The rules below apply to every contest on Unikorn. Each contest has its own page with its theme, dates, product limits, prizes and sponsors. A contest page can add its own rules, and where the two differ, the contest's own rules apply.
Contest types
- By category: for products in a specific category.
- By theme: for products that fit a theme set by the organisers.
- By time window: for products launched within a set period.
Stages
- Upcoming: the contest is announced but not yet taking products. You can follow it to get notified.
- Nominations: makers submit their products.
- Voting: the community votes for the entered products.
- Ended: the organisers finalise the results and announce the winners.
A contest needs the minimum number of products shown on its page before it moves to voting. If it does not reach that number, the contest moves to Cancelled and the reason is shown on the contest page. The organisers may also cancel a contest before it ends for good reason.
Eligibility
- A product must be publicly launched on Unikorn before it is submitted. Products pending review or deleted cannot be submitted.
- Only a product's makers can submit it to a contest.
- Each product can enter a given contest only once.
- The number of products each person can submit and the total number of products in a contest are limited, as shown on the contest page.
Submitting and withdrawing products
You submit a product during the nomination stage, right on the contest page. Whoever submitted it can withdraw it during this stage if it has no votes yet. Once a product has votes, withdrawing it affects the people who voted, so you need to contact the organisers to handle it.
Voting
- You need to sign in to vote, and you can only vote during the voting stage.
- You can vote for several products, once per product, and you can remove your vote.
- You cannot vote for a product you own, make, or belong to the owning team of.
- Each vote carries a weight based on your account. In contests, the gap in weight between senior members and new members is narrower than on the regular leaderboards.
- If you have never clapped for that product, your contest vote also counts as a clap for the product.
How winners are decided
When voting ends, the organisers finalise the results by each product's total vote score. The products with the highest scores win, and each contest sets how many prizes there are. Products with no vote score are not ranked. When two products tie, the one submitted earlier ranks higher. If no product qualifies to be ranked, the contest is cancelled with no winner.
Prizes
Prizes are set by each contest and listed on its page. They can include bonus points for makers, a badge for winning products, gifts from sponsors, gifts for every entered product and special prizes awarded by the organisers. Winning products can embed the contest badge on their website.
Cheating and enforcement
The following are banned in contests:
- Using multiple accounts, fake accounts or groups of accounts to vote for each other.
- Buying, selling or trading votes.
- Using automated tools to vote.
Votes sent too quickly are temporarily not accepted, and you can try again after a few minutes. When cheating is found, the organisers suspend the accounts involved, remove the claps and revoke the points those claps created. Suspicious votes are reviewed before the results are finalised. The organisers can remove a product from a contest before voting, or cancel a contest if its results can no longer be trusted. General rules of conduct are in the Community Guidelines and the Terms of Service.
Contact
If you have questions about a contest, post them in Feedback. If you see signs of cheating, report it through Report abuse or email [email protected].
