by the terms and conditions of the competiton.
- Provide an active e-mail address during coach enrollment and maintain this e-mail address throughout the competition, so that he/she may act as the point of contact for the team.
- Be at least age 20 on the day of the entry submission deadline.
- Not be a student member of any current team.
STUDENT REQUIREMENTS
Student Team members are responsible for the design and development of their Website, including the selection, research, and development of its content. Each student must make significant contributions to the success of the Team and be a full participant in the development of the Website.
Each student must:
- Be no younger than age 9 and no older than age 19.
- Be actively enrolled as a student at a school, or be home-schooled.
- Be a member of only one team.
- Obtain a signed permission form from the parent/legal guardian before participation.
- All provincial and government schools are eligible to take part.
- All private schools which are registered with one of the Education Departments are elegible to take part.
- Students must have Internet access arranged by the school.
- Students who are not at eligible schools may still take part as members of a team at an eligible school.
EVALUATION CRITERIA
Teams should review the Evaluation Criteria thoroughly before developing their entries.
TOPIC CATEGORIES
Entries must be submitted in one of the twelve categories, which correspond to the top-level navigation categories in the ThinkQuest Library. Click here for Topic Categories. To view examples of each category, consult the ThinkQuest Library
ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
Content:
- Websites (or content from websites) previously submitted in ThinkQuest competitions are ineligible for submission.
- Websites may not contain any objectionable material including but not limited to profanity, vulgar language, or statements that promote hatred towards an individual, race, or community.
- Websites may not contain any commercial content that promotes the sale of an item directly via the Website, or by hyperlinks to external commercial sites selling products or services.
Use of Copyrighted Materials:
Websites and all content contained on or in the websites (collectively "Website Content") must be the original creation of the team and must contain complete and accurate citations and/or permissions for all sources used.
The Foundation takes plagiarism very seriously. Any plagiarism or copyright violation will result in an entry's disqualification.
While students are encouraged to seek guidance from coaches, parents, friends, published sources and other collaborators via the Internet, students must do their own work and must not permit any person (other than student members of the team) to perform such work and must not copy the materials (words, images, data, audio and video files, and other media) of others, except as permitted below:
- Websites may include material that was created by another person before January 1, 1918 so long as an accurate citation is provided within the website.
- Websites may include material that was created by another person on or after January 1, 1918 so long as written permission to quote or use such material is obtained as required by the creator or owner of such intellectual property AND an accurate citation is provided within the website. Teams must also be able to provide a copy of such permission to the Foundation, if requested.
Student Safety & Privacy:
In order to prevent the publication of personally identifiable information in the Library, website and site profile content may NOT contain any of the following:
- Student last names.
- Student e-mail addresses or personal contact information (generic team or coach e-mail addresses are acceptable).
- Guestbooks, discussion boards, forums, chat areas (including links on a ThinkQuest website to these types of forums on external websites).
Language:
The Website and Site Profile may be in any language provided an English version is also available. Judges will evaluate the English language version of the Website. All communication submitted to ThinkQuest must be in English.
TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS
Supported Technologies:
Websites must be built to run within a browser:
- Browser-based technologies such as Flash, Java script, dhtml, style sheets, and applets are supported.
- Server-based technologies such as PHP, Perl, SSI, Java, CGI, and FrontPage extensions* are NOT supported.
*FrontPage may be used to design and build a Team's Website, but FrontPage's server-side extensions and publishing utilities are not supported.
Websites should be able to be viewed on different browsers and platforms and at different connection speeds. Teams are encouraged to test their Websites on a variety of machines and browsers.
Server Usage:
All final Website Content must be uploaded to the ThinkQuest server. Website Content cannot be hosted on an external server. Each Team will be allotted a maximum of 50 mb of ThinkQuest server space for its Website.
LIBRARY
Entries may be displayed in the ThinkQuest Library ("Library"), subject to the sole discretion of the Foundation.
GENERAL CONDITIONS
This is a summary of the rules for South African use.
Please study the full set of rules at www.thinkquest.org/competition/rules.html