National AI Competition

To be eligible to win a prize in the Competition, a builder (Entrant) must, at time of entry and at time of any prize award:

• Be a legal resident of the fifty (50) United States or the District of Columbia, and be physically located within the United States at the time of submission.
• Be at least 18 years of age or the age of majority in their state of residence, whichever is greater, as of the start of the Competition Period.
• Have a valid Provn candidate account in good standing.
• Not be an employee, contractor, officer, or director of Provn, Inc., or an immediate family member or member of the same household of such a person.
• Complete at least one (1) of the 3 Challenges within a given Ladder to be eligible for that Ladder's prize.

Void where prohibited by law. Sponsor reserves the right to verify eligibility and to adjudicate any dispute at its sole discretion.

No purchase, payment, or fee of any kind is required to enter or win. Entrants compete by creating a Provn candidate account, if they do not already have one, and completing one or more of the 3 Challenges within a Ladder through the Proving Ground platform during the Competition Period.

Limit: one (1) Provn candidate account per person. Sponsor reserves the right to disqualify duplicate, fraudulent, or automated accounts and any Entrant who circumvents these Official Rules through multiple identities, bots, scripts, or other automated means.

Completing a Challenge uses the same Provn candidate account and profile system as the rest of the Provn platform. Profile data and visibility continue to work as described in the Data Use & Candidate Profile section below.

Scoring

Each Challenge is scored against a rubric specific to that Challenge and Ladder. Initial scoring is performed by Sponsor's AI-assisted evaluation process and is final and binding for Combined Ranking and Top 10 Advancement, subject to Sponsor's discretion to review and correct manifest scoring errors. Selection of the Ladder Winner from among the Top 10 Finalists is made by the Judging Panel using the same rubric criteria by human judgment.

Combined Ranking

An Entrant's ranking within a Ladder is the straight sum of their best kept score on each of the 3 Challenges. A Challenge the Entrant does not attempt contributes zero (0). There is no averaging, weighting, or normalization across Challenges.

Advancement to Judging

For each of the 8 Ladders, the ten (10) eligible Entrants with the highest combined scores at the close of the Competition Period advance to judging. Ties at the 10th position all advance, so a Ladder's Top 10 may include more than 10 Finalists. No tiebreak narrows that group before judging. If fewer than 10 eligible Entrants complete at least one Challenge, the Ladder's prize will not be awarded.

Judging Panel & Winner Selection

The Finalists in each Ladder are reviewed by a Sponsor judging panel. The panel selects one (1) Ladder Winner by re-evaluating Finalists' submissions across all 3 Challenges against the disclosed weighted rubric criteria, applying human judgment and the same straight-sum method. A tie is resolved by the Judging Panel's discretion and discussion; its determination is final.

An Entrant may win no more than one (1) prize across all 8 Ladders. If an Entrant would otherwise win more than one Ladder, they receive the prize for the Ladder in which they placed highest, and the panel selects the next-preferred Finalist for each additional Ladder. Sponsor expects to announce Ladder Winners by November 9, 2026, or earlier.

Each Entrant may submit up to two (2) attempts per Challenge.

Each attempt is scored independently. For each Challenge, only the higher of the Entrant's two scores is kept and carried into the combined sum. Attempts on different Challenges are independent.

If Sponsor verifies that an attempt was affected by a technical failure of the Provn platform, such as an outage or failed file upload due to a system error, that attempt will not count against the two-attempt cap and the Entrant may make a replacement attempt.

Attempts after the Competition Period, or after an Entrant exhausts their two attempts absent a Sponsor-acknowledged technical failure, will not be scored or considered.

One (1) prize of $1,000 (USD) will be awarded to the Ladder Winner of each of the 8 Ladders, for a total of $8,000 (USD). An additional $2,000 is reserved for runner-up prizes, awarded by score and judging consistent with the rest of this Competition.

Prizes are non-transferable and no substitution is permitted except at Sponsor's sole discretion. Sponsor may substitute a prize of equal or greater value if the announced prize becomes unavailable.

Prizes constitute taxable income. Winners with total prize value from Sponsor of $600 or more in the applicable calendar year must complete IRS Form W-9 before disbursement, and Sponsor will issue Form 1099-MISC as required by law.

Sponsor may disqualify an Entrant, void a score or submission, or withhold a prize if it determines that an Entrant:

• Submitted content generated through prompt injection, adversarial manipulation of Sponsor's evaluation systems, or an attempt to manipulate or reverse-engineer the scoring rubric or AI evaluator rather than genuinely complete the Challenge.
• Created or used more than one Provn candidate account, or otherwise entered or attempted to enter using multiple identities, bots, scripts, or automated tools.
• Submitted plagiarized, fabricated, or materially misrepresented work product.
• Provided false or materially misleading eligibility, identity, or location information.
• Otherwise violated these Official Rules or engaged in conduct Sponsor deems to be fraud upon or an unfair manipulation of the Competition.

Sponsor may disqualify anyone tampering with entry or Competition operation, violating these Rules, or acting unsportsmanlike or disruptively. Deliberately damaging the Proving Ground platform or undermining legitimate Competition operation may violate criminal and civil law, and Sponsor may seek remedies to the fullest extent permitted.

No Purchase or Payment Necessary

No purchase, payment, or fee is required to enter or win; participation is limited only by the eligibility and completion requirements stated above.

No Guarantee of Employment

Participation, submission, advancement, selection by the Judging Panel, or receipt of a prize does not constitute an offer of employment, a guarantee of employment, or an assurance of consideration for any position with Sponsor or a third-party employer. This Competition is a skills demonstration only.

Publicity

Except where prohibited, acceptance of a prize constitutes each winner's consent to Sponsor's use of their name, likeness, city or state of residence, and submitted work product for Competition promotional purposes without additional compensation, unless otherwise required by law.

Data Use & Candidate Profile

Completing a Challenge requires a Provn candidate account. That account includes a candidate profile, including name and contact information and, if provided, resume, work history, and education. Challenge submissions and scores are associated with that profile and are not anonymous.

This Competition does not change profile visibility. Employer visibility and interest in job services remain governed by the same account settings that apply to every Provn candidate profile. New accounts are private and not marked as interested in job services by default; an Entrant becomes employer-visible only by separately changing that setting. Personal information is used in accordance with Provn's Privacy Policy.

Limitation of Liability

By entering, Entrants agree to release and hold harmless Sponsor, its parent, subsidiaries, affiliates, and their officers, directors, employees, and agents from claims, injuries, losses, or damages arising from participation or acceptance, use, or misuse of a prize.

Right to Cancel, Modify, or Suspend

Sponsor may cancel, suspend, or modify the Competition or these Official Rules if fraud, technical failure, or another factor impairs Competition integrity, subject to applicable law.

Governing Law & Disputes

These Official Rules are governed by the laws of the State of Washington, without regard to conflict-of-laws principles.

Sponsor

Questions regarding these Official Rules may be directed to info@provn.co.