Invent a ritual for Germany

When it comes to national holidays, the Irish pretty much own green, the Dutch have cornered the orange market, and the Germans? Nothing. Unlike other countries, Germany has no tradition for its national holiday – the Day of German Unity. Time something was done! The 3rd of October ought to be something to celebrate not just watch. A day that everyone can take part in.

So, it’s time for you to invent a ritual for the Day of German Unity. The three best ideas will receive a trip to the Day of German Unity 2017 as well as €5,000, €3,000 and €2,000, for first, second and third place.

Time to get your creative hats on. Check out other traditions for some inspiration. From Ireland’s St. Patrick’s Day to the Greek Sirtaki, from Valentine's day to the zombie walk, from birthday cake to the Vuvuzela – when it comes to partying, the sky’s the limit.

Find more information on the Day of German Unity here.

Carefully read through the “Your submission” section before you start and take a look at the mood board for some inspiration.

Your Submission

This project is open to anybody who can come up with a creative idea for a ritual.

What is a ritual?
A “ritual” is what we call the customs and traditions connected to a specific event. For example:

Greetings (like “Happy New Year”)
Songs (like “Happy Birthday”)
Special outfits (like carnival costumes)
Special food (such as Christmas cake)
Joint activities and games (like Easter egg hunts)
Gifts (like flowers for Valentine's day)
Choreography (like the “Viking thunder-clap” at football)

Format

Please upload a picture (photo, illustration, GIF), a video (approx. 60 seconds) or an audio file and add a short text describing your ritual (no more than 300 characters). Descriptions of cooking and baking recipes can be longer.

If your ritual involves certain moves or choreography, submit a short video so that we can get a better idea of your concept.

Selection criteria
The jury will look for the following criteria:

Emotion: your ritual should be so exciting that people will want to join in.
Practicability: everyone should be able to join in your ritual – it shouldn’t, for example, be tied to a specific location.
Appropriateness: your ritual should match the occasion. Everyone is welcome to join in the celebrations for German unity, freedom and democracy on the 3rd October. It’s up to you whether you want to use black-red-gold or not.

Miscellaneous

The ritual must be submitted under the Creative Commons license CC BY-SA, so that the ritual can be used and further developed by everyone: see the Creative Invite guidelines below.
The ritual is to celebrate German unity, freedom and democracy. Entries that are discriminatory, abusive, promote violence or are in any other way contrary to the purpose of this project will not be accepted.

About Rhineland-Palatinate

The Day of German Unity is celebrated in one of the 16 German states every year. It will be held by Rhineland-Palatinate this year. Located in the southwest of Germany, the state shares a border with France, Luxembourg and Belgium.

Rhineland-Palatinate has quite a tradition of colourful festivals. People from different regions have been flocking to the Rhine for thousands of years and the festivities help to bridge differences and people discover just how much we all have in common.

Rhineland-Palatinate also perfectly embodies the strengths at the core of the Day of German Unity – the solidarity of the German people, the cosmopolitan outlook and friendship they enjoy with their neighbours as well as their hospitable nature and zest for life.

The State Chancellery of Rhineland-Palatinate is responsible for this project.

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THE INCENTIVES

The jury will select three entrants who will receive:

The opportunity to be part of the Day of German Unity 2017 in Mainz, the state capital of Rhineland-Palatinate.
Potential presence on the social media channels of the Day of German Unity.
€5,000 for the first ritual selected, €3,000 for the second ritual selected and €2,000 for the third ritual selected.

Meet the Jury

The jury consists of:

Andrea Bähner – Spokeswoman for the State Government of Rhineland-Palatinate
Elke Höllein – Head of Public Relations of the City of Mainz
Mathias Goessling - Head of Social Media Campaign at concept X
Representatives of the media partners SWR, Allgemeine Zeitung and RPR1.

Creative Invite Guidelines

This opportunity is open globally to those who are at least 18 years of age at the time of entry. Void where prohibited by law.
Limit ten (10) submissions per artist or artist team.
All submissions will be visible on Talenthouse.com during submission period after approval.
All submissions must be original work by the entrant, meaning not using third party pre-existing copyright materials and/or stock material.
Please read the "Your Submission” section above carefully.
The submission should consist of two parts: a picture (photo, illustration or GIF), an audio file or a video (if possible, not longer than 60 seconds) explaining your ritual, and a description of your ritual (not more than 300 characters, exception are food recipes).
Images must be submitted via the "Participate tab" in JPEG or PNG max. size 10MB.
GIFs or Videos must be uploaded via the "Participate" tab to the Talenthouse player.
Audio files must be uploaded via Soundcloud.
Any persons appearing in or referred to in the submission should sign a model release form. The artist is solely responsible for obtaining, prior to submitting, all necessary usage rights and permissions for the contents of their submission. Proof will be required if selected.

The selected entrants are invited to come to Mainz on the 2nd and 3rd of October, 2017, in order to participate personally at the German Unity Day 2017. The host will cover the travel expenses up to €1,500 per person and will manage the travel logistics.
All entrants agree with submission upload that their submission will be licensed with a CC BY-SA license. This means that the submission of the inventor can be used, published and processed further by other persons. In addition to the ritual description, the following information should be entered in the description field: name, title of the ritual, and note that the ritual is subject to a CC BY-SA license including this link, which leads to the license description. A guide on how the ritual can be submitted correctly can be found here. More information about the CC BY-SA license can be found here.
Artists must join Talenthouse using an active email address in order to ensure they can be contacted should they be selected.
The Selected Artists must respond to Talenthouse within two (2) days of receiving the notification email or else will forfeit all incentives.
Talenthouse reserves the right to remove inappropriate or infringing submissions and submissions that do not comply with the briefing, the guidelines, and the Official Rules.
No purchase necessary to enter.

How the jury will choose

The jury selects from all qualified submissions. A qualified submission is one which meets all the selection criteria, the Terms & Conditions, Guidelines and Official Rules.

Key Dates

Submit By:
September 12, 2017 at 10:00 AM
Selection Period Starts:
September 12, 2017 at 10:00 AM
Artists Selected:
September 26, 2017

All times are in Pacific Time.

NEXT STEPS

To participate, review the guidelines and submit your work.

Participate