Autodesk Excellence in Design Submission

[Kims Robot]

So I want to throw another wrench in this...

Did anyone else catch this clause in the rules?

3. Eligibility This Contest is open to entrants 18 and over or over the age of majority in their jurisdiction or residence, whichever is older, in the United States and Canada, but excluding residents of Florida, New York, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, and the Province of Quebec. Entrants who are residents of a country, state, province or jurisdiction that (1) prohibits any aspect of this Contest or (2) prohibits unregistered contests or (3) requires the contest sponsor to post a bond, are ineligible.

We wrote to Autodesk to ask what it meant, and they came back saying that yes, as residents of NY State, we were ineligible for EITHER of the awards. I said but last year a NY team won the Animation portion of the award at the Finger Lakes Regional... In asking why I got these statements...

I am sorry, but the rules haven’t changed year-over-year. If NY teams were allowed to participate in the past, it was an oversight on Autodesk’s part.
...
New York and Florida have registration and bonding requirements that may apply and we’re not in a position to determine whether those requirements apply, unfortunately. I am not on the legal side of things, so I apologize for my vague response.

I don't ever remember seeing this before, and we have in fact submitted for both of the awards in the past, and never been told we couldn't or were ineligible. Our students learn Autodesk Inventor in their Project Lead the Way Classes, and this is a strong reason for me to want to push them towards PTC's ProE since they are not (or are no longer) eligible to win anything for their designs.

I have asked Autodesk to put us in touch with someone in Legal who can point us to the reason, just so we can understand what is going on.

Has anyone else ever seen this before?

And I'm sorry for the teams in FL, RI, NY, PR & Quebec!