Contest rules
Print
You are eligible if you…
- Love to explore exotic cultures, challenge your physical strength and endurance, take pictures, write and travel.
- Are a blog writer or a traveler who runs a personal blog.
- Are a foreign national who meets the qualifications listed above.
- Travel with one or more partners ( You, or at least one of your partners, must possess a foreign nationality ).
- Preferably have good audio-visual editing skils.
In the first stage of the contest, “Taiwan Explorers Wanted”, 50 teams of travelers who come up with the best itineraries for a four-day trip will be selected. To apply for selection, here’s what you need to do:
Submit your entry form between June 1-30. (All entries must be received by 23:59:59, June 30, 2009 GMT.)
Fill out theTeam Entry Form.
Submit a Plan for Team Travel in Taiwan.
-
1.
Assign a clear theme to your tour: For example, “Beauty and health tour”, “Mountain ecology tour”, “Biking/hot springs tour”, “Hot springs and aboriginal village tour”, “Hakka cuisine/farm village tour”, “Urban fashion/beauty tour”, “Railway/farm village tour”, “Historic sites/temple-snacks tour”, “Studio photography/urban nightlife tour”, “Soap opera/Music video locales tour”, “Shopping tour”, “Spa/fortune-telling tour”. Entrants can combine other activities in their itineraries, which are not restricted to a single theme. -
2.
The entrants are encouraged to include in their itineraries the public transport and related services available in Taiwan, such as local tour buses, Taiwan Railways(TR Pass or Round-the-island Rail Pass), Taiwan High Speed Rail(discounts given under the “Blue + Orange” and “Non-reserved seat” plans), Taipei Metro One-Day Pass, Kaohsiung Rapid TransitOne-Day Pass/One-Day Traveler Card, Taiwan Youth Travel Service. -
3.
Besides a creative itinerary, how a team makes the tour more than worth the price will be another criterion for determining the winner of the contest.
Upload an audio/video file to introduce your team: Give a self-introduction in a creative 60-second video pitch, explaining why your team is qualified as an entrant.
Judging and selection of winners:
The Bureau will organize a committee to select 50 participating teams of Taiwan Explorers. The judging criteria will include: popularity of introductory video with blog readers (10%), creativity and inexpensiveness of the trip (55%) and feasibility of itinerary (35%).
The participating teams will be announced on July 10.
Entrants’ rights and obligations:
Rights：
-
1.
Each of the 50 winning teams will be paid (for each itinerary) an allowance of NT$ 7,000 per day for up to 4 days, or NT$ 28,000 in total (The qualifying teams will receive NT$ 28,000 in travel expenses after a 20% tax imposed on foreign nationals is deducted from the actual payment of NT$ 35,000.) Note: The Bureau will not grant allowances for itineraries in excess of four days. -
2.
The blog URL of team entrants will be included in a brochure about the contest to be available in three languages (Chinese, English and Japanese). -
3.
The entrants must pay their own airfares, but the Bureau can help the chosen teams obtain round-trip flight tickets from China Airlines or EVA Airways at discount prices. -
4.
The activity period is July 11 to Aug. 31. Each team must produce a video (up to 10 minutes) of each day’s activities and upload it each evening together with an explanation (up to 200 words) of the activities onto the official website. The most popular team will be selected for each of three language groups (Chinese, English and Japanese) in accordance with popularity with blog readers, as measured by the number of votes won and hits on the video. Any of the 50 participating teams have an opportunity to win a “4 day/3 night flight + hotel package for two people”. -
5.
The most popular teams will be announced on Sept. 10. Note: The winners of “4 days/ 3 night flight + hotel package” can claim their prizes from Nov. 1, 2009 to April 30, 2010. -
6.
After completing the 4-day itinerary in Taiwan, an entrant must show up on Day 5 at a place designated by the Bureau with the original copy of his/her passport. Once confirmed that the required four videos along with four 200-word explanations have been uploaded, the team will be given NT$ 28,000 after filling out a receipt.
Obligations:
-
1.
The team entrants must complete their travel based on their itineraries between July 11 and Aug. 31. -
2.
After leaving Taiwan, the entrants must upload onto the official website, by Sept. 30, an 800-word travelogue—with optional inclusion of pictures—accompanied by a video (3 to 5 minutes in length) that covers the highlights of the 4-day tour—to enter stage 2 of the contest: “Come up with the best travel itinerary for Taiwan and win NT$1,000,000.” (Entrants whose videos include images containing the word “Taiwan” will win extra points!) -
3.
The videos must be produced according to the requirements of the Bureau and be saved as an audio-visual file, with the copyrights co-owned by the Bureau and the entrants. -
4.
The copyrights of travelogues, pictures and videos will be co-owned by the Bureau and the entrants.
In the second stage of the contest, “Come up with the best travel itinerary for Taiwan and win NT$1,000,000”, the 50 selected teams will compete to come up with the best itinerary and best way to share it with the world online.
Your team will be eligible if it is among the 50 chosen Taiwan Explorers in the first stage of the event.
How to enter stage 2 of the contest: Participating teams must upload onto the official website, by Sept. 30, an 800-word travelogue (with optional inclusion of pictures) along with a video (3 to 5 minutes in length) that covers their highlights of the 4-day tours.
Judging and selection of winners:
-
1.
Blog voting: To be conducted on Oct. 1 -31- The number of votes received from blog readers will be a judging criterion. Note: the team entrants must try their best to achieve the greatest Internet exposure possible for their travelogues and videos.
- Extra points will be awarded if a team’s travelogues or videos are shown on their own or other people’s travel blogs or websites, such as MySpace and Facebook, or added to website links by blog readers.
- All blog readers are eligible to vote for their favorite team, regardless of nationality.
-
2.
Final selection of winner:- The Bureau will organize a committee to select the winning team.
- Judging criteria: creativity and inexpensiveness of the trip (35%), feasibility of itinerary (30%), quality of audio-visual uploads (20%), and frequency of being linked to/quoted by other websites and popularity with blog readers (15%).
- The winning team will be announced on Nov. 15.
Entrants’ rights and obligations:
Rights：
According to Taiwan’s Income Tax Law, the winning team must pay a 20% income tax on the NT$1,000,000 prize and receive an actual payment of NT$800,000 for a one-month tour in Taiwan.
Obligations:
-
1.
The team that wins the NT$1,000,000 prize is required to visit Taiwan for a month. The team must arrive in Taiwan in February or March 2010 to start its one-month itinerary. -
2.
The winning team must pay round-trip airfare and miscellaneous expenses (dining, accommodations and transportation, etc.) for its one-month-long tour of Taiwan. -
3.
The Bureau will arrange for the entire tour itinerary to be covered by the media. The footage will be used in tourism promotions overseas. -
4.
The winning team, during its one-month tour of Taiwan, will be required to visit designated national parks, national scenic areas and attractions to explore Taiwan’s distinctive characteristics—natural phenomena, ecological resources, culture, customs and cuisine. The team must also upload, on a weekly basis, its most interesting discoveries or episodes in Taiwan in the form of audio-visual blog posts (including a 250-word description) onto the official website.
