Hello folks,
the ABBUC software contest 2006 is over, so here are the new rules for the software contest 2007...:

Rules for the ABBUC Software Contest 2007:

1) General Rules:

The deadline for the software contest has been set to the 31st of August 2007 (until midnight). ABBUC will therefore spend the following prizes:

1st place: 500 Euro
2nd place: 250 Euro
3rd place: 125 Euro
4th place:   75 Euro
5th place:   50 Euro
6th - 10th place: a small consolation prize

For all registered programs ABBUC will get the right of a premiere release on its magazine; the copyright will still remain by the author who can use his program freely after the contest. The presentation of the programs will take place on the ABBUC magazine (and/or on the ABBUC special magazine), as well as at the annual ABBUC meeting in October. The decision and prizing will take place at the end of the annual ABBUC meeting in Herten/Germany. There is no need for the author to be present at this event, the prize will still be send to the author`s postal adress or his bank account, provided that ABBUC has one of these adresses...

2) Program Types & Disk Sizes:

The software contest programs must be one of the following program types:
a) Game/s, b) Application/s (also Tools, Utilities, etc.) or c) Operating Systems (DOS).
Not allowed are any kinds of demos or intros, also not allowed are any beta- or pre-versions (meaning the contest programs must be finished). For compatibility reasons one must make sure, that the programs work at least on Atari XL or XE computers, which means standard 64k or 128k machines. Additional or extra hardware can be supported, but it must not be a requirement to own this extra hardware to load and execute the program. Believe it or not, the ABBUC Software Ressort, as well as all ABBUC members, will do a „Quality“ and „Compatibility“ check of all submitted contest programs...

3) Format and Languages:

The software contest programs can be send as 5,25“ Atari disk(s) or as ATR-image(s), but they must use Single (90k) or Enhanced (130k) density. Furthermore, the program must have a short manual, this can be included in the program (internally) or as a separate text-file (externally). It is therefore important that one uses german or at least english language (and explains shortly how the program has to be loaded), so that everyone can handle the program. All Atari 8Bit compatible languages are allowed as programming languages, but all of them have to be compiled in the end, so one can load the program without having to own a certain programming language. The only exceptions here are Atari Basic and Turbo Basic XL source listings, since every Atari user owns these languages. Lastly, one needn`t supply any source-code for the contest programs, the finished loadable or executable program is enough...

4) Quality and Compatibility Check:

As said before, the ABBUC Software Ressort will do a compatibility-check of all submitted programs on original/real Atari XL/XE computers with 64k and 128k RAM. Thus, it is not enough, that submitted programs work with an emulator, for the participation at the contest, the programs must work on a real Atari XL/XE ! As soon as this compatibility check is passed, the program(s) will be registered for the contest. The ABBUC members will then do a quality check of all the programs that are a) released on the ABBUC magazine(s) and b) presented at the annual ABBUC meeting in October. They will judge the quality of each program with a vote-sheet and by giving 1 to 10 points. The programs which score the most points in the end will get the declared prizes. Should the unexpected case happen, that only programs of medium or bad quality take part at the contest, then ABBUC has the right to reduce the prizes accordingly...

5) Other Rights:

ABBUC has the right to keep a part of the prizes if a) the number of participants (programmers, authors, etc.) and/or b) the number of programs (games, applications, etc.) is much too low, e.g. if there are less than 5 registered programs in the contest. Should this case happen, then the unpaid prizes will be added to the next contest, as long as the software-contest has not been stopped / canceled by the ABBUC members. Also the ABBUC Software Ressort has the right to rename the submitted programs (filenames on the diskette) without further notice or say something in explanation, that`s especially for programs that are named Autorun.* or *.SYS. As said above, Atari Basic, Turbo Basic XL and Compiled-Turbo-Basic programs will be accepted for the contest, but most of the time no Turbo Basic XL nor the CTB-Runtime will be delivered with the ABBUC magazine due to shortage of disk-space...

6) Disclaimer:

Naturally it is not allowed to hack, crack, pirate or patch/change already available commercial Atari 8Bit software to submit it in a different form or version for the ABBUC software contest. Such programs will be disqualified from the contest by the ABBUC Software Ressort. Should a pirated program be recognized as such after the contest is over and after the prize (money) has been paid off, then the author will be banned from the ABBUC contest forever. And as always: Juridical actions won`t be accepted or better: All rights reserved !!!

Please e-mail your program(s) to
software@abbuc.de

or write to my postal adress:
Andreas Magenheimer
Neugasse 12
55237 Lonsheim
Deutschland/Germany

For this bad translation no complaints will be taken... - all errors are fully intentional !!