Submission: March 01, 2016
Registration: February 29, 2016
Language: English
Location: Concept
Prizes: x3 $50,000 USD Prize
Type: Open
Autism Speaks is offering $150,000 in prizes for belief-busting breakthroughs in housing and residential supports for adults with autism.
Moving out of the family home – that giant step into adulthood – is never easy for anyone. For those living with autism, however, the challenges and fears surrounding this life stage can be overwhelming, not just for them, but for their families as well. While many efforts have been made to support this transition, this important rite of passage is difficult to achieve without the right supports and services. There is no turnkey fix; no one-size-fits-all approach; no easy answer.
Unencumbered, creative, and radically obtainable thinking is needed to create alternative housing and support services (“supports”).
Autism Speaks, the world’s leading autism science and advocacy organization, is sponsoring the Autism Speaks House to Home Prize to bring about these breakthroughs. With the power of your ideas, we can enable an entire segment of our population to achieve independence and self-actualization.
PRIZE
Autism Speaks is reaching out to you, the problem-solver community, to develop revolutionary solutions that empower adults with ASD to live as independently as possible while remaining connected to a larger community. This breakthrough must include the supports necessary to safely live outside of the family home, and it may come in the form of technology, architecture design, strategic partnerships, community services, new business models, or any combination of these or countless other ideas.
The needs of individuals with ASD seeking to live independently will vary greatly depending upon their strengths and challenges. As a result, Autism Speaks will be offering three prizes for three separate solutions to the Prize:
– Home and residential support solutions for individuals who require 24/7 support
– Home and residential support solutions for individuals who require daily support
– Home and residential support solutions for individuals who require weekly support (support needed a few times per week, but not every day)
The best solution in each of these categories will receive a $50,000 USD prize. The total prize purse is $150,000 USD.
Note that the Prize includes all forms of housing and supports that could meet at least some of the requirements for people with autism. Collaboration is encouraged to create single entries that include complimentary and partial options. The Prize will be judged on best overall solutions submitted.
ELIGIBILITY
The Prize is open to all individuals, age 18 or older, private teams, public teams, and collegiate teams. Teams may originate from any country. Submissions must be made in English. All prize-related communication will be in English.
No specific qualifications or expertise in the field of housing or autism are required. Prize organizers encourage outside individuals and non-expert teams to compete and propose new solutions. To be sure these ideas are given due consideration, the judging panel will include individuals who are not subject matter experts in autism.
To be eligible to compete, you must comply with all the terms of the Prize as defined in the Challenge-Specific Agreement.
SUBMISSION
The competition is your canvas. Entrants may submit written proposals, photos, drawings, comparative examples, business plan outlines, and/or other digital media. For each entry you make, there is a limit of not including supporting materials. Paper size must be 8.5 by 11 inches. Minimum margins are one inch. Font must be minimum 12 pt, single-spaced (text in tables and figures may be as small as 9 pt). Entries must be submitted in the form of a single PDF document (10 MB maximum). Embedded hyperlinks to external content, such as videos or animations (maximum two minutes duration recommended) are allowed, however, there is no guarantee that judges will view external content.
Entrants are asked to focus their submission only on the proposed solution, rather than providing background on autism. Judges will assess the quality and viability of each entry based on these criteria: Clear, Concise, and Compelling.
The judging panel will be looking for belief-busting ideas that are resourceful, inspiring, simple, collaborative, and/or transformative. These alternatives are intended to be implemented as a pilot program, evaluated, then adjusted or improved upon, but submissions for this Prize need only be innovative solutions in idea form; nothing needs to be built or implemented in order to qualify for the Prize.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
- By participating in the Prize, each competitor agrees to submit only their original idea. Any indication of “copying” amongst competitors is grounds for disqualification.
- All applications will go through a process of due diligence; any application found to be misrepresentative, plagiarized, or sharing an idea that is not their own will be automatically disqualified.
- All ineligible applicants will be automatically removed from the competition with no recourse or reimbursement.
- No purchase or payment of any kind is necessary to enter or win the competition.
- Void wherever restricted or prohibited by law.
