Soil Your Undies Challenge 2021

No, you must use the undies supplied by UNE. If any other undies are used in the challenge, your entry will be void. This is to ensure participants entries are standardised, and allows results to be used for research.

No, each challenge participant must bury their undies for a total of 8 weeks.

No, you only have to participate in two of three educational checkpoints, and ensure you have photographs of your students undertaking these checkpoints for submission. Please see Terms and Conditions for further details.

Yes, but the burial site of your undies must be different to that of your classes.

Students from Kindergarten to Year 12 are able to participate in the challenge. Home schooled children are also eligible to participate.

Yes. By undertaking this experiment, our soil scientists are able to compare soil health across different locations around Australia.

Yes, your undies must be returned to UNE by Friday 29 October 2021. This is to ensure undies can be analysed and results collated for research.

You can register as many times as you like, however each undie burial site must be at a different address. Duplicated submissions from the same address will be void.

Teachers and parents will act as registration representatives for their students and children, although they are also encouraged to play along and participate in the educational checkpoints with their young ones along the way!

Maximum file size is allowed 64MB.

Supported file types are .jpg, .png, and PDF.

No, entries are open to students from Kindergarten to Year 12, Australia wide!

1. The Soil Your Undies Challenge aims for broad engagement by students in all schools or at home across Australia from Kindergarten and Year 12.
2. Teachers/educators or parents register their class of students or children to participate in the challenge. Entire classes will be considered as one entry into the competition. Classes can be of any size.
3. Registering teachers/educators/parents will receive a digital and practical challenge package, with all necessary resources to undertake the challenge. ONLY the underpants supplied in this package must be used for the challenge. The challenge will be void if any other underpants are used.
4. Schools may enter multiple classes into the challenge. One class is considered one independent entry. However multiple registrations within a single class are not permitted.
5. A class is defined as a group of students within a school or other educational institution/group. These classes may be across multiple year levels.
6. Homeschool groups may enter the challenge.
7. It is the responsibility of the teacher/educator/parent to register their class/child and see the challenge through to completion.
8. To be eligible for the challenge participation prize, to be drawn at random from challenge participants, each registration requires:
9. All details in initial registration,
10. At least 4, but up to 6 of the 6 photos at educational checkpoints throughout the challenge uploaded to the portal on the Discovery website or emailed to une-discovery@une.edu.au. Two of the photos must be of the underpants before and after burial.
11. As participants are under the age of 18 years, they are required to obtain their parent’s or guardian’s permission to enter the challenge and agree to these terms, and will be deemed to have obtained such permission by submitting an entry. Permission notes and image release forms will be sent with the challenge packs for teachers/parents to use.
12. Photos can be submitted at or after the educational checkpoints via:
13. the online portal on the UNE Discovery Voyager website (address stated above), OR
14. email of photographs to une-discovery@une.edu.au stating the registering teacher/educator/parent name, class name, year level, address, and phone number.
15. UNE reserves the right to verify the validity of all photos and to not use any photo or data which, in the opinion of UNE, fails to comply with the method described here.
16. UNE warrants that the owners of any photo or data published will be credited and acknowledged with the name(s) of the participant.

1. Participants register for the challenge using an online form at https://www.unediscoveryvoyager.org.au/soilyourundies2021/ .
2. Once the registration is received, a digital challenge pack will be sent to the registered email address that includes permission notes and image release forms as well as instructions and educational checkpoint information to print out.
3. When registration is received, a practical challenge pack will be sent to the registered postal address via standard post.
4. Participants take a photo of themselves with the undies as the BEFORE photo (Photo#1), and post it on the online submission portal found at https://www.unediscoveryvoyager.org.au/soilyourundies2021/ or by emailing files to une-discovery@une.edu.au. Acceptable photograph formats for submission include png, jpg and PDF.
5. Participants bury the supplied undies in the top 5cm of soil in a location at school or home marked by the flag provided. Photo#2 is taken upon burial of the undies at the burial site.
6. At three (3) checkpoints throughout the challenge (refer to challenge calendar for specific dates), participants undertake 1) a clothing fibre analysis, 2) a pH test using the kit provided, and 3) data collection. Photos #3, #4 and #5 are taken at these checkpoints, and uploaded to the submission portal, or emailed to une-discovery@une.edu.au.
7. Exactly 8 weeks after burial of the undies, participants dig them up and take Photo#6 at this stage. The underpants must remain in the ground for 8 weeks, otherwise the submission is deemed void.
8. To be eligible for the participation prize, all photos #1 through #6 must be uploaded or emailed by 5pm Thursday 14 October 2021.
9. Participants may keep the contents of the Challenge Pack if desired. Otherwise, all contents to be posted back to UNE with the soiled undies.
10. Postal submissions of undies and Challenge Pack contents will be accepted until Monday 1 November 2021. Photo submissions will be accepted until 5pm Thursday 14 October 2021.
11. UNE will photograph returned underpants, with results to be used as part of UNE’s and CottonInfo’s research projects.
12. UNE’s photographs of returned underpants will be included in CottonInfo’s online interactive map. The pinpointed locations of these underpants will include the name of the participating school, and the location (town/suburb/postcode) of the school. Organising teacher/educator/parent name, phone number, email will not be released to CottonInfo.

Challenge details will be announced via:

1. the UNE Discovery Resources page: https://www.unediscoveryvoyager.org.au/resources/
2. the UNE Discovery monthly newsletter
3. the UNE Discovery email to stakeholders
4. the UNE Life landing page: https://www.unelife.com.au/
5. the UNE Discovery Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/unediscovery/
6. Other means deemed appropriate by UNE Discovery

1. Entrants retain ownership of and all rights to their entries. As a condition of entry, UNE reserves a royalty-free, non-exclusive right to:
   1. Use photographs of entries to promote future UNE Discovery competitions or challenges.
   2. Publish any entry UNE or UNE Discovery websites.
   3. Publish any entry in UNE or UNE Discovery internal and external communications.
   4. Keep the files submitted, and to archive the images on CD or in other electronic forms, so that entries can be used for these purposes.
   5. Share original photographs of entries with competition or challenge collaborators (UNE Discovery, UNE Smart Farms and CottonInfo) for publishing to respective websites, internal and external communications and other promotional purposes.
2. UNE warrants that the owners of any entries published in the above ways will be credited and acknowledged as such. This credit will include the name(s) and, where applicable, contact details of the entry’s owner(s).

1. The winners of the participation prize will be drawn at random from the registered participants.
2. To be considered for the draw, challenge participants must have satisfied the conditions outlined above.
3. Under advice from NSW Fair Trading, this challenge is considered a Trade Promotion, however as the total prize value does not exceed $10,000 a permit is not required.
4. Rules surrounding the random draw of challenge winners will be followed in reference to NSW Fair Trading.
5. Staff of UNE Discovery, UNE SMART Farms or CottonInfo will not be allowed to participate in the challenge. But it is permissible for their children to participate in a class that registers as there is no inherent advantage in a randomly chosen participation prize.
6. The judge’s decisions are final, and no correspondence nor discussion will be entered into regarding the judging process or the outcomes reached.

Depending of the location of the participant prize winners, the prize may take the form of a virtual immersive workshop or physical visit to participants home or school. For locations less than three hours travel from Armidale, NSW, the prize will be in the form of a physical visit. For locations more than three hours travel from Armidale, NSW, the prize will be a virtual immersive workshop. Prizes will be awarded as follows:

1. Kindergarten to Year 6 category: One full day immersion for the participating class with 2 members of UNE Discovery and 3 UNE staff members. The day will be an educational package focusing on soil health, and setting up and installation of their own telemetry hub, sensors and raspberry pi computer to measure soil moisture and temperature at the school.
2. Years 7 to Year 12 category: One full day immersion for the participating class with 2 members of UNE Discovery and 3 UNE staff members. The day will be an educational package focusing on soil health, and setting up and installation of their own telemetry hub, sensors and raspberry pi computer to measure soil moisture and temperature at the school.

The total value of all prizes is $8,000 AUD. Prizes cannot be redeemed for cash.

Winners will be notified by email and/or phone on Friday 7 November 2021.  Winners will then be publicly announced via the UNE Discovery Facebook page, UNE Discovery Newsletter/email to all those on the UNE Discovery mailing list, UNE Discovery Voyager website, UNE Life Facebook page, other means deemed appropriate by UNE Discovery. The prize, which will take the form of a virtual/physical visit to the winning entrant’s class or home, will be organised and undertaken during the week of 6 December 2021.