from Greg
I love science prizes money to inspire innovation. Programs like X Prize Foundation, Fundamental Physics Prize, Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences, and Yin could end up saving the world one day.
Quicken Loans will award $1,000,000 for a perfect bracket and each to the contest's 20 most accurate 'imperfect' brackets submitted by qualified entrants. Eligible contestants must be 21 years of age, a U.S. citizen and one of the first 10 million to register for the contest. The company will also be directly donating $1 million to inner-city Detroit and Cleveland non-profit organizations that are dedicated to improving the education.
Why the NCAA tournament? They are trying to find better predictive models tat crunch big data. Sport's data offers the easiest way to challenge future genius and is widely available.
from Quicken Loans
Quicken Loans' Billion Dollar Bracket Challenge Offers $1 Billion Grand Prize for Perfect College Basketball Bracket
Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway insures grand prize while nation's fourth largest mortgage lender guarantees an additional $2 million in prizes for 20 most accurate brackets submitted nationwide and $1 million for funding of inner-city educational efforts.
Detroit-based Quicken Loans, the nation's fourth largest mortgage lender, has joined forces with Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway to offer a chance at a $1 billion prize for completing the perfect bracket in this March's men's college basketball championship tournament.
Any qualified entrant who correctly enters the contest and predicts the winners of every game in the tournament will share the total $1 billion prize paid in 40 annual installments of $25 million. Alternatively, the winner(s) may elect to receive an immediate $500 million lump sum payment or share in that lump sum payment if there is more than one perfect bracket submitted.
"We've seen a lot of contests offering a million dollars for putting together a good bracket, which got us thinking, what is the perfect bracket worth? We decided a billion dollars seems right for such an impressive feat," said Jay Farner, President and Chief Marketing Officer of Quicken Loans. "It is our mission to create amazing experiences for our clients. This contest, with the possibility of creating a billionaire, definitely fits that bill."
In addition to the potential grand prize, Quicken Loans will award $100,000 each to the contest's 20 most accurate 'imperfect' brackets submitted by qualified entrants in the contest to use toward buying, refinancing or remodeling a home.
In conjunction with the 'Billion Dollar Bracket Challenge', Quicken Loans will also be directly donating $1 million to inner-city Detroit and Cleveland non-profit organizations that are dedicated to improving the education of young Detroit and Cleveland residents.
"Millions of people play brackets every March, so why not take a shot at becoming $1 billion richer for doing so," added Buffett, Chief Executive Officer of Berkshire Hathaway, who is insuring the contest's grand prize. "While there is no simple path to success, it sure doesn't get much easier than filling out a bracket online. To quote a commercial from one of my companies, I'd dare say it's so easy to enter that even a caveman can do it."
Free registration for the 'Quicken Loans Billion Dollar Bracket' will begin on Monday, March 3rd, 2014 and runs until Wednesday, March 19th, 2014. All participants registering prior to the tournament selection process will receive their brackets the evening of Sunday, March 16, 2014 when entrants can begin filling out their bracket.
To be eligible for the $1 billion grand prize, entrants must be 21 years of age, a U.S. citizen and one of the first 10 million to register for the contest. At its sole discretion, Quicken Loans reserves the right and option to expand the entry pool to a larger number of entrants. Submissions will be limited to a total of one per household. All qualified entrants are eligible for the 20 1st prize awards of $100,000 for selecting the competition's top 20 most accurate "imperfect" brackets.
Full contest rules along with more information about 'Quicken Loans Billion Dollar Bracket' will be released and published in the days and weeks leading up to the men's collegiate March championship tournament.
For contest updates, and to share what you would do with a billion dollars, visit www.facebook.com/quickenloans and on Twitter using the hashtag #billionbracket.
About Quicken Loans
Detroit-based Quicken Loans Inc. is the nation's fourth largest retail home mortgage lender. The company closed a record $80 billion of volume across all 50 states in 2013. Quicken Loans generates loan production from web centers located in Detroit, Cleveland and Scottsdale, Arizona. The company also operates a centralized loan processing facility in Detroit, as well as its San Diego-based One Reverse Mortgage unit. Quicken Loans ranked #1 in customer satisfaction among all home mortgage lenders in the United States by J.D. Power for four consecutive years in 2013, 2012, 2011 and 2010.
Quicken Loans was named among the top-30 companies on FORTUNE magazine's annual "100 Best Companies to Work For" list for the last 11 consecutive years, ranking #5 in 2014. It ranked in the top-15 of Computerworld magazine's "100 Best Places to Work In Technology" for the past nine years, ranking #1 in 2013. The company moved its headquarters to downtown Detroit in 2010, and now more than 8,500 of its 10,000-plus team members work in the city's urban core. For more information about Quicken Loans, please visit www.quickenloans.com, on Twitter at @QLnews, and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/QuickenLoans.
About Berkshire Hathaway
Berkshire Hathaway and its subsidiaries engage in diverse business activities including property and casualty insurance and reinsurance, utilities and energy, freight rail transportation, finance, manufacturing, retailing and services. Common stock of the company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, trading symbols BRK.A and BRK.B.
