International Women’s Day – Competition!

Ok all women who use Ubuntu it’s time to tell the Ubuntu Women’s Project your story of how you discovered Ubuntu. I’ll post the links to the announcement and other various places it has been announced below.

If you are a woman who uses Ubuntu then here’s what you are asking you to do:

1) Write down your story and email it to us (email address in the announcement)

2) In Late February the community votes on the stories and we pick one winner from the group to receive a prize package. This winner will be announced on March 8th, 2008.

3) Jono Bacon, the Ubuntu Community Manager, will select a name at random from the entries to receive a prize package. Jono will pick the winner from “the hat” live via his videocast.

4) The winners will be featured on The Fridge and Ubuntu User – You in Ubuntu site. All submissions will be posted so people can see how women discover ubuntu.

***Prize packages are being sponsored by: Canonical, Linux Pro Magazine and Ubuntu-User Magazine. Package includes but not limited to: Ubuntu backpack, Ladies T-shirt, Ubuntu Key Chain, 1 year digital subscription to Linux Pro Magazine or a 1 year print subscription to Ubuntu User Magazine, and a copy of The Art of Community. Thank you all so much for your gracious support and sponsorship.

Below is the 1st announcement from the Mailing List in it’s entirety:

Firstly, some introductory reading for those who are not familiar with
International Women’s Day:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Women%27s_Day and
http://www.internationalwomensday.com/

Ubuntu-Women has tried in the past to find some way to celebrate this
event, but as far as I can remember it has never really amounted to much
other than some chattering on IRC. So let us try a bit harder for 2010!

We have all come to Ubuntu in our own special ways — every single one
of us differently to the next. Yet one of the most common questions we
get asked is “How can I get $woman to use Ubuntu?”.

Obviously we cannot really answer that question, but we would dearly
love to have a collection of stories by women about how they discovered
Ubuntu. Such a repository would allow us to demonstrate that there’s no
one definitive answer, and at the same time maybe provide the gift of
inspiration to women who are interested — showing them that it’s really
not so unusual to be Ubuntu fans after all.

We are not expecting any particular length, but do remember that these
stories should be suited to perusal at leisure and not require someone
to allocate hours of their day to read. Anywhere between a few
paragraphs and a OO.o Write page is ideal.

There will be two (2) prizes up for grabs. One (1) prize pack will be
given to the story that the community votes is their favourite. One (1)
prize pack will be given to a randomly drawn entrant. Jono Bacon, the
Ubuntu Community Manager will be drawing this entrant in a videocast,
and announcing both winners to the world on March 8th.

Please email your stories to ubuntuwomen.competition@gmail.com by UTC
23:59 22nd February 2010.

By submitting a story, you acknowledge that it will be posted on the
Ubuntu Women website under the Creative Commons Attribution
No-Derivatives licence. If you prefer that your story be posted
under a less restrictive licence such as Creative Commons Attribution
or Public Domain, then feel free to let us know when you submit.
All stories are to be non-fiction and of a family-friendly nature. The
organisers also reserve the right to interview prospective winners over
the phone or other voice chat at their discretion.

We will celebrate International Women’s Day by announcing the winners,
who will receive gift packs (which are still in negotiation — we will
announce when it is confirmed!).***

Good Luck!

p.s: Please pass this along to *any* women you know who *use* Ubuntu —
the more the merrier!

Also take a look at Melissa Draper’s post, she does a great job of explaining the steps involved as well. Thanks Melissa for initiating and being the driving force behind this competition. You rock! 🙂

The Fridge and You-in-Ubuntu has also featured the International Women’s Day – Competition.

So what are you waiting for – Women using Ubuntu send in your “How I discovered Ubuntu” stories today! 🙂

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