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Competition Rules
Each national, Regional, Global League may vary from another. Any changes to these Terms and Conditions would be clearly announced beforehand.

1. Challenges

Challenges will be launched on UNWTO Students League platform on the designated day according to each League (https://www.unwto.org/students-league-platform/).

The Challenges will reflect a real tourism issue that the sector is facing; it will be focused on real problems looking for real solutions.
*other formats such as a single one-off challenge can also be implemented
Each League will comprise a single or a set of challenges created specifically for specific levels of studies (middle school, high, school, undergraduate-Bachelor/post-graduate-Master/etc) and this will be specifically detailed in the Team composition details.

The Challenges will be fully aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals, with an emphasis on Goals 8,12 and 14, in which tourism is featured, and proposals should match Challenges with specific SDGs.

Consultation sessions may be made available to the Student/Teams for some Challenges. If made available, these will be clearly announced on the challenges and on the UNWTO League website.

Online presentation sessions may be organized for the Student/Teams, these will be communicated to the Student/Teams via email and on the UNWTO Students’ league platform.

2. Participants


2.1 Participants

Categories and types or participation will be clearly established for each League/Single Challenge. These can be any of the following:
per Institution
individual (with a support letter from the Institution)
per Team (with a support letter from the Institution)

Only students with the support of Institutions from UN Member States can participate* * Submissions from students/Institutions located in a territory that is the subject of a dispute of sovereignty or other, before the United Nations will not be considered.

2.2 Individual student/Team composition

For Regional and Global Leagues: Only 1 Team (or individual student when marked as such) per Institution will be able to participate. The Institution must provide a support letter presenting the Team

For National Leagues other formats may apply and would be announced previously

In the case of a Global League, individual students / Teams from the host country of the Final 4 Competition will automatically qualify to participate as long as their registration is complete with all required documents and they meet the criteria regarding level of studies, 1-student/Team-per-Institution basis.

Teams are composed of 5 students in the categories marked for each League and will only be selected if they have completed the registration by the established deadline and they meet all the criteria of the particular League (National, Regional , Global). Students who have completed previous degrees in other subjects will not be accepted in order to maintain the equilibrium of age groups and life experience between teams.

When the League calls for Teams, these will always be able to recruit a 6th Team member for each challenge depending on the subject of the Challenge and will give the name and degree coursed on the solution of the challenge .

The Teams will have their own Team access to the UNWTO Students website where they will find the challenge and where they will post their solution.

Participants must be a natural person, of legal age and with legal capacity to enter into a contract, not having been convicted by a final judgment, for intentional crimes, with a penalty of six months or more, insofar as the criminal responsibility has not expired.

Participants who, initially or at any point during the programme, fail to meet any of these requirements, may be excluded from the programme, losing any option to receive any service and without the right to claim anything from the UNWTO.

The data that participants provide when registering in the programme must be true, and therefore any participants whose data is incorrect or incomplete shall lose any option to participate in the programme and to receive any service.

UNWTO reserves the right not to accept or to remove from the programme, without prior notice, any participants who, in their opinion, act fraudulently, in an abusive manner, or in a manner contrary to the spirit of the programme, the principles of the United Nations or the law, third-party rights and/or good faith. Likewise, any participant or related person whose action may be contrary to the reputation or good name of the UNWTO may be removed.

None of the above actions shall entitle any participant or potential participant to any right or claim whatsoever for damages, expenses incurred, etc.

2.3 The candidatures must contain the following

Online registration form available on the website https://www.unwto.org/students-league/. Applicants must complete in English all the required fields requested in the form.

When submission is made by School/Institution (Middle School):
Support letter from the Institution presenting their submission and designating a student representative (1 student)

Individual student / Teams (High School, Undergraduates and Master Degree and above)
Breakdown of the team (representative teacher + 5 students)
Resume of each team member
Photo of each team member (white background)
Short, 1-minute video introducing and showcasing the Institution and the team
Support letter from the University presenting the Team

2.4 Exclusion from participation

Those who do not comply with any of the requirements established in these terms and conditions will not be able to participate, with UNWTO having the right to exclude those who do not meet the established requirements, or even not to deliver the prize, as the case may be. Employees of UNWTO may not participate.

UNWTO shall not be liable for any false, inaccurate, obsolete, incomplete or erroneous data submitted by the participants. In such a case, the participant shall be automatically excluded from the competition, and also lose the right to the enjoyment of the prize, and shall not be entitled to make claims against UNWTO.

The Student/Teams members participating in any onsite national, regional or global Final4 Competitions and Worldwide Final Competitions will need to have travel insurance. Alternative online participation for those members who cannot travel (due to visa requirements or others) may be studied .

The Online Application Form must be fully completed. All fields must contain the requested information. In the event that any field is left blank, or if the answer does not directly correspond to the question asked, the solution will not be evaluated.

For contact purposes in connection with the challenge, UNWTO will use the contact information provided in the application form. UNWTO is not responsible for incomplete or incorrect contact information provided.

3. Solutions from Teams

The Student/Teams will have a determined number of days to to answer the Challenge. The deadline for submission will always appear on each challenge.

The Student/Teams will upload their solution through their individual team access on the website – only 1 solution file per Team will be accepted and will receive a message confirming the correct upload.

The language for the solution is English

The solution will be posted online by each Student/Team and will need to strictly follow the specific format defined in the Challenge (type of document, nº of pages, etc) and must include all the required supporting documents.

The solution will have to include:
A presentation of the names of Team members + name of optional 6th Member
The solution* (following the format defined in the challenge) *The format will be clearly notified before the beginning of each Challenge/League
Teams will win points for each challenge depending on the final grade of the solutions presented for each challenge in order to establish a league board .

4. Jury and Scoring

Each League will have a designated number of Jury members (from 3 to 6 members, representing UNWTO, Stakeholders and sponsors)

The UNWTO Students’ League Jury will score the proposals based on a precise scoring system.

Each jury member will have an individual anonymous access to the scoring page.

The Jury will evaluate the compliant proposals and the scores awarded will create a scoreboard that will determine which Teams will participate in the Final4 Cpmeiti0ons (when applicable). Decisions, made by the Jury, are final.

5. Evaluation Process

The most accurate, innovative and useful challenge solutions provided by the teams will grade higher in the UNWTO Students’ league.

These aspects will be evaluated by the Jury*:
Written Solutions
Innovation and originality
Implementation model and feasibility
Impact, accuracy, effective contribution to solve the challenge/alignment with the Challenge
Awareness/Contribution to the SDGs
Quality and Consistency of presentation design * Some of these criteria may not be applicable depending on the category / age group.
Final4 Live Competition
Quality of Live presentation by Student/Team
Quality of supporting documentation for Live presentation
Quality of answers to questions made by Jury

The Jury will score these aspects with numbers from 1 to 10

The score given to the Student/Team will be the sum of the scores given by the jury for each aspect.

The Student/Team will appear on the scoreboard in the place corresponding to the Global score obtained.

The evaluation process is strictly based on the specific initiative in application, not on general programme or other initiatives undertaken by the Student/Team. If the preliminary validation for a specific initiative reveals misconduct, the application will be disqualified.

6. Final4 Competition

The 4 Student/Teams with the highest overall score at the end of each League, will be selected to participate in the corresponding National, Regional or Global Final4 Competition.

At the end of each League, should there be draw (equal Global scores) between several Students/Teams in the ranking that would decide the 4 Students/Teams to participate in the Final4 Competition, the Jury will convene and evaluate the overall participation of those Teams with the same score.

The Final4 Competition will consist in a live competition (online or onsite), during which the Student/Teams will have to answer a final challenge and defend it in front of the Jury Panel.

Travel and accommodation costs for participation in the Final4 Competitions and Worldwide finals will be the sole responsibility of the Student/Teams members.

7. Industrial and Intellectual Property and Protection of Personal Data

In case the processing of personal data is necessary for the running of the League, UNWTO assumes the following commitments:
To use the data communicated solely for the purpose of the competition.
To ensure that the persons authorized to process personal data shall undertake to respect confidentiality and that the data will not be communicated to unauthorized third parties.
To take all necessary measures to provide a level of security appropriate to the risk that may arise from the processing of personal data and ensure the safety and integrity thereof, as well as to prevent their alteration, loss, accidental or unlawful destruction, treatment, disclosure or unauthorized access.
If there is another entity in charge of processing, to impose the same protection obligations established in the applicable regulations.
The participants may exercise their rights of access, rectification, cancellation and opposition by sending a postal mail to the registered office of the UNWTO indicated in the heading of the present Rules to contact UNWTO indicating the right that you want to exercise and attaching a copy of your Passport, National Identity Document (DNI) or equivalent documentation.

The participant expressly consents, and this through the mere fact of participating in the Programme presented herein, that UNWTO may use of his/her name in order to make the winning project known to the rest of the participants and without any remuneration being generated in his/her favor.

In submitting their applications, the project promoters guarantee that:
The projects are original of their authors and/or they have free disposal or ownership over them. Participants undertake to exempt the organizers from any responsibility and hold them free of liability with respect to any legal action, claim or demand that may be filed in relation to intellectual property rights or personal data of third parties with respect to the projects they submit.
In the event that the projects are a unitary result of the collaboration of several participants, the project will be treated as a collaborative work, with the resulting rights belonging to all of them as co-authors.
The participant authorizes UNWTO to upload the project summary to their respective official websites, and accepts that visitors to the web pages have access to said information in accordance with the conditions of use of said website.
The participant authorizes the use by UNWTO of all data and graphic materials provided in the application , without time limit, for the purpose of being mentioned on the website or any other media owned by UNWTO for any actions or events related in any way with UNWTO, as well as for its recording in the historical archives and storage media of diverse nature of UNWTO and linked to the programme.
The UNWTO shall not claim any ownership over the information offered or any industrial or intellectual property it may contain. The participant does not assign to the UNWTO industrial or intellectual property rights derived from the projects.
The participant expressly authorizes UNWTO to use their personal information with the objective of sharing information with them regarding events and activities that may be of their interest.
The participants accept their transfer of data to the UNWTO once the contest has ended

8. Final considerations

This Programme may be modified, interrupted and/or cancelled if there are justified circumstances that so warrant. Likewise, UNWTO reserve the right to declare all or any of the benefits unawarded, in the event that no submitted project meets the expected quality, in the opinion of the decision-making team.

UNWTO is not liable for possible deficiencies of the platform and for any problems regarding computers, networks or any other reasons that may lead to lost, damaged or late entries.

9. Acceptance of the terms and conditions

Mere participation in the Competition implies the acceptance of the entire content of these Terms and Conditions. The non-acceptance of any of the points that make up these Terms and Conditions supposes non-participation in the Competition and, in the event of being selected and/or being declared the winner, the automatic waiver of the prize.

10. Applicable Law

These Terms and Conditions shall be interpreted in accordance with the general principles of international law, to the exclusion of any specific national law. Any dispute, controversy or claim arising out or in connection with these terms & conditions or any breach thereof, shall, unless it is settled by direct negotiation, be settled by arbitration in accordance with UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules.

Nothing in these Terms and Conditions or in relation to them shall be construed as a waiver of the privileges and immunities enjoyed by the UNWTO under national or international law, and/or as submitting UNWTO to any national court jurisdiction

11. Use of the Name, Emblem and Logo

Participants shall not, in any manner whatsoever, use the name, acronym, emblem or official seal of UNWTO for promotional, commercial o other purposes without the prior written permission of UNWTO, to be provided at the sole discretion of UNWTO in each instance

12. Limitation of Liability and Indemnity

Under no circumstances, shall the UNWTO be responsible to Participants for any loss, direct, indirect, incidental, special or consequential damage, liability or expense incurred or suffered that is claimed to have resulted from or in connection with the Competition

Participants agree to indemnify and hold harmless UNWTO from and against any and all legal liability, claims, losses, actions, damages and expenses that may occur, directly or indirectly, from or in relation to this Competition, including, without limitation, any infringement of the intellectual property rights or other rights of any third party with respect to the projects they submit.