NephMadness 2024

NM24 Rules and Regulations

Why are you being so nosy?

The registration questions are a survey by the NephMadness team and are completely optional.* We would appreciate your answering these questions to help us improve future NephMadness events. We respect your privacy and if any survey data are published/disseminated, they will be deidentified. Of the personal information you enter at registration, the only information that is shared publicly is your user ID (may also be referred to as your username or alias), which is required for registration. The email address provided will only be used for contacting you about the contest (which you can opt out of) or in the case of winning a prize.

*Note: The “Which best describes you?” registration question must be answered to be eligible for the Medical Student, Resident, Fellow, or Attending Grand Prize (see below). The “If this bracket is affiliated with a group, enter the name of that group here” question must be answered to be eligible for the Most Entries Group competition. The “If this bracket is a group entry, enter the group name followed by the word OFFICIAL” question must be answered to be eligible for the Highest Scoring Group competition.

NephMadness 2024 Official Rules and Regulations

NO PURCHASE OR PAYMENT OF ANY KIND IS NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN THIS CONTEST. A PURCHASE OR PAYMENT OF ANY KIND WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING. CONTEST IS VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.

SPONSOR. American Journal of Kidney Diseases (AJKD). 423 Guardian Drive, Blockley Hall, Philadelphia PA 19104.

ELIGIBILITY. Contestants must be at least the age of majority in the country of residence (for contestants in the United States, at least 18 years of age). The NephMadness Contest (“Contest”) is open to anyone of majority age; however, employees of the Sponsor (including the AJKD Editor-in-Chief, Deputy Editors, Associate Editors, Engagement Editor, Statistics/Methods Editors, Pathology Editor, International Editors, Feature Editors, or editorial office staff), the AJKD Blog, the NephMadness Executive Team, the NephMadness Blue Ribbon Panel, or members of their immediate family, are not eligible to win prizes. By entering the Contest, contestants agree to abide by all terms of these Official Rules and the decisions of the Sponsor. The Contest is subject to all federal, state, and local laws and regulations. Eligibility, age, and all claims made by potential winners are subject to verification.

III. ENTRY PERIOD/CONTEST PERIOD. The period for entering the tournament prediction arm of the Contest begins March 1, 2024 at 07:00 am EST, and concludes on March 1, 2024 at 11:59 pm EST.** The Contest will end on April 8, 2024 at the time an AJKD Blog post announces which medical concept has been selected as the tournament champion.

CONTEST OBJECTIVE. The goal of the tournament prediction arm of the Contest is to correctly predict the outcome of a March Madness−style tournament composed of paired matches between medical concepts (see NephMadness Tourneytopia site for medical concepts and matches). The outcome of each match is determined by majority vote of the NephMadness Blue Ribbon Panel (consisting of Andrea Sofía Alvarez Muñoz, Kirk Campbell, Bjørn Helge Haug, Matt James, Michelle Josephson, Richard A. Knight, Tom Oates, Sylvia Rosas, Jodi Smith; the NephMadness Executive Team comprising Drs. Matthew Sparks, Timothy Yau, Anna Burgner, Samira Farouk, Anna Vinnikova, Elena Cervantes, Jeffrey Kott, and Michelle Lim, will facilitate the activities of the Blue Ribbon Panel but will not have voting power. In the event that member(s) of the Panel are not able to participate due to unforeseen circumstances, the NephMadness Executive Team may at their discretion appoint replacement(s) or recuse an existing member in order to maintain a Panel containing an odd number of members, thus resulting in simple majorities upon voting. Each member of the Blue Ribbon Panel will select the medical concept that in his/her best medical judgment will cause the most practice change in nephrology over the next 5 years. The results of each match will have been determined by March 31, 2024 before the announcement of the first-round tournament results and will not be changed thereafter over the course of the Contest. The points accrued for each correct prediction are outlined in the “Scoring Details” section of the NephMadness Tourneytopia site (www.tourneytopia.com/AJKD/NephMadness).

For the Best Blogger and Best Tweeter prizes, the NephMadness Executive Team will judge and determine the winner of each with criteria based on quality of content, enthusiasm, and amount of content produced.

For the Best NephMadness Party group prize, the NephMadness Executive Team will judge and determine the winner based on creative use of the relevant medical concepts in a festive environment, quality of tweets regarding the event, and number of event participants.

HOW TO ENTER. To enter the tournament prediction arm of the Contest, go to the NephMadness Tourneytopia Entry Site at www.tourneytopia.com/AJKD/NephMadness to register (if not already registered) and submit a complete bracket of predictions of each match (“Prediction”). In order to be considered a complete submission, the only information required is the contestant’s Prediction and the information necessary to register for Tourneytopia (that is, first and last name, username [ie, user ID or alias], and a valid email address); the user ID (ie, username or alias) will be publicly visible. In order to collect prizes, winners will be required to provide additional information, including legal name, shipping address, and telephone number. As part of submitting a Prediction, contestants will be asked to voluntarily provide additional information about themselves as part of a research survey that the NephMadness/AJKD Blog team is conducting. Providing this additional information is NOT required in order to participate in the Contest. However, the “Which best describes you?” registration question must be answered before the time the NephMadness tournament champion is announced on the AJKD Blog on April 8, 2024, to be eligible for the Medical Student, Resident, Fellow, or Attending Grand Prize. In addition, the “If this bracket is affiliated with a group, enter the name of that group here” question must be answered to be eligible for the Most Entries Group Prize. The “If this bracket is a group entry, enter the group name followed by the word OFFICIAL” question must be answered to be eligible for the Highest Scoring Group Prize. In the submission process, the prompts for additional, optional information are clearly labeled as such. Any Predictions more than two (2) submitted by the same email address will be considered null and void. All Predictions must be submitted by 11:59 pm EST on March 31, 2024. Entries must be made by the contestant only at the Entry Site. Entries made by any other individual or any entity, and/or originating at any other web site or email address, including, but not limited to, commercial Contest subscription notification and/or entering service sites, will be declared invalid and disqualified for this Contest.

To enter the Best Tweeter competition, contestants must tweet via X about NephMadness, including the hashtag #NephMadness and/or the handle @AJKDonline, between March 1, 2024 at 07:00 am EST and the time the NephMadness tournament champion is announced on April 8, 2024.

To enter the Best Blogger competition, participants must, between March 1, 2024 at 07:00 am EST and the time the NephMadness tournament champion is announced on April 8, 2024, publish at least one blog post pertaining to NephMadness and bring it to the attention of the NephMadness team by email to AJKD@pennmedicine.upenn.edu, or by tweeting using the hashtag #NephMadness and/or the handle @AJKDonline before the NephMadness tournament champion is announced on April 8, 2024.

To enter the Best NephMadness Party competition, a photo of the event must be tweeted via Twitter, with the tag #NephMadnessParty, between March 1, 2024 at 07:00 am EST and the time the NephMadness tournament champion is announced on April 8, 2024.

DETERMINATION OF WINNERS. 

Grand Prizes. At the conclusion of the NephMadness tournament, five (5) Grand Prize Winners will, subject to verification and compliance with the terms of these Rules, be declared. The Grand Prize Winners will be (i) the eligible entrant with the top overall score and, after the top overall score is discarded, the top-scoring eligible entrant among those identifying themselves as either a (ii) Medical Student, (iii) Resident, (iv) Fellow, or (v) Attending in response to the “Which best describes you?” registration question. In the event that two (2) or more top-scoring contestants are tied, the prize will go to the contestant with the highest number of correctly predicted final two (2) medical concepts in the tournament. Further tie breakers, if needed, will be determined by the contestant with the highest number of correctly predicted medical concepts each preceding round (the four [4] top concepts and the eight [8] top concepts). If a tie is still present, the contestant who submitted the earlier/earliest entry will be selected. Each entrant may win only one (1) prize. All decisions of the Sponsor will be final.

PRIZES.

Grand Prizes. The entrant with the top overall score and the top-scoring eligible Medical Student, Resident, Fellow, and Attending (see Determination of Winners section) will each receive one (1) complimentary year-long personal subscription to Advances in Kidney Disease and Health and Nature Reviews Nephrology (approximate retail value [ARV] for each grand prize, $472.00).

The total ARV of all prizes is $2,860. All federal, state, local, or other taxes, if any, are the sole responsibility of the winners.

CLAIMING PRIZES/RELEASES. Prizes are non-refundable for cash and non-changeable once issued. If lost, prize elements will not be replaced. Prize winners are responsible for any and all expenses and taxes not included in the prize package, including, but not limited to, federal, state, and local taxes. All arrangements are subject to availability. Prizes are provided "as is" and without any warranty of any kind. Eligibility, age, and all claims made by a potential winner are subject to verification. If a potential winner fails to comply with official rules and/or to submit required documentation within the designated period, the prize will be forfeited. Potential winners will be contacted within 48 hours of the AJKD Blog post on April 8, 2024 that announces the NephMadness tournament champion. Potential winners will have 48 hours from time of notification to respond; if a potential winner does not respond within 48 hours, his/her prize will be forfeited. If a potential winner does not respond within 48 hours, or if he/she declines the prize, the Sponsor will contact the contestant with the next-highest point score, as the new potential winner. For each potential prize, the Sponsor will attempt to contact up to three (3) potential winners; if 3 potential winners decline or fail to respond, the prize will not be awarded. Winners will be requested to grant permission to use their name and likeness in the AJKD Blog content, but agreeing to grant this permission is NOT a condition of winning the Contest.

In accepting a prize, the winner further acknowledges that the Contest Entities have neither made, nor are in any manner responsible or liable for, any warranty, representation or guarantee, express or implied in fact or in law, relative to prize or prize suppliers or to any portion thereof, including by not limited to its quality, merchantability, mechanical condition, or fitness for a particular purpose. Sponsor shall not be responsible or liable for its failure to contact potential winners due to an incorrect, out of date, or undeliverable mailing address, email address, or telephone number. Participants should be sure to update their user accounts with their correct contact information so that they will be able to receive prizes if selected as a potential winner. The Sponsor is not responsible for fraudulent mail/email sent to entrants not by the Sponsor.

GENERAL RULES AND REGULATIONS. The Sponsor and Contest Entities expressly disclaim any responsibility or liability for injury, death or loss to any person or property relating to the delivery and/or subsequent use, misuse, malfunction, availability, and delay in delivery of the prizes awarded. Sponsor and Contest Entities shall not be liable to winners or any other person for failure to supply the prizes, by reason of any acts of God, any action(s), regulation(s), order(s) or request(s) by any governmental or quasi-governmental entity (whether or not the action(s), regulations(s), order(s) or request(s) prove(s) to be invalid), equipment failure, terrorist acts, earthquake, war, fire, flood, pandemic, explosion, unusually severe weather, hurricane, embargo, labor dispute or strike (whether legal or illegal), labor or material shortage, transportation interruption of any kind, work slow-down, civil disturbance, insurrection, riot, or any other cause beyond Sponsor's sole control. The Sponsor may modify, rescind, cancel, or revoke the promotion at any time in its sole discretion without notice or liability. By entering, entrants release the Sponsor and the Contest Entities, from any and all liability for injuries, losses, or damages of any kind resulting from participation in the Contest and/or acceptance or use (or misuse) of a prize, including any indirect, incidental, consequential or punitive damages. Sponsor reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to disqualify entrants who attempt to tamper with this Contest in any way. All federal, state, and local laws and regulations apply. Additional restrictions may apply.

Participation in the contest and use of Entry Site/DISQUALIFICATION. The Sponsor reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to disqualify any individual it finds, in its sole determination, to be tampering with the entry process or the operation of the Contest, or the Entry Site; to be in violation of the terms of use of the Entry Site, to be acting in violation of the Rules; or to be acting in an unsportsmanlike or disruptive manner, or with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten, or harass any other person. Without limitation of the foregoing, any use of software or hardware, including without limitation, a program, mechanism, system, robot, “bot”, macro or other artificial device, process or manipulation (“Manipulation”) is strictly prohibited. Sponsor may suspend or discontinue the Contest if, in its sole opinion, there is any actual or suspected tampering of the Contest, or any other malfunction, event or activity that may affect the integrity of the Contest. Sponsor reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to terminate any person’s participation in the Contest whom Sponsor suspects has engaged in any Manipulation.

Bugs and Viruses; Irregularities/CANCELLATION. The sponsor reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to suspend, cancel or modify the Contest at any time if a computer virus, bug, malfunction, Manipulation, act of sabotage, act of God, or any other problem, regardless of the cause, affects, compromises, or corrupts the administration, security, or proper play of the Contest. Notice of cancellation will be posted at the AJKD Blog site. Prizes that are not obtained through authorized legitimate methods, or are the result of Manipulation, mechanical, electronic, digital or computer or other error, are void. Sponsor shall not be obligated to award any prize that relates to or arises out of an irregular entry or improper or mistaken prize notification, operation or function of this contest. No more than the stated number of prizes in these Official Rules will be awarded. In addition to the foregoing, if for any reason (including, but not limited to, strikes, lock-outs, acts of God, technical difficulties, and other events not within the reasonable control of Sponsor) Sponsor cannot continue the Contest, Sponsor may, in its sole discretion, cancel this Contest.

Release of Liability; Limitation of Liability. By entering the Contest, participants agree to release the Sponsor and Contest Entities from any and all liability claims or actions of any kind whatsoever for injuries, death, damages or losses to persons and/or property which may be sustained in connection with participation in the contest, and/or the receipt, ownership, use, or misuse of any prize. Entrants agree that Sponsor, its respective officers, directors and employees, and its agents, representatives, parent companies, affiliates, subsidiaries, advertising, promotion, and fulfillment agencies, and legal advisors are not responsible for and shall not be liable for:

1. a) late, lost, delayed, damaged, misdirected, incomplete, illegible, unintelligible entries, lost, misdirected or otherwise undeliverable mail, or postage-due notices, release forms, affidavits or other correspondence;
2. b) potential winner's unsuccessful efforts to claim any prize;
3. c) any telephone, electronic, hardware or software program, network, Internet, or computer malfunctions, slow-downs, failures, or difficulties of any kind;
4. d) failed, incomplete, garbled, or delayed computer transmissions;
5. e) human error, incorrect, or inaccurate transcription of Entries;
6. f) any condition caused by events beyond the reasonable control of the Sponsor that may cause the Contest to be disrupted or corrupted, however minor;
7. g) any injuries, losses, or damages of any kind, including without limitation, personal injury, death and property damage arising in connection with or as a result of the acceptance, possession, or use of a prize, or from participation in the Contest;
8. h) any unauthorized Entries or Manipulation by a person;
9. i) any printing or typographical errors in any materials associated to the Contest, or errors attributable to a malfunctioning prize notice or pop-up window associated with the Contest;
10. j) any claims based on publicity rights, defamation or invasion of privacy;
11. k) any damage to any entrant's (or any third person's) computer and/or its contents related to or resulting from any part of this Contest;
12. l) any fraudulent mail/email sent to entrants not by Sponsor.

IN NO EVENT WILL SPONSOR, OR THEIR PARENTS, AFFILIATES, SUBSIDIARIES AND RELATED COMPANIES, THEIR ADVERTISING OR PROMOTION AGENCIES OR THEIR RESPECTIVE OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, REPRESENTATIVES AND AGENTS, BE RESPONSIBLE OR LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES OR LOSSES OF ANY KIND, INCLUDING DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR (1) ACCESS TO AND USE OF, OR INABILITY TO ACCESS, THE SITE, (2) DOWNLOADING FROM AND/OR PRINTING MATERIAL DOWNLOADED FROM THIS SITE, (3) PARTICIPATION IN THE CONTEST OR ANY OF THE GAMES AVAILABLE ON THE SITE, OR (4) ACCEPTANCE OF ANY PRIZE. WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, EVERYTHING ON THIS SITE, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE CONTEST AND THE OTHER GAMES ON THE SITE, ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. SOME JURISDICTIONS MAY NOT ALLOW THE LIMITATIONS OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES SO SOME OF THE ABOVE LIMITATIONS OR EXCLUSIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. CHECK YOUR LOCAL LAWS FOR ANY RESTRICTIONS OR LIMITATIONS REGARDING THESE LIMITATIONS OR EXCLUSIONS.

GOVERNING LAW. All issues and questions concerning the construction, validity, interpretation and enforceability of these Official Rules and Regulations, or the rights and obligations of any participant and Contest Entities, shall be governed by, and construed in accordance with the laws of Pennsylvania. In any action brought to enforce the obligation or right of any party hereunder they consent to personal jurisdiction and venue in any court of appropriate jurisdiction in Pennsylvania. The invalidity or unenforceability of any provision of these rules shall not affect the validity or enforceability of any other provision.