Essay Contest: Offical Rules and Regulations
1. No Purchase necessary to enter or win
The New America “Improving Lives of Children” Essay Contest is open to all students who are currently enrolled full-time in a public or state-accredited private or parochial school in grade 12 in Washington, D.C proper. The Contest is subject to all applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations and shall be governed by D.C. Law. All entrants who are under the age of eighteen (18) at the time of the entry must have the permission of at least one (1) of their parents and/or legal guardians to enter. By entering the Contest, entrants and/or their parents or legal guardians (if such entrants are minors): (i) agree to accept and be bound by all terms of these Official Rules and Regulations (“Official Rules”), and (ii) agree that DC courts have jurisdiction over any dispute or litigation arising from or relating to the Contest and that venue shall only be Washington, DC.
2. How to Enter
From Monday, September 4, 2007 through Friday, December 14, 2007, The New America Foundation will conduct a regional essay contest focusing on the established essay question. “You have just been elected the President of the United States. What is the most important thing you will do to improve the lives of America’s children?” To enter, participants must print out and complete a copy of the Official Entry Form. All entries must be sent to: “Essay Contest”, Workforce and Family Program, New America Foundation, 7th floor, 1630 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington DC, 20009. To be eligible all entrants must provide the following documents via Mail only, and they must be postmarked no later than Friday, December 14, 2007 and received by Wednesday, December 19 2007: (i) the completed Official Entry Form (including the signed permission from the entrant’s parent or legal guardian if the entrant is a minor), and (ii) a typewritten, double-spaced essay and numbered pages of no more than 600 words in length, which answers the question “You have just been elected the President of the United States. What is the most important thing you will do to improve the lives of America’s children?” No other materials will be accepted in connection with the Contest. All entries must be submitted in the name of an individual person and the prize will only awarded to the person whose name is on the winning entry, regardless of other circumstances. Essays must be the entrants’ original, previously unpublished work. Essays must be written in English and essays on any other topic than the chosen topic will be disqualified. Any plagiarism and/or failure to properly identify non-original material by an entrant will result in such entrant’s disqualification. Essays containing quotations or copyrighted materials which are not properly identified will also be disqualified. All words in the Essay except any title, bibliography and/or footnotes shall be counted towards the 600 word limit. Essays that the sponsor and/or judges deem, in their sole discretion, to be inappropriate or obscene shall be void. Limit one (1) entry per person. Multiple entries from any person and/or duplicate entries shall be deemed void.
Students should not place their name or school on the essay itself.
No mechanical reproductions, online entries, or facsimiles will be accepted by sponsors and all such entries will be void. The sponsor is not responsible for misdirected, inaccurate, incomplete, lost, late, delayed, undelivered, damaged or illegible entries, and all such entries will be void. Sponsors are also not responsible for technical, hardware, or software failures of any kind, or other errors or problems which may occur in connection with the administration of the contest, the processing or the judging of entries, the announcement of prizes, in any contest-related materials or that may limit prize fulfillment or modify or prematurely conclude the contest should any computer virus, malfunction, fraud, tampering, unauthorized intervention or other cause beyond their control corrupts the administration, security or proper entries received up to time of such action using the judging procedures outlined below to determine the winner. False or deceptive entries or acts will render the entrant ineligible and the sponsor reserves the right to disqualify any entrant (and void his/her entry ) who attempts to undermine the legitimate operation of the contest by tampering with any Website mechanism, acts in a disruptive manner or violates these Official Rules. Any attempt by an individual to deliberately damage or undermine the legitimate operation of the contest may be in violation of criminal and civil laws. Should such an attempt be made, the sponsor reserves the right to seek remedies and damages (including attorney’s fees) from any person(s) to the fullest extent of the law, including criminal prosecution.
3. Judging
All eligible entries received by the dates specified will be judged equally on the following criteria: clarity of thought, creativity, practicality, potential to improve the lives of children and potential to draw attention to policies that help young people. The decisions of the judges will be final and binding on all participants.
4. Winner notification
The winner will be notified by the sponsor by the telephone number or email address provided on his/her Official Entry Form. Winners must also meet all eligibility requirements, including the execution and return of all necessary releases. In the event the Winner is a minor, prize may be awarded in the name of his/her parent or legal guardian who will be responsible for fulfilling all requirements imposed on the winner set forth herein. The winner (and/or their parents or legal guardians if such entrants are minors) may each be required to provide proof of identity, address, and birth date in order to claim the prize. If the winner fails to do so or if: (i) any prize notification is returned as undeliverable, (ii) the winner declines his/her prize, or (iii) the winner is determined to be ineligible for reason, such potential Winner will be disqualified, and at Sponsors sole discretion, a runner-up will be notified.
5. Prizes
The winner will receive a $1000 prize, as well their essay to be published by New America on its website. Winners and/or their parents or legal guardians are responsible for the reporting and payment of all federal, state, and local taxes incurred by acceptance and use of the prize (or any portion thereof). All prize details are at the Sponsor’s discretion.
6. General rules and regulations
By entering this contest, entrants (and/or their legal guardians or parents) : (i) agree to be bound by the decisions of the sponsor and judges which are final and binding in all matters (ii) grant the sponsor and their designees the right, unless prohibited by law, to use their names, cities and states of residence, voices, pictures and likenesses, without compensation, notification, or permission, for the purpose of advertising and publicity in any and all media, now or after known, throughout the world in perpetuity. The sponsor expressly disclaims any responsibility and entrants (or their parents or legal guardians if such entrant is a minor) agree to release, indemnify and hold the sponsor for liability, damages, or claims for injury or loss to any person or property (including death) relating to, in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, participation in this contest, the acceptance and/or subsequent misuse of any of the prizes awarded, claims on publicity rights, defamation, or invasion of privacy. The sponsor is not responsible for any injury or damage to persons or property which may be caused directly or indirectly, in whole or in part, from the downloading of any material from the Website, regardless of whether the material was prepared by the sponsor or a third party, and regardless of whether the material is connected to the website by a hypertext link. The sponsor further assumes no liability either for the cancellation, modification, or premature conclusion of the contest for any reason or through the acts or defaults of any company or person providing the prize. All such losses or expenses must be borne by the affected participants, entrants, and/or winner.
7. Sponsor
This contest is sponsored by: Workforce and Family Program, New America Foundation, 1630 Connecticut Ave NW, 7th floor, Washington DC 20009.
