THE PAYCHEX SEARCH FOR AMERICA S MOST UNIQUE SMALL BUSINESS OFFICIAL RULES

Transcription

1 THE PAYCHEX SEARCH FOR AMERICA S MOST UNIQUE SMALL BUSINESS OFFICIAL RULES NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED. A PURCHASE OR PAYMENT OF ANY KIND WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING. The Paychex Search for America s Most Unique Small Business (the Contest ) provides business owners the opportunity to share, using words and photos, why they should be considered America s most unique small business (the Contest Theme ). Each Eligible Entrant that submits a written testimonial and at least one high-resolution photo ( Submission ) shall become eligible to receive up to $2,500 as described below ( Prizes ) as set forth in the Official Rules of the Contest. 1. Organizer. The Contest is organized and sponsored by Paychex, Inc., 911 Panorama Trail S., Rochester, NY (the Organizer ). 2. Term of the Contest. The Contest Period shall consist of the Submission, Review and Voting Periods as defined below. The Submission Period of the Contest begins at 12:00:01 a.m. (Eastern Standard Time or EST ) on September 15, 2017 and runs through 12:00:00 a.m. (EST) on October 31, The Review Period shall begin at 12:00:01 a.m. EST on November 1, 2017 and run through 05:00:00 p.m. EST on November 17, 2017, during which time the Organizer shall reduce the total Submissions (as defined below) to thirty-two submissions (the Finalists ). The Voting Period will begin on November 20, 2017 at 12:01 a.m. and last for (6) weeks through January 5, 2018 (the Voting Period ). 3. Agreement to Official Rules: By entering the Contest, each Eligible Entrant indicates their full and unconditional agreement to, and acceptance of, (a) these Official Rules; and (b) Organizer s decisions, which are final and binding. Winning the Prize is contingent upon fulfilling all requirements set forth in these Official Rules. 4. Eligibility. All current and prospective Paychex Clients with five hundred (500) employees or less with a Federal Employee Identification Number/business card/website/valid business address that provides services and/or products in the United States (each an Eligible Entrant ) are eligible to enter the Contest. An Eligible Entrant s Submission, as defined below, must be made by a natural person who is at least eighteen (18) years of age at time of the Submission and who is a legal resident of one of the fifty (50) United States (including the District of Columbia). Employees and relatives of employees of the Organizer and any entities affiliated or related to the Organizer are not eligible to enter the Contest. The term relative means spouse, partner, parent, stepparent, children, stepchildren, sibling, or stepsibling. 5. How to Enter Contest. To enter the Contest and become eligible to win the Prize, an Eligible Entrant must (i) complete an online submission form that will be available to them via invitation, display banner, and/or social media post (the Invitation ); and (ii) submit his or her Submission at (the Contest Site ) during the Submission

2 Period. In the event an Eligible Entrant has not received an containing an Invitation the Eligible Entrant may request an Invitation via and, if the Eligible Entrant is eligible, an Invitation will be sent. Only Submissions which the Organizer, in its sole discretion, determines comply with the Official Rules of this Contest and the Contest Theme, shall be eligible to receive the Prize. An Eligible Entrant that submits a Submission shall be referred to as an Entrant. An Entrant may submit only one Submission to the Contest. All Submissions become the property of the Organizer and none will be returned. Organizer reserves the right to disqualify any Entrant who tampers with or attempts to tamper with the Submission procedure, voting procedure, the Contest Site or violates these Official Rules. A confirmation notice will be sent will be sent to the Entrant. 6. Search for America s Most Unique Small Business Criteria. Submissions should demonstrate and describe what makes their place of business unique. Each Submission will be judged on the following Judging Criteria: (i) Creativity (up to 10 points); (ii) Uniqueness (up to 15 points); (iii) Quality of photo submission (up to 5 points); and (iv) Overall assessment of the Entrant s written Submission (up to 10 points). Submissions may not exceed one thousand (1,000) characters in length. Submissions to the Contest cannot include any content whatsoever which would reasonably be understood to be defamatory, threatening, distasteful, racist, unlawful, or otherwise objectionable, at Organizer s sole discretion. Organizer reserves the right, in its sole and absolute discretion, to disqualify any Submission that does not comply with these Official Rules, or contains third party content, or is inappropriate for the Contest for any reason. 7. Prizes. The winner of the Contest shall receive a First Place Prize of two-thousand, five hundred dollars, no cents ($2,500) and each of the three other Finalists in the Round of Four shall receive a prize of five hundred dollars, no cents ($500.00). Collectively the winner of the First Place Prize and the other three Finalists in the Round of Four shall be referred to as Prize Winners. The Prize Winners shall be selected from among the thirty-two (32) Finalists voted on by the public as set forth in Section 8 below. If the Prizes become unavailable, the Organizer may award a substitute prize of equal or greater value. Taxes on the Prize and expenses related to acceptance, delivery and use of the Prize, are the sole responsibility of the Prize Winners. Any lost or stolen Prize will not be replaced by Organizer. The Prize Winners must cash the Prize within 120 days of receipt. 8. Selection of Finalists and Prize Winners. Each Submission which Organizer, in its sole discretion, determines complies with the Official Rules and the Contest Theme shall be eligible to receive the Prize. Organizer in its sole discretion may create one or more Contest committees to review and score each Submission Selection of Finalists. Organizer will accept Submissions during the Submission Period. A committee formed by Organizer will review the Submissions during the Review Period, and select thirty-two (32) Submissions ( Finalists ) for the online voting Selection of Prize Winners. The Finalists shall be randomly placed into a bracket consisting of two sides, with each side having eight pairings. Each Finalist shall compete

3 head-to-head with the Finalist in its pairing. The Finalist in each pairing receiving the most votes will move ahead to the next round. Votes may be cast once per day per person throughout the contest. All voting shall be online through Contest Site and shall be open to the public. The Finalists on each side of the bracket shall be reduced by half in each round of the voting until the First Place Prize Winner is selected. In the event of a tie, it shall be broken via coin flip. The Submission received first shall be deemed heads in the coin flip. The Submission received second shall be tails. Voting shall be as follows 1 : Round of Thirty-Two. Voting in the first round of 32 shall begin at 12:00 a.m. EST on Small Business Saturday, November 25, 2017 and end at 12:00 p.m. December 1, Round of Sixteen. Voting in the round of 16 shall begin at 12:00 a.m. EST on December 2, 2017 and end at 11:59 p.m. December 8, Round of Eight. Voting in the round of 8 shall begin at 12:00 a.m. EST on December 9, 2017 and end at 11:59 p.m. December 15, Round of Four. Voting in the round of 4 shall begin at 12:00 a.m., December 16, 2017 and end at 11:59 p.m. December 22, The Finalists who lose in this Round of Four shall each receive a $ Prize. Final Round. Voting in the round of 2 shall begin at 12:00 a.m. EST on December 23, 2017 and end at 11:59 p.m. January 5, The Finalist that loses in this Final Round shall receive a $ Prize and the winner shall receive the First Place Prize of $2, Notification of Prize Winners. Organizer will notify the Prize Winners via Certified U.S. Mail and/or telephone and/or within seven (7) days of the Contest Period ending. The Prize Winner, at his or her sole discretion, may disclaim a Prize by not claiming such Prize or by not completing and returning to Organizer, Organizer s Publicity Release within fourteen (14) days of attempted notification. In the event that the First Place Prize Winner elects to disclaim the Prize the Finalist that finished second in the voting shall become the First Place Prize Winner and the second place Finalist s Prize shall be divided in two and added to the Prizes received by the Finalists that lost in the Round of Four. Organizer will notify the new First Place Prize Winner as set forth above. In the event that the new First Place Prize Winner elects to disclaim the Prize, Organizer will divide the First Place Prize and add it to the Prizes received by the Finalists that lost in the Round of Four. In the event that both of the Finalists that lost in the Round of Four disclaim their Prizes the Organizer shall randomly pick a Prize Winner from the remaining Finalists and award that Finalist all the Prizes and repeat the random selection process until such time as a Prize Winner completes and returns to Organizer the Organizer s Publicity Release within fourteen (14) days of attempted notification. Except where prohibited by law, the Prize Winners further grant to the Organizer the right to release his or her full name and city and state of residence to persons requesting the names of the winner of the Contest. Non-compliance or the return of any prize notification as undeliverable may result in disqualification and selection of an alternate Prize Winner.

4 10. Representations Regarding Submissions. By submitting a Submission in connection with the Contest you represent and warrant to Organizer that (i) your Submission is your own original work and that you have the sole right to submit it to the Contest; (ii) your Submission does not violate in any way rights of third parties, including but not limited to copyright and other intellectual property rights; (iii) your Submission does not violate any applicable laws; (iv) you have obtained all necessary licenses or permissions from all appropriate third parties required for the production and submission of the Submission in the Contest and use by Organizer as contemplated in these Official Rules; (v) the posting and/or display of your Submission on the Contest Site or other use by Organizer will not violate the intellectual property rights or rights of publicity or rights of privacy of any third parties or otherwise breach any provision of any applicable law or regulation; (vi) Organizer has your irrevocable permission for the posting of your first name and last initial, the name of your employer, your city and state and any and all information included in your Submission in connection any permitted use of your Submission; (vii) use and posting of the Submission or any part of the Submission provided by you to Organizer in any manner in connection with the Contest or as otherwise permitted by these Official Rules is and will be without any compensation, regardless of whether your Submission is the winning Submission; (viii) you have obtained irrevocable full and informed consent of any third party whose image, likeness and speech appears in your Submission (ix) your business is a valid business providing services and/or products in the United States. In the event that an Entrant breaches any of his or her representations, warranties or undertakings to Organizer, Organizer shall be entitled to and may seek indemnification from Entrant for recovery of all legal fees, damages, claims and other expenses that may be incurred by Organizer or its affiliated entities as a result of such breach. 11. Grant of Rights. All Entrants hereby grant to Organizer an everlasting, royalty-free, assignable, irrevocable, license to use, utilize, replicate, alter, adapt, modify, publish, broadcast, translate, produce derivative works from, distribute, present, display, sublicense and exercise all copyright and other intellectual property and personal rights with respect to each Submission worldwide and/or to include a Submission in other works in any media now known or later created, anywhere and forever. Each Entrant agrees and grants Organizer permission to make available and display/perform and otherwise distribute Entrant s Submission in all media in perpetuity without compensation. Except where legally prohibited, Entrant s Submission constitutes permission for Organizer to use the entrant s name, employer name, address (city and state) and story / testimonials, in printed, broadcast media or any now known or later created media, in perpetuity, in any manner Organizer deems appropriate in connection with promoting this Contest and Organizer s business, without further compensation. 12. Privacy. All information submitted as part of this Contest will be treated in accordance with Organizer s Privacy Policy. By submitting information in connection with any portion of the Contest, each participant agrees to receive contest materials from the Organizer. Participants

5 may opt-out from receiving Organizer s contest materials in accordance with Organizer s Privacy Policy. 13. Release and Limitations of Liability. BY PARTICIPATING IN THE CONTEST, PARTICIPANTS AGREE TO RELEASE AND HOLD HARMLESS ORGANIZER, ITS AFFILIATES, SUBSIDIARIES, ADVERTISING ANDCONTEST AGENCIES, ANY SOCIAL MEDIA PROVIDER ON WHICH THE CONTEST IS LISTED, AND ITS AND THEIR OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES AND AGENTS (THE CONTEST PARTIES ) FROM AND AGAINST ANY CLAIM OR CAUSE OF ACTION ARISING OUT OF PARTICIPATION IN THE CONTEST OR RECEIPT OR USE OF ANY PRIZE, INCLUDING PROPERTY DAMAGE, PERSONAL INJURY OR DEATH. EACH PARTICIPANT FURTHER AGREES THAT IN ANY CAUSE OF ACTION, THE CONTEST PARTIES LIABILITY WILL BE LIMITED TO THE COST OF PARTICIPATING IN THE CONTEST, AND IN NO EVENT SHALL THE CONTEST PARTIES BE LIABLE FOR ATTORNEYS FEES, PUNITIVE, CONSEQUENTIAL, DIRECT OR INDIRECT DAMAGES AND EACH PARTICIPANT WAIVES THE RIGHT TO CLAIM ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER. 14. Dispute Resolution. Except where prohibited by law, any and all disputes, claims and causes of action arising out of or in connection with the Contest shall be resolved individually, without resort to any class action, exclusively by the courts located in the judicial district including Rochester, New York. All issues concerning the construction, validity, and interpretation of these Official Rules shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of New York (and federal laws, as applicable), without giving effect to any choice of law or conflict of law rules that would result in the application of the laws of any jurisdiction other than the laws of the State of New York and applicable federal laws. 15. Name of Prize Winners: For the name of the Prize Winners, visit the Contest Site. 16. General. In the event that the operation, security, or administration of the Contest is impaired in any way, Organizer may, in its sole discretion, subject to any written directions from a competent regulatory authority, suspend the Contest to address the impairment and then resume the Contest. Organizer s failure to enforce any term of these Official Rules shall not constitute a waiver of that provision. Proof of sending any communication to Organizer by mail shall not be deemed proof of receipt of that communication by Organizer. In the event of a dispute as to the owner of an online Submission, the authorized account holder of the address used to enter will be deemed to be the owner. The Contest is subject to federal, state, and local laws and regulations and is void where prohibited. Organizer shall not be responsible for any technical malfunctions of the telephone network, computer on-line system, computer equipment, software, program malfunctions or other failures, delayed computer transactions or network connections that are human, mechanical or technical in nature, or any combination thereof, including any property damage, personal injury or death therefrom. Organizer assumes no responsibility for lost or late entries or for incomplete computer transmissions or technical failures, including but not limited to computer viruses.

6 1 Due to high voting demand, these terms and conditions incurred an update on December 4 to extend voting in all rounds from Fridays at 12:00 p.m. ET to 11:59 p.m. ET Paychex, Inc. All Rights Reserved.