SOP Awards 2026 — Official Rules

1. Sponsor

The Sopsteps SOP Awards 2026 ("Contest") is sponsored by Sopsteps ("Sponsor"), operator of sopsteps.com.

2. Eligibility

Open to individuals who are 18 years of age or older at the time of entry. Void where prohibited or restricted by law. Employees and immediate family of the Sponsor are not eligible to win prizes.

By entering, you confirm you have the legal authority to share the submitted standard operating procedure ("SOP") and that it contains no personally identifiable information, confidential customer data, or content protected by a non-disclosure agreement.

3. Entry period

The Contest opens on July 15, 2026 and closes at 23:59 UTC on August 31, 2026. Entries received after that time will not be judged. Each email address may submit up to three SOPs.

4. How to enter

Submit your SOP using the form at sopsteps.com/awards/submit. No purchase or paid Sopsteps account is required. Entry is free.

On successful submission, you receive a unique submission code (format: SOP-XXXXXXXXXX) by email. Save this code — it is how you claim a prize if you win.

5. Qualification and winner selection

Every entry is first screened by Sopsteps against the public rubric below to confirm it is a genuine, complete, on-topic SOP. For the 2026 pilot edition the screening is performed by a single reviewer (the founder). Reviewers see entries by submission code only — entrant email addresses are not visible during screening.

Screening rubric (total 100 points): Clarity & specificity (25), Completeness (20), Repeatability (20), Measurement (15), Reusability (10), Format hygiene (10). An entry scoring 60 or above qualifies.

The three winners are then drawn at random from the pool of qualifying submission codes. Each qualifying entry has an equal chance. The draw is recorded and the winning codes are published on the winners page. Odds of winning depend on the number of qualifying entries received.

6. Prizes

1st place: 100 SOP generations per month for 12 months. 2nd place: 50 generations per month for 12 months. 3rd place: 25 generations per month for 12 months. The standard limit for everyone else is 5 per month. Prizes are service credit on Sopsteps only: non-transferable, not redeemable for cash, and with no cash value. Unused monthly generations do not roll over, and the raised limit ends 12 months after redemption.

7. Winner notification and claim

Winners are notified by email at the address used during submission within 14 days of the draw (target: late September 2026). To claim, enter your submission code at sopsteps.com/awards/claim. Redemption binds the raised limit to the browser used to claim it, so claim it on the browser you generate SOPs from. A code can be redeemed once. Prizes unclaimed within 30 days of notification are forfeited and may be awarded to another qualifying entrant at Sponsor's discretion.

8. Intellectual property and publicity

You retain all ownership of your submitted SOP. By entering, you grant Sopsteps a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to (a) review and judge the submission, and (b) include anonymized aggregate statistics in published research, but only if you check the "anonymized aggregate" opt-in on the form.

Sopsteps will publish your name, optional company, and full SOP text on the public winners gallery only if you check the "public display" opt-in on the form. You may withdraw consent at any time by emailing Sponsor, in which case your entry will be removed from public display but its score will stand.

9. Privacy

Your email address is used only to (a) send your submission confirmation and code, and (b) notify you if you win. It is stored separately from your submission content and is not joined into the judging workflow. See our Privacy Policy for general data handling.

10. Disqualification

Entries containing personally identifiable third-party information, content from regulated industries Sopsteps does not serve (medical, legal, pharmaceutical, financial advisory, aviation), plagiarized material, or content that violates applicable law will be disqualified without notification.

11. General

Sponsor reserves the right to modify or cancel the Contest if fraud, technical failure, or any factor beyond Sponsor's reasonable control impairs its integrity. Decisions of the judges are final. Questions: email the address listed in our Privacy Policy.