2026 Microsoft Virtual Agent-a-thon — Official Rules

These Official Rules (together with any Appendices hereto, the “Rules”) govern the operation of the 2026 Microsoft Virtual Agent-a-thon (the “Contest”). Microsoft Corporation (“Sponsor”), located at One Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA, 98052, USA, is the Contest sponsor.

BY REGISTERING FOR OR OTHERWISE PARTICIPATING IN THE CONTEST, YOU CONFIRM THAT YOU HAVE READ AND UNDERSTOOD, AND AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THESE RULES. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THESE RULES, DO NOT REGISTER FOR OR PARTICIPATE IN THE CONTEST.

In these Rules, “Microsoft”, “we”, “our” and “us” refer to Sponsor.

BY REGISTERING FOR OR OTHERWISE PARTICIPATING IN THE CONTEST, YOU AFFIRM THAT YOU ARE OF LEGAL AGE TO ENTER INTO AN AGREEMENT WITH SPONSOR.

Changes

Microsoft may change, modify, limit, or eliminate the Contest or all or any portion of the Rules, or any policy pertaining to the Contest from time to time and in its sole discretion, including but not limited to the following:

• Prizes offered to winners of the Contest.
• Deadlines for claiming a prize or submitting Forms (as defined below).
• Contest eligibility requirements.
• Entry requirements and judging criteria.

If we make changes to the Rules, we will notify you of such changes by any reasonable means, including by posting the revised Rules at aka.ms/AgentathonMay2026. Any such changes to the Rules will not apply to any dispute between you and us prior to the date on which we posted the revised Rules incorporating such changes, or otherwise notified you of such changes.

Unless we say otherwise, the amended Rules will be effective immediately. Your participation in the Contest following any changes to the Rules will constitute your acceptance of such changes. If you do not agree to the changed Rules, you must stop participating in or withdraw your registration from the Contest. The “Last Updated” legend above indicates when these Rules were last changed.

Contest Description

The Contest consists of three (3) live events (“Live Event”) and a skills-based contest. The goal of the Contest is to create excitement and energy around use of Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) to solve real-world problems.

During the Contest, participants may register with Founderz Emprendimiento, S.L. (“Founderz”) to access instructional materials on creating AI agents (“Pre-Learnings”). Participants that register with Founderz will automatically have early access to the Pre-Learnings, which will be led by Microsoft employees and technology experts recognized by the Microsoft Valuable Professional (MVP) program (“Pre-Learnings Instructors”).

Participants may create their own AI agents and submit their AI agent to the Contest to showcase their creation (as further described below, an “Entry”) to the Founderz platform and enter for a chance to win a grand prize (as described in Section 9 below). Participants may leverage what they learn from the Pre-Learnings to create their AI agent.

All Entries that are eligible (as determined in Microsoft’s sole discretion and in accordance with these Rules) and received by us will be judged by the Pre-Learnings Instructors according to the criteria described below to determine the winners of the Contest.

The Contest will run across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (“EMEA”), the Americas, and Asia (each, a “Region”) except where prohibited by Microsoft policy or law, with six (6) winning participants in EMEA, six (6) winning participants in the Americas, and six (6) winning participants in Asia, for a total of eighteen (18) winning participants across all Regions. Sponsor retains sole discretion to determine and assign entrants to specific Regions.

Entry Period

The Contest submission period starts at 04:00 AM Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) on May 6, 2026 and ends at 23:59 PM Pacific Daylight Time (PDT) on May 13, 2026 (the “Entry Period”). Any Entries that we do not receive during the Entry Period (regardless of reason or fault) are ineligible for and will not be judged in the Contest.

There will be three (3) Live Event times that will start at 04:00 AM, 08:00 AM, and 15:00 PM Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) on May 6, 2026.

Eligibility

To enter the Contest, you must meet the following criteria:

• Be at least 18 years old (or the age of majority in your jurisdiction of residence, whichever is older) at the time of entry.
• Legally reside in one of the countries from one of the eligible Regions.
• Have or register for a Microsoft account (to create a free Microsoft account, visit https://account.microsoft.com/account and follow the instructions).
• Register for the level that meets your skill or access at aka.ms/AgentathonMay2026.
• Upload your Entry to the Founderz platform at https://learn.founderz.com by 23:59 PM Pacific Daylight Time (PDT) on May 13, 2026.
• Agree to these Rules.

The Contest IS NOT open to:

• Individuals who are residents of a country, state, province or territory where the laws of the United States or local law prohibit participating or receiving a prize in the Contest (including, but not limited to, Brazil, Italy, Brunei, Myanmar, Vietnam, Quebec, Russia, Region of Crimea, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, Syria and any other country designated by the United States Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control).
• Individuals who are employees, representatives, or agents of organizations involved with the design, production, paid promotion, execution, or distribution of the Contest, including the Sponsor (“Promotion Entities”) and all members of their immediate family or household.*
• Any other individual involved with the design, production, promotion, execution, or distribution of the Contest, and each member of their immediate family or household.*
• Any judge involved in the Contest.
• Any parent company, subsidiary, or other affiliate*** of any organization described above.
• Any other individual whose participation in the Contest would create, in the sole discretion of the Sponsor, a real or apparent conflict of interest.

* The members of an individual’s immediate family include the individual’s spouse, children and stepchildren, parents and stepparents, and siblings and stepsiblings. The members of an individual’s household include any other person that shares the same residence as the individual for at least three (3) months out of the year.

** Agents include individuals that, in creating an Entry to the Contest, are acting on behalf of, and at the direction of, a Promotion Entity through a contractual or similar relationship.

*** An affiliate is: (a) an organization that is under common control, sharing a common majority or controlling owner, or common management; or (b) an organization that has a substantial ownership in, or is substantially owned by the other organization.

Additional Entry Components

Entries that do not comply with each of the following requirements are ineligible for and will not be judged in the Contest:

Entry Information

Participants must submit a video (no more than 3 minutes in duration and 150 MB in size) via the Founderz platform along with a brief written description of the issue the AI agent addresses, the impact of the AI agent, and how the agent was built using Copilot Studio Lite, Copilot Studio, or Microsoft Foundry. Entries must comply with any additional submission requirements and the submission process identified on the Founderz platform.

AI Agent

Each Entry must include an AI agent that has a clear purpose and audience, a summary of how it was built and refined, screenshots and example interactions, and key lessons learned.

Supporting Documentation

Participants may include supporting documentation that:

• Demonstrates the innovation, impact, and usability of the AI agent.
• Uses supported formats: PPTX, PDF, DOCX, DOC, PPT or TXT.

Video

Participants must include a video that:

• Is no longer than three (3) minutes in duration.
• Demonstrates the innovation, impact, and usability of the AI agent.

Other Requirements

• Each Entry (and, for clarity, the supporting documentation and video) must be the participant’s original work, and videos (including but not limited to their filming, editing, and graphic design) must be solely the work of the participant.
• Each Entry cannot have been previously selected as a winner in any other contest provided by Microsoft or any other entity.
• You must have obtained any and all consents, approvals or licenses required for it to submit the Entry and any content contained therein.
• To the extent that your Entry includes the submission of user-generated content such as software, photos, videos, music, artwork or essays, you warrant that your Entry is your original work, has not been copied from others without first obtaining the necessary permission or rights, and does not violate or infringe upon the privacy, intellectual property or other rights of any person or entity.

You may include Microsoft trademarks, logos and designs in your Entry, and Microsoft hereby grants you a non-exclusive, revocable, royalty-free, fully paid-up, limited license to use such trademarks, logos and designs in your Entry solely for the purposes of submitting your Entry to the Contest and subject to compliance with the restrictions and obligations set forth in the Microsoft Trademark Guidelines.

Your Entry may NOT contain any content that is obscene, offensive, violent, defamatory, disparaging, inappropriate, objectionable or unlawful, that promotes alcohol, illegal drugs, tobacco or a particular political agenda, or that communicates messages that may reflect negatively on the goodwill of Microsoft.

By submitting an Entry, you agree that your Entry complies with these Rules, and acknowledge that Sponsor, in its sole discretion, may remove or reject your Entry or disqualify you from the Contest if it determines, in its sole and absolute discretion, that your Entry:

• Fails to conform to these Rules or any applicable requirements, guidelines or restrictions.
• Is incomplete or illegible.
• Exceeds the Entry length specified above.
• Is not reasonably decipherable for any reason.
• Is not received by us during the Entry Period.
• Is otherwise ineligible for judging in the Contest, regardless of reason or fault.

Use and Ownership of Your Entry

Nothing in the Contest shall affect any intellectual property rights of Microsoft in any product or service which may be the subject matter of this Contest.

We claim no ownership rights in or to your Entry. By submitting an Entry, you grant us a non-exclusive, irrevocable, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, perpetual, worldwide right and license to: (a) use, review, assess, test and otherwise analyze your Entry and all of the content therein in connection with the Contest, and (b) use your Entry and all of the content therein in any and all media, now known or hereafter devised, for any non-commercial or commercial purpose including, without limitation, the marketing, sale or promotion of Microsoft products or services, in each case, without further permission from you.

You will not receive any compensation or credit for use of your Entry by us or our designees, and you agree to, upon our (or our designee’s) reasonable request and without any consideration, take all necessary actions including, without limitation, executing, acknowledging and recording specific assignments, oaths, declarations and other documents to assist us and our designees in documenting, obtaining, exercising and/or enforcing our rights as granted herein.

By submitting an Entry to the Contest, you acknowledge that we may have developed or commissioned materials similar or identical to your Entry, and you waive any and all claims resulting from any similarities to your Entry. Further, you understand that we are not required to restrict work assignments of our employees or representatives who have had access to your Entry, and you agree that use of information in our employees’ or representatives’ unaided memories in the development or deployment of our products or services does not create liability for us under these Rules or copyright or trade secret law.

Your Entry (or information about your Entry) may be posted on public websites. We are not responsible for any theft or other unauthorized use of your Entry or any content therein by visitors to such websites. We are not obligated to use your Entry for any purpose, even if it has been selected as a winning Entry.

Your Personal Data

Details from all Entries will be collected and used for the purposes of conducting this Contest (which may include disclosure to third parties for the purpose of processing and conducting the Contest) and for publicity purposes surrounding this Contest (which may include display of your name or username in a blog post announcing the winners). The information submitted by you during the registration process with Microsoft or otherwise when participating in the Contest may include your name, email address, ID number and other personal information (“Personal Data”). By entering this Contest, you consent to the use of your Personal Data as described. If you do not want to grant us these rights to your entry, please do not enter this Contest.

Your Personal Data will be handled in accordance with the Microsoft Privacy Statement. When Microsoft processes data about you, we do so as required to fulfill our legitimate interests, or with your consent when processing personal data from those under the age of majority, as described in these Rules. For instance, Microsoft has a legitimate interest to process videos of you containing your personal data for the administration, operation, and marketing of the Contest. Under applicable law, you may be entitled to control your personal data that Microsoft has obtained, withdraw your consent (where applicable), and exercise your data protection rights, by contacting Microsoft or using various tools we provide. In some cases, your ability to withdraw your consent or access and control your personal data will be limited, as required or permitted by applicable law. See our Microsoft Privacy Statement for more details.

Microsoft retains the personal data we have collected about you for as long as necessary for our legitimate purposes, such as processing videos that contain such personal data to evaluate your Entry and communicate with you regarding the Contest, or until you have withdrawn your consent.

If you have a privacy concern, complaint or question for the Microsoft Chief Privacy Officer or the Data Protection Officer for your region, please contact us by using the Microsoft web form.

Winner Selection and Notification; Judging Criteria

On or around the close of the Entry Period, Founderz will provide the Entries received during the Entry Period to Microsoft and a panel of Pre-Learning Instructors will review all eligible Entries. The Entries will be judged on an anonymous basis and the Contest judges will assign points to each eligible Entry based on the criteria below.

The assignment of up to 90 points to each eligible Entry (up to 30 points in each of the three (3) criteria below) will be determined in the judges’ sole discretion, and the six (6) participants in each Region that receive the highest number of points will win the Contest:

Criterion	Low (up to 10 points)	Medium (up to 20 points)	High (up to 30 points)
Innovation: How original is the AI agent?	The AI agent lacks innovation. It is already in existence, or is an idea put forward by many participants.	The AI agent shows some innovation. It is an addition to an existing AI agent or shows good creativity.	The AI agent is exceptionally innovative. It is either completely new or represents an exciting update on an existing AI agent.
Usability: How usable is the AI agent?	The AI agent is difficult to use or performs inconsistently.	The AI agent has limited bugs or issues operating.	The AI agent performs well consistently and is intuitive to use.
Impact: What is the potential quantitative and qualitative impact of the AI agent?	The AI agent’s potential for good is not high.	The AI agent has potential to make an impact.	The AI agent has enormous potential to make an impact.

Tie Breaking: For each prize listed below, if two (2) or more Entries are tied, the tied Entry with the highest score in the first applicable criterion listed above will be considered the higher scoring Entry. In the event any ties remain, this process will be repeated, as needed, by comparing the tied Entries’ scores on the next applicable criterion. If two (2) or more Entries are tied on all applicable Judging Criteria, the panel of judges will vote on the tied Entries. The decisions of the judges are final and binding.

If we do not receive a sufficient number of eligible Entries during the Entry Period, we may, at our sole discretion, select fewer than eighteen (18) winning participants in each Region.

Winners will be notified by Founderz via the contact information provided during registration no more than seven (7) days following completion of the judging process, and such communication will include prize claim instructions including Form submission deadlines. If a selected winner cannot be contacted, is ineligible to claim a prize, or fails to claim a prize or submit a Form prior to the applicable deadlines, the selected winner will forfeit their prize, and an alternate winner may be selected.

Prizes

The following grand prize will be awarded to winning participants in accordance with the eligibility criteria identified in the chart below and the criteria in Section 8 (Judging Criteria):

Reward	Eligibility Criteria	Validation Process
Grand Prize — Surface Pro, Copilot+ PC, 12-inch.	Eligible participants must upload their Entry that meets the requirements in these Rules to the Founderz platform at https://learn.founderz.com by May 13, 2026 at 23:59 GMT. The 18 best AI agents (6 in EMEA, 6 in the Americas, and 6 in Asia) based on innovation, impact, and usability will win the grand prize.	Across all Live Events, 18 winners (6 in EMEA, 6 in the Americas, and 6 in Asia) selected by Pre-Learning Instructors serving as Contest judges. Data will be validated by Microsoft and will be announced via Microsoft blog announcement. Winners will receive the Prizes from Founderz.

No more than the number of prizes set forth above will be awarded. No substitution, transfer, or assignment of any prize is permitted, except that Microsoft reserves the right to substitute a prize of equal or lesser value in the event the offered prize is unavailable.

Except for applicable manufacturer’s limited warranties and any rights you may have under applicable local law, prizes are awarded “AS IS” and WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, express or implied (including, without limitation, any implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose). You assume the entire risk of quality and performance, and should any prizes prove defective, you assume the entire cost of all necessary servicing or repair. Microsoft’s limited warranty terms can be found at https://support.microsoft.com/warranty, and Microsoft’s U.S. warranty is available at the link set forth in Appendix 1. Prizes will be sent by Founderz no later than twenty-eight (28) days after winner selection.

Prize winners may be required to complete and return prize claim and/or tax forms (“Forms”) within the deadline stated in the winner notification. Taxes on the prize, if any, are the sole responsibility of the winner, who is advised to seek independent counsel regarding the tax implications of accepting a prize. By accepting a prize, you agree that Microsoft may use your Entry, name, image and hometown online, in print and in any and all other media in connection with the Contest without payment or compensation to you, except where prohibited by law.

Winners List

We will post the names of Contest winners online via a blog announcement. We will also make certain information about the winners and their Entries publicly available (such as, for each winner, their name, country or state, and information about their Entry and work in the Contest), including featuring the grand prize winners in a blog post and on social media.

Odds

The odds of winning the Contest are based on the number of eligible Entries received during the Entry Period.

No Warranties

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Microsoft and its agents or contractors (if any) that it may use in the execution and management of the Contest do not warrant or represent (either directly or indirectly):

• That participation in and/or access to the whole or any part of (A) the Contest or (B) Contest materials, content, information and/or functions contained in them will be provided on an uninterrupted, timely, secure and error-free basis.
• That no computer viruses will be transmitted or that no damage shall occur to your computer system as a result of any online activity of the Contest (if any).

Any material downloaded or otherwise obtained through the Internet is done at your own discretion and risk, and you will be solely responsible for any damage to your computer system or loss of data resulting from such download.

Microsoft does not warrant or make any representations regarding the use, validity, accuracy, or reliability of, or the results of the use of, or otherwise in respect of the materials on the Contest site, the link to the Contest, or any sites linked to the Contest site.

Microsoft disclaims all warranties, express or implied, arising by law or otherwise, with respect to the Contest (including any Prizes), including any implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

General Conditions and Release of Liability

To the maximum extent allowed by law, by participating in the Contest you agree to release and hold harmless Microsoft, its parents, partners, subsidiaries, affiliates, employees, agents, licensees and legal representatives from any and all liabilities, injuries, losses or damages of any kind (collectively, “Losses”) arising in connection with the Contest or any prize won in the Contest, including, without limitation, any Losses caused directly or indirectly by your acts or omissions.

Microsoft accepts no responsibility for Prizes damaged or lost in transit. You will indemnify and hold Microsoft and its respective parents, partners, subsidiaries, affiliates, directors, officers, employees and agents harmless against any loss, damage, claims, costs and expenses which may be incurred or suffered by each or any of them due to your breach of any of these Rules or arising from your participation in the Contest.

You further acknowledge that the Founderz platform, website(s), and related services used in connection with the Contest are operated by Founderz. Your access to and use of any Founderz platform or service are subject to terms, policies, privacy notices, and other terms and conditions as may be established by Founderz from time to time (collectively, the “Founderz Terms”). Microsoft is not a party to the Founderz Terms and does not control or assume responsibility for Founderz’s platform or services. Any issues, disputes, or claims arising from or relating to the Founderz platform or services are solely between you and Founderz.

Without limitation to Section 16 of these Rules, all local laws apply. Any decision of Microsoft is final and binding. The Contest is void where prohibited or restricted by law. Microsoft is committed to complying with Government gift and ethics policies. Government employees and independent contractors (including education) must adhere to gift and ethics policies applicable to them when entering the Contest or accepting any prize.

We reserve the right to terminate, cancel, change or suspend the Contest for any reason, including but not limited to, cheating, technology failure, catastrophe, war or any other unforeseen or unexpected event that affects the integrity of the Contest, whether due to human or mechanical causes. If the integrity of the Contest is compromised and cannot be restored, we may select winners from among all eligible Entries received before we terminated, cancelled, changed or suspended the Contest.

Violation of these Rules may be prosecuted to the full extent of the law and may result in a ban from participation in future Contests sponsored by Microsoft.

No Cheating or Fraud Tolerated

You acknowledge and agree that no form of cheating will be tolerated. You may not compromise or attempt to compromise the integrity or the legitimate operation of the Contest by cheating, hacking, creating a bot or other automated program, or committing fraud in any way. If you attempt to cheat or we, in our sole and absolute discretion, have strong reason to suspect that you have attempted to cheat or did cheat, you will immediately be disqualified from the Contest.

For clarity, cheating includes, but is not limited to, using multiple identification numbers, tampering with or hacking of the Contest site (if any), participating in the Contest without meeting the eligibility requirements, using any automated software or device to gain an advantage during the Contest, use of the Contest beyond the defined Rules of the Contest, attempting to disable or overwhelm any of Microsoft’s websites or the Contest site (if any), attempting to disrupt any portion of the Contest, including but not limited to allowing somebody else to use your Personal Data, or tampering with the Entry process.

ANY ATTEMPT BY A PERSON TO DELIBERATELY DAMAGE ANY OF MICROSOFT’S WEBSITES OR UNDERMINE THE LEGITIMATE OPERATION OF THE CONTEST MAY BE A VIOLATION OF CRIMINAL AND CIVIL LAWS; AND SHOULD SUCH AN ATTEMPT BE MADE, MICROSOFT RESERVES THE RIGHT TO SEEK DAMAGES FROM SUCH PERSON TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW.

No Waiver

Microsoft’s failure to enforce any provision of these Rules will not constitute a waiver of that or of any other provision.

Governing Law

The Contest and these Rules will be governed by the laws of the State of Washington, United States, and you consent to the exclusive jurisdiction and venue of the courts of the State of Washington, United States, for any disputes arising out of the Contest or these Rules.

Appendix 1 — Link to Microsoft’s U.S. Warranty

Microsoft Limited Hardware Warranty — North America (PDF)