Spirit of Vancouver Contest Rules & Entry Guidelines

Contest Duration: The Contest runs from 12:00:01am PST January 20, 2010 to 5:00:00pm PST December 30, 2010.

The entry information provided is subject to the Privacy Policy of the Spirit of Vancouver website (www.spiritofvancouver.com).

Once an entry is submitted, it cannot be changed, altered, or modified by the entrant;

Entries will become the property of The Vancouver Board of Trade and the Spirit of Vancouver (herein known as the “Sponsor”), and will not be returned;

All Entries:

a. must be the original and sole creation of the entrant and must be owned solely by the entrant;
b. may not have been submitted in any other competition;
c. may not have been published;
d. must not be defamatory or obscene; and
e. must not infringe upon any third party's rights, including, but not limited to, copyright, patent or trademarks/tradenames/logos, or rights of privacy or publicity;

Entries must be submitted by the person who is entering to win the Contest;

All entries submitted will undergo screening to ensure that they meet the guidelines and requirements set forth in these Official Rules.

Any entry, in the sole opinion of the judges and/or Sponsor, found to contain dangerous, harmful or objectionable content, or deemed to be inappropriate for publication, will be deemed ineligible;

Text Entries and Entries including text:

1. Text entries cannot be sexually explicit or suggestive, violent or derogatory of any ethnic, racial, gender, religious, professional or age group, profane or pornographic, or contain nudity
2. Text entries cannot show or promote cruelty, harm, abuse or exploitation of anyone or anything
3. Text entries cannot promote illegal drugs, tobacco, firearms/weapons (or the use of any of the foregoing), any activities that may appear unsafe or dangerous, or any particular political agenda or message
4. Text entries cannot be obscene or offensive, endorse any form of hate or hate group
5. Text entries cannot defame, misrepresent or contain disparaging remarks about Sponsor or its products or other people, products or companies
6. Text entries cannot contain copyrighted material owned by others, or advertise or promote any brand or product of any kind, or contain any personal identification, such as license plate numbers, personal names, e-mail addresses or street addresses
7. Text entries cannot contain copyrighted materials owned by authors (including other works published on or in print, websites, or other media)
8. Text entries cannot communicate messages or images inconsistent with the positive images and/or goodwill to which Sponsor wishes to associate
9. Text entries cannot violate any law

Photo/Graphic Entries and Entries including Photos/Graphics:

1. Photos/Graphics cannot be sexually explicit or suggestive, violent or derogatory of any ethnic, racial, gender, religious, professional or age group, profane or pornographic, or contain nudity
2. Photos/Graphics cannot show or promote cruelty, harm, abuse or exploitation of anyone or anything
3. Photos/Graphics cannot promote illegal drugs, tobacco, firearms/weapons (or the use of any of the foregoing), any activities that may appear unsafe or dangerous, or any particular political agenda or message
4. Photos/Graphics cannot be obscene or offensive, endorse any form of hate or hate group
5. Photos/Graphics cannot defame, misrepresent or contain disparaging remarks about Sponsor or its products or other people, products or companies
6. Photos/Graphics cannot contain trademarks, logos or trade dress (such as distinctive packaging or building exteriors/interiors) owned by others, or advertise or promote any brand or product of any kind, or contain any personal identification, such as license plate numbers, personal names, e-mail addresses or street address
7. Photos/Graphics cannot contain copyrighted materials owned by others (including photographs, sculptures, paintings and other works of art or images published on or in websites, television, movies or other media)
8. Photos/Graphics cannot communicate messages or images inconsistent with the positive images and/or goodwill to which Sponsor wishes to associate
9. Photos/Graphics cannot violate any law.

ENTRY OWNERSHIP:

In the event of a dispute concerning submission ownership, all entries will be deemed to have been submitted by the owner of the email account from which they were sent. For these purposes, an email account holder shall mean the natural person assigned to such email account by the Internet access provider, online service provider or other organization responsible for the assigning email addresses for the domain associated with such email account. No forms of entry other than as stated in these Official Rules will be accepted.

ENTRY SUBMISSION PERIOD:

Staring in January 2010 and for the duration of the contest, on a three month basis entry submissions begin at 12:00:01am PST on the 26th of the month and end at 12:00:00am PST on the 26th day of the month three months later. All entries received after the cut-off time on the 26th of the last day in an entry period will be considered for the next entry period. Entries received after 5:00:00PM PST on December 26th, 2010 will not be considered. In the event of a dispute concerning any given periods’ submission time between an entrant and the Sponsor, the decision of the Sponsor, including the said entries’ eligibility, shall be considered final.
For the duration of the contest on a monthly basis all eligible entries will be placed online within one week (7 days) of submission for public voting on www.spiritofvancouver.com/contest, and can be voted on until the public voting period ends at on the 30th of the last month in a given three month period.

PUBLIC VOTING PERIOD:

For the duration of the contest on a three month period basis voting begins at 12:00:01am PST on the 30th of the first month and ends at 12:00:00am PST on the 30th day three months later.
To be eligible to vote, an individual must be residing in the province of British, Columbia, Canada with a valid email address. Limit one (1) vote per eligible entry per person. Multiple votes received from any person for any given entry will be void. Entrants may not vote for their own entry. Votes generated by script, macro or other automated means or with the intent to impair the integrity of the voting process, as determined by Sponsor in its sole discretion, may be void. Entrants are prohibited from obtaining votes by any fraudulent or inappropriate means, including, without limitation, offering prizes or other inducements to members of the public, as determined by Sponsor in its sole discretion. On a monthly basis at the end of the Voting Period, the top five (5) entries that received the highest number of votes (provided a sufficient number of eligible entries are received, this number being decided at the sole discretion of the Sponsor), will move on to the Judging Round.

ENTRY SUBMISSION AND PUBLIC VOTING PERIOD REFERENCE:

The Contest runs from 12:00:01am PST January 20, 2010 to 5:00:00pm PST December 30, 2010.

MONTHLY GRAND PRIZE WINNER JUDGING:

For the duration of the contest on a monthly basis the top five (5) entries that received the highest number of votes (provided a sufficient number of eligible entries are received) during public voting will be judged by a panel of ten (5) independent judges selected for the contest and listed on the www.spiritofvancouver.com/contest website. Judges are selected based on specific criteria created by the Sponsor and inline with what www.spiritofvancouver.com/contest represents (the Sponsor holds the sole discretion in defining what this criteria is).

Individual judges may change during the contest at the sole discretion of the Sponsor. Judging will be based on what entry most accurately answers the following question: “What is the Spirit of Vancouver?”, and a total of one (1) Grand Prize Winner will be selected every month by the judges from the top (5) eligible entries selected during the public voting round. The judges’ decisions are final and binding on all judging matters related to this Contest.

WINNER NOTIFICATION AND CLAIMING A PRIZE:

Grand Prize winners will be notified initially via email within one week of selection of their entry and will be required to provide their current mailing address.

Once mailing address information is provided, Grand Prize Winners will be notified by a traceable form of delivery. If a potential Winner is found to be ineligible (ineligibility determined solely at the discretion of the Sponsor), declines to accept a prize, or Sponsor is unable to contact a potential Winner within a reasonable period, or in the event that a prize confirmation or prize is returned undeliverable, the prize will be forfeited and, at the Sponsor’s sole discretion, prize may be awarded to a runner-up.

PRIZES:

Prizes will be announced on the www.spiritofvancouver.com/contest website on a monthly basis.
No substitution, assignment, redemption for cash, or transfer of any prizes permitted, except that Sponsor reserves the right to substitute a prize of equal or greater value in the event that an offered prize becomes unavailable. Actual value of prizes may vary.

Allow 8 to 10 weeks for verification and shipment of all Prizes. Prizes will be distributed after the Grand Prize Winners are verified. The Sponsor shall not be held responsible for any delays in awarding any prize for any reason outside of their control. A prize will only be delivered to a verified Winner.

Ownership/Use of Contest Entry:

By submitting an entry, entrant agrees to assign to Sponsor ownership to entry and all right, title and interest to entry and agrees that Sponsor and its designees may use and distribute the entry and all elements of such entry, without restriction in any and all media now known or not currently known, throughout the world in perpetuity without compensation, permission or notification to entrant or any third party. Materials submitted in connection with the Contest will become the sole property of Sponsor and will not be returned. Upon request of Sponsor, Grand Prize Winners shall execute and deliver such additional instruments of assignment as may be solely deemed by Sponsor to be reasonably necessary to establish the ownership of record of the right, title and interest in and to the entry and of the copyrights and trademarks transferred under these Official Rules. Should Sponsor fail to request the said assignments as stated herein, that shall not be deemed a waiver of Sponsor’s right to do so, and Sponsor may at a later time request the assignments, and the Grand Prize Winners shall, by acceptance of the prizes, agree to honor such a request.

Entrant agrees that submissions are gratuitous, unsolicited and without restriction, and will not place Sponsor under any obligation, and that Sponsor is free to disclose the ideas contained therein on a non-confidential basis to anyone or otherwise use the ideas without restriction and without any additional compensation to entrant. Entrant acknowledges that, by acceptance of his entry, Sponsor does not waive any rights to use similar or related ideas from any source. Any waiver of any obligation hereunder by Sponsor does not constitute a general waiver of any obligation to entrant. By entering, entrant acknowledges that Sponsor has no obligation to use or post any entry submitted.

Entrant agrees that the Sponsor shall have the exclusive right to edit, adapt and publish entry and may use it in any media in association with the contest without attribution or compensation to the entrant, his or her successors or assignees or any other entity. Entrant agrees that the Spirit of Vancouver will not be liable to entrant or to any third party for any editing, adaptation, modification and/or publication of any entry.

Participation in the Contest constitutes irrevocable consent to the Sponsor and its agents to use, record, reproduce, publish, display, perform, translate, and distribute, the names, likeness and biographical information of entrant, including without limitation, any photograph for promotional purposes in any media, worldwide, without further payment or consideration; and the name, likeness and biographical information of any natural person appearing in the entry, including without limitation use on merchandise or for marketing, without attribution or further payment or compensation to the entrant, his or her successors or assigns or any other entity.

By submission of your original entry, you agree that you relinquish all rights in the entry and hereby assign all rights in the entry to the Sponsor to be used as the Sponsor sees fit or desires in any form. All individuals shown in the entry have agreed to the use of their likeness and other identifying information and have released any claims they may make against the Sponsor.

GENERAL:

By participating in Contest, entrants agree to release and to indemnify and hold harmless Sponsor and its parent companies, affiliates, subsidiaries, retailers, franchisees, advertising and promotion fulfillment and/or judging agencies, and all of their respective officers, employees, directors, representatives and agents (individually and collectively “Releasees”) from all liability, claims, action, or proceedings, losses, injuries and damages to person(s), including death and property, or violation of intellectual property or personal rights (such as but not limited to, copyright, patent, trade name/trademark, and/or rights of privacy or publicity or portrayal in a false light) due in whole or in part to acceptance, possession, misuse or use of any prize; or participation in this Contest, or participation in any Contest related activity. By claiming a prize, Grand Prize Winner agrees to confirm that consent in writing upon request, to Sponsor and those acting pursuant to the authority of Sponsor, the right, in perpetuity, to the use of his/her name, voice, picture, and likeness (and notwithstanding anything to the contrary in these Official Rules, Grand Prize Winners license the use of their Entry to the Sponsor, which may be altered, changed, modified, edited, used alone, together or with other works, and/or in distorted form, as solely determined by Sponsor) at any time(s) and in all media now known or hereafter discovered, worldwide, including on the Internet and World Wide Web, for advertising, commercial, trade and promotional purposes without additional compensation unless prohibited by law, and without notice, review or approval.

Limitations of Liability:

Releasees are not responsible for lost, late, stolen, illegible, misdirected, separated, or non-delivered entries; or for lost, interrupted or unavailable satellite, network, server, Internet Service Provider (ISP), Web site or other connections availability, accessibility or traffic congestion, or miscommunications, or failed computer, network, telephone, satellite, or cable hardware, software or lines, or technical failure, or jumbled, scrambled, delayed, or misdirected transmissions, or computer hardware or software malfunctions, failures or difficulties, or other errors of any kind whether human, mechanical, electronic or network or the incorrect or inaccurate capture of entry or other information or the failure to capture, or loss of, any such information. Releasees are not responsible for any incorrect or inaccurate information, whether caused by Web site users, or by any equipment or programming associated with or utilized in this Contest, and assume no responsibility for any error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect or delay in operation or transmission, communications line failure, theft or destruction or unauthorized access to, or tampering with or hacking of Web site. Sponsor reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to disqualify any individual it finds to be tampering with the entry process or operation of the Contest or Web site, to be acting in violation of the terms of the Web site or to be acting in a non-sportsmanlike or disruptive manner, or with intent to threaten, abuse or harass any other person. Releasees are not responsible for injury or damage to entrants’ or any other person’s computer related to or resulting from participating in this Contest or downloading, printing or copying materials from or use of Web site. If, for any reason, Contest is not capable of running as planned by reason of infection by computer virus, worms, bugs, tampering, hacking, unauthorized intervention, fraud, technical failures or any other causes which, in sole opinion of the Sponsor, corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness, integrity or proper conduct of this Contest, Sponsor reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend Contest, and determine the winners from eligible entries received prior to action taken, or as otherwise deemed fair and equitable by Sponsor. In the event Sponsor does so, Sponsor shall post notice at www.spiritofvancouver.com Any attempt to deliberately damage any web site or undermine the legitimate operation of the Contest is unlawful and subject to legal action by Sponsor or its agents.

IN NO EVENT WILL RELEASEES BE RESPONSIBLE OR LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES OR LOSSES OF ANY KIND, INCLUDING DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF YOUR ACCESS TO AND USE OF THE WEB SITE OR DOWNLOADING FROM AND/OR PRINTING MATERIAL DOWNLOADED FROM SAID WEB SITE.
JURISDICTION/CHOICE OF LAW:

By entering, entrants agree that this Contest shall be governed by the laws of the province of British Columbia, Canada, and agree to venue and jurisdiction solely in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada for the resolution of any and all disputes.

WINNERS LIST:

To view the monthly winners, log on to www.spiritofvancouver.com/contest and click on the “Winners” link. While Winners will be posted online and remain so throughout the duration of the contest, the Sponsor may remove information of said Winners at any time under it sole discretion.

SPONSOR:

Spirit of Vancouver (A Program of The Vancouver Board of Trade)
Suite 400, 999 Canada Place
Vancouver, B.C. V6C 3E1
contest@spiritofvancouver.com