Last updated August 27, 2025

ENTRANT LICENSE AND RELEASE FORM

DISCLOSURE – NO PURCHASE NECESSARY: NO PURCHASE OR PAYMENT OF ANY KIND IS NECESSARY TO ENTER OR TO WIN THIS COMPETITION. A PURCHASE WILL NOT IMPROVE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED OR RESTRICTED BY LAW.

DISCLOSURE – ALL TERMS & CONDITIONS APPLY: BY ENTERING THIS COMPETITION, AS EVIDENCED BY YOUR SIGNATURE BELOW ON THIS ENTRANT LICENSE AND RELEASE FORM, YOU FULLY AND UNCONDITIONALLY AGREE TO COMPLY WITH ALL OF THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS HEREIN. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE WITH ANY OF THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS, DO NOT ENTER THIS COMPETITION AND DO NOT SUBMIT AN ENTRY.

COMPLETE OFFICIAL RULES

Eligibility

The Competition is sponsored by the University of Southern California, through its Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences Public Exchange together with the USC School of Architecture (“USC”) and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (“LA Metro”) (collectively “Sponsors”) and is open to currently enrolled undergraduate and/or graduate students in design, planning, and/or architecture programs at higher education institutions in Los Angeles County.

Restrictions: Sponsors and their respective affiliates, subsidiaries, and their respective employees, officers, directors, shareholders, representatives, agents, trustees and family members of those employees are not eligible to participate and will be disqualified. Submissions not meeting the conditions of these Official Rules, as determined by the Sponsors in their sole discretion, will not be eligible for judging and will be disqualified. Without limiting the foregoing, any Submission in violation of intellectual property rights, or any local, state or federal law(s), is ineligible.

The Competition

Prepare a digital design package (renderings, technical drawings, narrative statements, etc.) for a modular, temporary shade structure. The structure should be intended for use in high-need public spaces—such as transit stops, fan zones, schoolyards, and pedestrian corridors (“Submission”). The design competition is part of the broader ShadeLA campaign, a multi-partner regional effort to expand cooling infrastructure across Los Angeles ahead of the 2026 World Cup, 2027 Super Bowl, and 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

How to Enter

The Competition registration period begins on September 2, 2025, at 9:00 AM PDT and ends on October 15, 2025, at 11:59 PM PDT. Enter by registering on the online portal at shade-la.com/design-competition. ALL TEAMS MUST REGISTER ON OR BEFORE OCTOBER 15TH AT 11:59 PM PDT TO BE ELIGIBLE TO PARTICIPATE IN THE COMPETITION. Each Submission must be the original creation of a human entrant (no AI creations, in whole or in part are allowed), with all intellectual property rights free and clear and vested exclusively with the entrant. Submissions may not be cancelled, removed or revoked by the entrant. Entrants assume all risk of damaged, lost, late, incomplete, invalid, incorrect or misdirected Submissions. All information collected from entries shall be deemed received, collected, and judged in the County of Los Angeles, State of California, USA. The Competition submission period begins on November 3, 2025, at 9:00 AM PDT and ends on January 15, 2025, at 11:59 PM PDT.Entrant's Representations & Warranties

By entering, you represent and warrant each of the following:

Additional Consents

By entering, you agree that your Submission(s) will not be returned, and are subject to use by the Sponsors according to the license in Section 6.0, below.

By entering, you further agree that Sponsors may use your name, image and likeness in any public communications, including announcements, promotions and attributions related to the Competition and/or your Submission. By entering, you also agree that if you breach any of these warranties or these Official Rules, you are solely responsible for injury caused by the breach. Entrant agrees to indemnify, defend and hold the Sponsors harmless from and against any and all liability, including, losses, damages, claims, debts, investigations, fines, penalties, costs, expenses and settlements (including attorneys’ fees and costs of litigation, settlement, judgment, interest and penalties) arising out of or related to Entrant’s participation in the Competition, receipt of prize(s) if any, and/or breach of representations and warranties.

Intellectual Property Rights

You retain ownership of your Submission, subject to the license rights that you hereby grant to the Sponsors. Specifically, at the time you submit any Submission to Sponsors, and whether or not your Submission is selected as a winner, you convey a fully-paid, royalty-free, irrevocable, perpetual, transferrable, assignable, sublicensable world-wide license to the Sponsors (individually and jointly) to use the Submission, in whole or in part, and any and all intellectual property therein including, without limitation, any and all rights under the United States Copyright Act, Title 17 United States Code 101, et al., including the rights to reproduce, distribute, publicly display and make derivative works, for any purpose. Further, as part of this license grant, you waive any and all moral rights and rights of attribution relating thereto, and agree to execute all documents and perform all acts deemed necessary by Sponsors to apply for, register, perfect and record such license and/or waivers and protect Sponsors’ right to use the intellectual property as granted by the aforementioned license. You will not now nor in the future be paid for your Submission or for granting Sponsors any of these rights. Sponsors, their affiliates, licensees, successors and assigns are in no way obligated to use or continue to use your Submission (and have no obligation to you or any other person or entity after your Submission is received). You agree to waive all claims to and shall receive no royalties of any kind now or in the future from Sponsors, their affiliates, licensees, successors and assigns for use of your Submission including copyright, trademark, public performance, digital sound recording, mechanical, synchronization or master use royalties, and you represent, warrant and agree that no other party is entitled to claim royalties from the use of the Submission as set forth in these Official Rules.

Content Limitations

Entries that are unsafe, lewd, obscene, pornographic, disparaging of the Sponsors or otherwise contain objectionable material may be disqualified in the Sponsors’ sole and unfettered discretion.

Judging Criteria

Submissions will be judged based on the following criteria:

Selection of Winners

Submissions will be judged by a panel consisting of 9 members, including design professionals and municipal officials, who will evaluate each eligible Submission based on the judging criteria (as defined in paragraph 7 above). The panel will select 3 winners of the Award of Excellence, 1 winner of the Award for Innovation, 1 winner of the Award for Sustainability, and 4 winners of the Honorable Mention Award. The public will also select a winner of the Fan Favorite Award via the ShadeLA website. The winners will be announced in February 2026. Exact announcement date and method of announcement to be determined by Sponsors in their sole discretion. Alternatively, you may contact Sponsors by email at shadezones@usc.edu to request a list of the winners. All winners are subject to verification, including, without limitation, verification of eligibility and compliance with these Official Rules. Entrants agree that Sponsors have the sole right to decide all matters and disputes arising from this Competition and that all decisions of the Sponsors are final and binding.

Potential winners will be notified by mail, e-mail or telephone (at Sponsors’ discretion using the information provided in the registration). Potential winners (or if a minor their parent or adult legal guardian) will be required to sign and return an Affidavit/Declaration/Certificate of Eligibility, Release of Liability within ten (10) business days of the date such Affidavit and Release are dated. In the event of noncompliance with these Official Rules, if potential winner cannot be reached using the contact information provided with the Submission on or within two attempts, or if the prize winner notification is returned as unclaimed or undeliverable, the prize will be forfeited and an alternate potential winner will be selected in accordance with their score. Prizes are not assignable or transferable in whole or in part. All properly claimed prizes will be awarded provided a sufficient number of eligible Entries are received, but in no event will the Sponsors award more prizes than are provided for in these Official Rules. No prize substitutions allowed, in whole or in part, except the Sponsors reserve the right to substitute a prize of comparable value. Winner is solely responsible for any local, provincial, state, federal or any other applicable taxes, and any other costs, expenses and fees connected with the prize. Prizes won by a minor will be awarded to and in the name of their parent/adult legal guardian who is responsible for any and all applicable taxes, costs, expenses and fees relating to their child’s prize.

Use of Submissions

Some Submissions may be showcased in public exhibitions online and/or in person. Sponsors may also utilize Submissions in real-world testing and/or adaptation in Sponsors’ sole and absolute discretion.

Limitations of Liability and Release

ENTRANT AGREES THAT SPONSORS, THEIR AFFILIATES, DIVISIONS, SUBSIDIARIES, AND ALL OF THEIR RESPECTIVE OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, TRUSTEES, CONTRACTORS, REPRESENTATIVES AND AGENTS (“RELEASED PARTIES”) WILL HAVE NO LIABILITY WHATSOEVER FOR, AND WILL BE RELEASED AND HELD HARMLESS BY ENTRANT FOR ANY CLAIMS, LIABILITIES, OR CAUSES OF ACTION OF ANY KIND OR NATURE FOR ANY INJURY, LOSS OR DAMAGES OF ANY KIND INCLUDING DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES TO PERSONS, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION DISABILITY OR DEATH (EXCEPT IN CASES OF DEATH OR PERSONAL INJURY CAUSED DIRECTLY BY THE NEGLIGENCE OF THE SPONSORS), AND DAMAGE TO PROPERTY, DUE IN WHOLE OR IN PART, ARISING DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, NOW OR IN THE FUTURE FROM THE DELIVERY, ACCEPTANCE, USE OR MISUSE OF THE PRIZE, ANY AND ALL USE AS PROVIDED HEREIN OF THEIR SUBMISSION, OR PARTICIPATION IN THIS COMPETITION AND/OR ANY RELATED ACTIVITY.

FOR AVOIDANCE OF DOUBT, THE LOS ANGELES ORGANIZING COMMITTEE FOR THE OLYMPIC AND PARALYMPIC GAMES 2028 AND ITS AFFILIATES (collectively, "LA28") ARE NOT SPONSORS OR ORGANIZERS OF THIS COMPETITION. LA28 IS NEITHER A PARTY NOR A THIRD-PARTY BENEFICIARY TO THIS ENTRANT LICENSE AND RELEASE FORM.

Jurisdiction, Venue, & Choice of Law

This Competition and any action related thereto shall be governed, controlled, interpreted and defined by and under the laws of the State of California and the United States, without regard to the conflicts of laws provisions thereof. The exclusive jurisdiction and venue of any action with respect to the subject matter of these Official Rules and terms and conditions shall be the state courts of the State of California for the County of Los Angeles or the United States District Court for the Central District of California and each of the parties hereto submits itself to the exclusive jurisdiction and venue of such courts for the purpose of any such action.