FAQ - Submission

Submission to the competition

  1. How do I submit my school’s entry?
  2. What is the deadline for the competition?
  3. What language(s) can materials be submitted in? Do any of the materials need to be translated/subtitled?
  4. Who can submit competition entries?
  5. Is there a maximum/minimum word length for the communication plan, energy saving plan and lesson plan?
  6. In what format should I submit my school’s entry?
  7. Can we participate in other national or European competitions with the same entry?
  8. For category C, how many supporting documents (flyers, videos and brochures) can I submit for best awareness raising campaign on energy efficiency?
  9. Category A: Last year, my school used fuel oil for heating. This year, we switched to natural gas. Can we still take part in the competition? How should I report my consumption levels in the Energy saving tool?
  10. What is the maximum/minimum size of submitted documents?
  11. How do I know if my submission was received?
  12. How long will it take before my submission is evaluated?

Videos

  1. How should video clips (movies) be submitted? Can they be sent through the post on a DVD?
  2. Under which format, codec and size should video clips be compressed?
  3. Do video clips need to be subtitled, translated or dubbed? And if so into which language?

Error messages when submitting

  1. When uploading a file with an extension that appears to be accepted, I got an error message "Unsupported extension or invalid file name" accompanied by "no file selected", despite selecting a file. I tried other supported formats and encountered the same problem.


Submission to the competition


  1. How do I submit my school’s entry?
    From April 2011 you will be able to submit your school’s entry through an online form on the U4energy portal. Please do not send submissions by email as these will not be entered into the competition. Insert link?

  2. What is the deadline for the competition?
    The competition deadline is midnight (23:59) GMT on 16 May, 2011.

  3. What language(s) can materials be submitted in? Do any of the materials need to be translated/subtitled?
    You may submit your entries in all official EU languages as well as in Norwegian and Croatian. It is mandatory to provide a translated title and representative summary in English, German, or French. This summary is important for the European jury members to evaluate projects, but also for those viewing the entries uploaded to the competition gallery.

  4. Who can submit competition entries?
    Competition entries must be submitted by a teacher/supervisor on behalf of a school/class.

  5. Is there a maximum/minimum word length for the communication plan, energy saving plan and lesson plan?
    The communication plan should be no more than 3 pages (~1.500 words). Please also note that the maximum file size that U4energy can accept for documents is 5MB. U4energy cannot accept responsibility for lost, damaged or incorrectly resized files.

  6. In what format should I submit my school’s entry?
    Please see the competition checklist. You can find this on page 14 of the Guide for Participants.

  7. Can we participate in other national or European competitions with the same entry?
    Yes, as long as their actions fall within the competition period (defined below INSERT LINK TO RELEVANT QUESTION HERE). Please always check the guidelines of the other competition to make sure that they also don’t have a problem with this.
    Only actions/measures implemented during the competition period will be considered eligible, i.e. September 2010 – May 2011. Schools that have begun taking action before September 2010 are eligible to apply only if these actions are carried out during the competition period. Past initiatives that have been carried out and finalised before September 2010 will not be considered.

  8. For category C, how many supporting documents (flyers, videos and brochures) can I submit for best awareness raising campaign on energy efficiency?
    You can submit up to 5 additional files. These can be either video, audio, images or files that help defend the energy awareness campaign you have devised.

  9. Category A: Last year, my school used fuel oil for heating. This year, we switched to natural gas. Can we still take part in the competition? How should I report my consumption levels in the Energy saving tool?
    You can still participate! Simply follow the instructions below:
    • You must complete and submit two versions of the Energy Saving tool:
    • In the first file, fill in the reference year 2009-2010 selecting fuel oil (Results on Row 11)
    • In the second file select natural gas and fill in data for 2010-2011 (Results on Row 25)
    • Compare your results from both files taking into account: energy consumption (G11 & G25), costs (H11 & H25), and CO2 emissions (I11 & I25). Comparison must then be done manually!
    • Submit the additional file as an ‘optional material’ through the online submission form.

  10. What is the maximum/minimum size of submitted documents?
    Submitted files must comply with the requirements mentioned below:
    Image files: Max 2.5 MB per file
    Document files: Max 5 MB:
    Video files: Max 25 MB, window size 640 by 480 pix or 320 by 240 pix/or YouTube URL
    U4energy cannot accept responsibility for lost, damaged or incorrectly resized files.

  11. How do I know if my submission was received?
    You will automatically receive an e-mail confirmation after submission.

  12. How long will it take before my submission is evaluated?
    The evaluation process will be carried out during the months of June-July - exact date TBC.

    13. Videos


    1. How should video clips (movies) be submitted? Can they be sent through the post on a DVD?
      Videos should be submitted as an attachment or by providing the YouTube link through the online form. Only materials submitted through the U4energy portal will be accepted – items sent through the post will not be considered.

    2. Under which format, codec and size should video clips be compressed?
      You may submit video files with the following file extensions:
      .aviAudio Video Interleave
      .divxDigital Video Express
      .flvFlash Video File
      .mp4MPEG-4 Video File
      .mpegMPEG Movie
      .mpgMPEG Video File
      .rmReal Media File
      .swfFlash Movie
      .wmvWindows Media Video File
      .m4viTunes Video File
      .movApple QuickTime Movie
      The maximum file size is 25MB and the window size should be either 640 x 480 pixels or 320 x 240 pixels.
      U4energy cannot accept responsibility for lost, damaged or incorrectly resized files.

    3. Do video clips need to be subtitled, translated or dubbed? And if so into which language?
      No. You can submit your video in any of the competition languages.

    Error messages when submitting


    1. When uploading a file with an extension that appears to be accepted, I got an error message "Unsupported extension or invalid file name" accompanied by "no file selected", despite selecting a file. I tried other supported formats and encountered the same problem.
      The file contains special characters or the name of the file is too long. For ex: the apostrophe in l'invasion. Please rename your file in order to remove special characters (in this case the apostrophe) or reduce the length of the file name.