2017 GYAA Cole Starke Memorial Essay Contest Official Rules and Regulations

Transcription

1 2017 GYAA Cole Starke Memorial Essay Contest Official Rules and Regulations OFFICIAL RULES NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN THE CONTEST. Your entry into the Goochland Youth Athletic Association Cole Starke Memorial Essay Contest (the Contest ) constitutes your acceptance of these Official Rules and all terms and conditions. CONTEST DESCRIPTION SPONSOR: The Sponsor for the Contest is the Goochland Youth Athletic Association (GYAA), P.O. Box 287 Goochland, VA CONTEST ENTRY DATES: The Contest begins at 8:00am Eastern Time on January 22, 2017 and ends at 11:59pm Eastern Time on February 28, ESSAY COMPETITION DETAILS: The Contest is a skill-based competition in which Entrants submit essays on What sportsmanship means to me to compete for the title of Best Essay. A first place prize for Best Essay will be awarded (in different age-group divisions depending on number of submissions) with each Best Essay winner receiving a scholarship for one season s registration fees for a sport sponsored by the Goochland Youth Athletic Association. Winning essays may be published on the Sponsor s website at and in other media and formats as determined by the Sponsor at the Sponsor s sole discretion. WHO MAY ENTER: The Contest is open for essay authors who are between the ages of 5 and 18 years of age as of April 30, 2017 and who are residents of Goochland County, VA. If the author of the competing essay is under 18, a parent or guardian must fill out the Contest entry form and enter the essay and shall be deemed the Entrant; authors 18 years of age are eligible to enter on their own as an Entrant. Employees and agents of Sponsor, its affiliates, subsidiaries, advertising and promotion agencies, any other prize sponsor, and any entity involved in the development, production, implementation, administration or fulfillment of the Contest and their immediate family members and/or close personal friends and/or those living in the same household of such persons, whether related or not, are not eligible to enter the Contest. CONTEST ENTRY RULES AND INSTRUCTIONS: Entrants must submit essays during the Contest Entry Dates provided above. Entries must be postmarked and received at the GYAA PO Box by the deadline. Late entries will not be accepted nor considered. Entries must be submitted in English.

2 The Sponsor prefers that essays be submitted in Microsoft Word format (.doc or.docx), written in 12-point Arial or Helvetica font with 1-inch margins on all sides, but Sponsor will accept essays in other file formats and formatting. In order to qualify for the Contest, the author s name, age, grade and school must be printed at the top of each essay. Only one entry may be submitted per author; however, a guardian or parent Entrant may submit multiple entries on behalf of more than one qualifying author (for example, a parent of two children aged 13 and 15 may submit two entries one essay authored by the 13-year-old and one essay authored by the 15-year-old). Qualifying essays must be between 100 and 400 words in length, including the title. Authors are encouraged to include true stories of good sportsmanship they have observed or participated in, but this is not necessary. The Sponsor is not responsible for lost, late, or misdirected entries, or entries not received in time due to deliverability or technical issues, or any entries that do not meet the requirements set forth herein. CONDITIONS OF ENTRY TO CONTEST: To qualify for the Contest, each essay must be an original work of the author, may not have been previously published, may not have won previous awards, must not infringe upon the copyrights, trademarks, rights of privacy, publicity or other intellectual property or other rights of any person and must not violate any law. All entries become the property of Sponsor, who has the sole right and discretion to publish or use the work in any manner with or without attribution to the author. Entrants irrevocably grant to Sponsor and its affiliates, legal representatives, assigns, agents and licensees, the worldwide, royalty-free, exclusive, sublicensable, unconditional, perpetual and transferable right and license to copyright (as applicable), reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, post, display, edit for length and content, publicly perform, adapt and/or otherwise use or reuse (without limitation as to when or to the number of times used), the Entrant s essay, the author s name, address, image, likeness, statements and biographical material ( Contest Entry Materials ), and to use the Contest Entry Materials for advertising, promotional or commercial purposes, including without limitation, the right to publicly display, reproduce and distribute the Contest Entry Materials in any media format or medium and through any media channels. The Entrant waives any and all rights of intellectual property, privacy or any other legal or equitable rights that may preclude the Sponsor s use of the Contest Entry Materials. Sponsor reserves the right to disqualify any Entry for any reason, in its sole and absolute discretion. JUDGING THE CONTEST: Entries will first be divided by age into one, two or three divisions at the sole discretion of the Sponsor depending on the number of entries for each age group. A winner ( Best Essay ) will be announced for each division. Entries will be judged on the basis of originality (30%); use of the theme (30%); grammar and spelling (20%); emotional appeal (10%) and writing skills appropriate for the author s age (10%). The panel of qualified judges may include a representatives of the Sponsor, a professional freelance writer, and/or other qualified judges selected by the Sponsor. The judges will select the Best Essay. In the event of a tie, the winner for Best Essay for each division will be determined solely at the Judges discretion. Judges decisions are final and binding. The name and essay of the author of the Best Essay and runners-up will be

3 published on or around April 1 on the Sponsor s website at Odds of winning depend on the number of eligible entries received. NOTIFICATION OF WINNER: Winning Entrants will be determined after the Contest end date and will be notified by and/or by phone. Winning Entrants will be required to provide their full legal and mailing address which will be used to fulfill the prize. At the discretion of the Sponsor, winner(s) may be disqualified based on failure to comply with the eligibility requirements set forth above. In the event it is determined that the winner has not complied with these Official Rules, has failed to execute and return any required documents within the specified time period, has made false statements or a prize notification is returned as undeliverable, then the winner will be disqualified and at Sponsor s sole discretion, the Entrant with the next highest score may then be declared the alternate winner and receive the prize. The Sponsor expressly reserves the right to investigate, inspect or otherwise confirm the accuracy of entry information provided by the Entrant on the Contest entry form, and Sponsor may disqualify winner for failure to cooperate with such investigation, inspection or confirmation. PRIZE: The number of winners is subject to the sole discretion of the Sponsor but the prizes for Best Essay shall be at least one scholarship for one season s registration fees for a sport sponsored by the Goochland Youth Athletic Association. All winners and recipients of prizes are solely responsible for all expenses, costs or fees associated with acceptance and/or use of the prize, including without limitation, any and all taxes (if any). Upon accepting the prize, the winner assumes full responsibility for the prize and releases the Sponsor of any responsibility or liability, including without limitation, the winner s payment of any and all required taxes. GOVERNING LAW: Except where prohibited, as a condition of participating in this Contest, Entrants agree that any and all disputes which cannot be resolved between the parties, and any and all claims and causes of action arising out of this Contest, any prize awarded, or the determination of winners shall be resolved individually, without resort to any form of class action. Under no circumstances will an Entrant be permitted to obtain awards for punitive, incidental or consequential damages, or any other damages, including attorneys fees, other than Entrant s actual out-of-pocket expenses (e.g. costs associated with entering this Contest), if any, and Entrant hereby waives all rights to claim any of the above. Entrant further waives all rights to have damages multiplied or increased. All issues and questions regarding rights and obligations of Any and all claims or causes of action in connection with this Contest shall be governed by, and construed in accordance with, the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia. The parties waive rights to trial by jury in any action or proceeding instituted in connection with these Official Rules and/or this Contest. Any controversy or claim arising out of or relating to these Official Rules and/or this Contest shall be settled by binding arbitration in accordance with the commercial arbitration rules of the American Arbitration Association. Any such controversy or claim shall be arbitrated on an individual basis, and shall not be consolidated in any arbitration with any claim or controversy of any other party. The arbitration shall be conducted in the Commonwealth of Virginia and judgment on the arbitration award may be entered into any court having jurisdiction thereof.

4 PRIVACY: By entering the Contest, the Entrant agrees to Sponsor s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy as provided on Sponsor s website at and expressly agrees to the use of Entrant and/or Author s personal information, as described in the Sponsor s Privacy Policy. Personally identifiable information requested on the entry form will be collected and stored solely to investigate, inspect and confirm the accuracy of information for Contest eligibility; such personally identifiable information will not be stored, shared or sold to any third party. The Sponsor may store and use Entrants addresses for distribution of future Goochland Youth Athletic Association community information (for which recipients can unsubscribe at their choosing).

5 Promotional Language Why Sportsmanship? Sportsmanship and sportsmanlike qualities such as self-control, fair play, and respect for opponents, rules and authority are recognized as being so important that virtually all organized sports include penalties for unsportsmanlike conduct. And yet, athletes and fans behaving badly seem to get all the publicity. We aim to change that among the young athletes in Goochland County, VA. Why a Sportsmanship Essay Contest? Goochland Youth Athletic Association, a sponsor of youth sports programs in Goochland County, VA, aims to encourage sportsmanship and fair play among young people by sponsoring an essay contest for county residents ages We want young people to recognize the importance of sportsmanship on and off the playing field, and encourage them to have conversations about being a good sport with their families, coaches and teammates. Cole Starke was a shining example of sportsmanship throughout his years of playing football and baseball for the Goochland Youth Athletic Association and it is our honor to be able to name this contest in his memory. Recognizing Winning Essays Winning entries will receive online recognition on our Facebook page and on in press releases, and will win a scholarship for one season s registration fees for a sport sponsored by Goochland Youth Athletic Association. We also hope to over time publish the finalists and winning essays in an ebook and, if we hit our stretch goal we will publish a hard copy version of the collected essays. Because we want to make the contest accessible to as many young people as possible, there will be no fee to enter.