NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR TO WIN.  MAKING A PURCHASE WILL NOT IMPROVE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING.  ALL FEDERAL, STATE, LOCAL AND MUNICIPAL LAWS AND REGULATIONS APPLY.  VOID WHERE PROHIBITED.

ELIGIBILITY

The Contest is open only to legal residents of the United States who physically reside within fifty (50) miles of the circulation area of the Publication(s) and who are eighteen (18)  years of age or older at the time of entry (the “Entrant” or “Entrants”). If you are a minor in your state of residence, you must obtain the prior permission of your parent and/or legal guardian, who must agree to these Official Rules on his/her and your behalf before you can enter this Contest.  Employees, contractors and interns of Gannett, LLC and Sponsor (together, “Sponsor”), and the businesses appearing on this page (the “Businesses”), and each of their respective divisions, affiliates, parent companies, subsidiaries, advertising and promotion agencies (including, in each case, immediate family members) are not eligible to enter the Contest. For purposes of this Contest, “immediate family members” is defined as spouses, siblings, parents, children, grandparents and grandchildren, whether as "in-laws", or by current or past marriage, remarriage, adoption, co-habitation or other familial extension, and any other persons residing at the same household location, whether or not related. In order to enter the Contest or win a prize in this Contest, the Entrant (or parent/legal guardian if Entrant is a minor) must comply fully with these Official Rules, and by entering agrees to be bound by these Official Rules and the decisions of Sponsor, whose decisions shall be binding and final in all respects.

HOW TO ENTER THE CONTEST AND SUBMIT AN ESSAY/NOMINATION

An Entrant (or parent/legal guardian if Entrant is a minor) should log on to the Website during the Submission Period and complete the applicable registration form.  The Entrant (or parent/legal guardian if Entrant is a minor) must provide all requested information in the required fields and upload a Essay/Nomination (the “Essay/Nomination” or “Essay/Nominations”) as instructed on the Website.  The Entrant (or parent/legal guardian if Entrant is a minor) should then click “submit” to be entered in the Contest (the “Entry” or “Entries”).  

ALL ENTRIES MUST BE RECEIVED AT THE OFFICES OF THE PUBLICATION BY THE ESSAY/NOMINATION SUBMISSION END DATE.  NO ENTRIES WILL BE ACCEPTED AFTER THIS TIME.

Entries for the Contest will not be accepted through postal mail, hand-delivery, e-mail or via facsimile.

Sponsor will not be responsible for incomplete, lost, late, or misdirected Entries.  

CONTEST RULES

1.There is no limit to the number of people that may be included in the Essay/Nomination.  Upon Sponsor’s request, the Entrant (or parent/legal guardian if Entrant is a minor) must be prepared to provide, within seven (7) calendar days of receipt of Sponsor’s request, a signed release (the “Release”) from all persons who appear in the Essay/Nomination submitted.  Failure to provide such Release upon request may result in disqualification of the Entrant at any time.   

2.  The Entrant must be the owner of the Essay/Nomination, or otherwise have the right to submit the Essay/Nomination for consideration in the Contest (the “Consent”).  The Entrant (or parent/legal guardian if Entrant is a minor) will be required to submit the Consent to Sponsor upon request.  

3.Professional Essay/Nominations will be accepted.  When submitting professional Essay/Nominations, a copyright release from the Essay/Nomination (the “Copyright Release”) must be submitted to Sponsor upon request.  If the Essay/Nomination contains any material or elements that are not owned by the Entrant and/or which are subject to the rights of third parties, the Entrant (or parent/legal guardian if Entrant is a minor) is responsible for obtaining, prior to submission of the Essay/Nomination, any and all releases and consents necessary to permit the exhibition and use of the Essay/Nomination in the manner set forth in these Rules without additional compensation.   The Entrant (or parent/legal guardian if Entrant is a minor) will be required to submit copies of any releases and consents to Sponsor upon request.  

4.The Essay/Nomination must be in natural color or black and white.  Sepia tone and duotone Essay/Nominations are not acceptable. Essay/Nominations that have been altered, manipulated or enhanced using computer software programs will not be accepted.  Minor adjustments to the Essay/Nomination such as lightening or darkening areas of the Essay/Nomination, slight contrast or color adjustments and cropping are acceptable. If Sponsor determines a Essay/Nomination has been altered, manipulated or enhanced, Sponsor reserves the right to disqualify the Essay/Nomination.  

5.The Essay/Nomination must not be under consideration for prizes or publication elsewhere.

6.The Essay/Nomination must not, in the sole and unfettered discretion of Sponsor, contain obscene, provocative, defamatory, sexually explicit, or otherwise objectionable or inappropriate content (collectively, “Inappropriate Content”).  Sponsor retains sole discretion as to what constitutes Inappropriate Content.

7.All Essay/Nominations become the property of Sponsor and may be used by Sponsor for marketing or any other commercial purpose, whether or not judging was conducted or prizes were awarded in this Contest.  

8.Each Entry is limited to one (1) Essay/Nomination.  There is no limit to the amount of Entries that may be submitted in this Contest, except that an Entrant (or parent/legal guardian if Entrant is a minor) may submit only one (1) Essay/Nomination per day during the Contest Period.  Each Entry must include a Essay/Nomination or that Entry may be disqualified from this Contest.    

9.There must be at least   () Essay/Nominations submitted by , 2017 (the “Submission Deadline”) for the Contest to continue.  If the required number of Essay/Nominations are not submitted by the Submission Deadline, no judging will occur, and prizes will not be awarded in this Contest.  Sponsor reserves the right to cancel the Contest if the required number of Essay/Nominations is not received by the Submission Deadline.  

THE PUBLICATION RESERVES THE RIGHT TO DISQUALIFY ANY ENTRY, FOR ANY REASON, IN ITS SOLE AND ABSOLUTE DISCRETION.  

Use of E-mail Addresses

By participating in this Contest, Entrant (or parent/legal guardian if Entrant is a minor) is agreeing to opt-in to receive e-mail communications from Sponsor.  If an Entrant (or parent/legal guardian if Entrant is a minor) chooses to opt out of such future communications from Sponsor, he or she will be able to do so by following the instructions on any electronic communications sent by Sponsor.  Upon opting-out, Sponsor will no longer send e-mail messages to the Entrant (or parent/legal guardian if Entrant is a minor).   

WINNING ESSAY/NOMINATION

At the conclusion of the Voting Phase, the Essay/Nomination to receive the highest number of Votes during the Voting Phase will be declared the winning Essay/Nomination.  In the event of a tie, a random drawing among the Essay/Nominations tied will be conducted at the offices of the Publication to determine the winning Essay/Nomination. The winning Essay/Nomination will be announced on the Website on or around January 1, 2020.  Sponsor reserves the right to take more time to determine the winning Essay/Nomination as it deems necessary in its sole discretion.  

ODDS OF WINNING

Odds of winning depend on the number of eligible Essay/Nominations submitted and the number of eligible Votes received.  

REQUIRED DOCUMENTATION

The potential Winner (or parent/legal guardian if Winner is a minor) will be notified by phone or overnight mail in accordance with the contact information provided at the time of entry, and will be subject to approval by Sponsor pending confirmation of each such potential Winner’s compliance with these Official Rules.    The Winner (or parent/legal guardian if Winner is a minor) must sign an Affidavit of Eligibility, Liability and Publicity Release in order to be eligible to accept the prize. If the Winner submitted a professional Essay/Nomination, the Copyright Release must be submitted to Sponsor in order to be eligible to accept the prize.  If the Copyright Release is not submitted, the Winner will be disqualified and an alternate Winner may be selected.  

The prize must be picked up by the Winner (or parent/legal guardian if Winner is a minor) at the offices of the Publication or the Winner (or parent/legal guardian if Entrant is a minor) must make alternate arrangements with the Publication.  The offices of the Publication are open Monday through Friday during normal business hours and closed on Saturday and Sunday. 

No substitution or transfer of the prize will be allowed, except at the sole discretion of Sponsor.  Sponsor reserves the right to substitute prizes of equal or greater value. The prize has no cash value and may not be redeemed for cash at any time.  No compensation will be given for lost, stolen, mutilated or expired gift cards or gift certificates. Sponsor is not responsible for replacing lost, stolen, mutilated or expired gift cards or gift certificates.  Fulfillment of gift cards and gift certificates is the sole responsibility of the merchant, not Sponsor, and is only redeemable at the specified locations. The gift certificate or gift card must be surrendered upon redemption and no Essay/Nominationcopies or reproductions will be honored.

No compensation will be given for lost, stolen, mutilated or expired tickets.  Sponsor shall not be responsible for any cancelling or rescheduling of any event.  Fulfillment of the tickets is the sole responsibility of the venue, not Sponsor. It is illegal to scalp any tickets won from Sponsor.  If a prize winner is caught scalping tickets, he or she will be ejected from the venue and this will result in the winner’s disqualification from this and all future Sponsor sweepstakes and contests.  The resale or auction of Sponsor prizes or tickets will result in the winner’s disqualification from all future Sponsor sweepstakes and contests.

All local, state and federal taxes incurred by accepting a prize will be the sole responsibility of the Winner.  Any person winning over $600 in prizes during any one (1) year period will receive an IRS Form 1099 at the end of the calendar year, and a copy of such form will be filed with the IRS.  

All decisions of Sponsor regarding the Contest are final.

INTERNET 

It is the Entrant’s (or parent/legal guardian if Entrant is a minor) responsibility to enter in the appropriate manner. Each Entrant (or parent/legal guardian if Entrant is a minor) is responsible for all costs or charges involved in accessing the Website and warrants that the cost of accessing the Website, if any, is part of a larger agreement with an Internet Service Provider or some other means, and that the cost of this access is not an incremental cost. If for any reason the internet portion of the program is not capable of running as planned, including infection by computer virus, bugs, tampering, unauthorized intervention, fraud, technical failures, or any other causes beyond the control of Sponsor which corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness, integrity, or proper conduct of this Contest, Sponsor reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to disqualify any individual who tampers with the entry process, and to cancel, terminate, modify, or suspend the Contest. Should the Contest be terminated prior to the end of the Submission Period, finalists will be drawn at days-end from eligible entries received up to the time of cancellation.  Sponsor assumes no responsibility for any error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission, communication line failure, theft, or destruction or unauthorized access to, or alteration of entries. Sponsor is not responsible for lost, misdirected, illegible, damaged or undelivered entries. Gannett is not responsible for any problems or technical malfunctions of any telephone network or lines, computer online systems, services or providers, computer equipment, software, failure of any email or entry to be received due to technical problems or traffic congestion on the internet or at any web site, or any combination thereof, including any injury or damage to participant's or any other person's computer related to or resulting from participation or downloading of any material in this Contest. CAUTION: Any attempt by an Entrant to deliberately damage any website or undermine the legitimate operation of the Contest is a violation of criminal and civil laws and should such an attempt be made, Gannett reserves the right to seek damages from any such person to the fullest extent permitted by law and to disqualify such person from this Contest and from future contests or sweepstakes sponsored by GateHouse of any of its affiliates. In the event of a dispute, entries made by Internet will be declared made by the authorized account holder of the e-mail address submitted at time of entry. "Authorized account holder" is defined as the natural person who is assigned to an e-mail address by an Internet access provider, online service provider, or other organization (e.g. business, educational institution, etc.) that is responsible for assigning e-mail addresses for the domain associated with the submitted e-mail address. Automated entries are prohibited, and any use of such devices will cause disqualification. Collection and use of personally identifiable information will be in accordance with Sponsor’s Privacy Policy as posted on the Website.  

CONDITIONS

By entering, an Entrant (or parent/legal guardian if Entrant is a minor) agrees to comply with these Official Rules and the decisions of Sponsor, which are binding and final, and release Sponsor, and each of its divisions, affiliates, parent companies, subsidiaries, advertising and promotion agencies and anyone associated with the production of this Contest, and their respective directors, officers, employees and agents from any and all liability for any claims, injuries, losses or damages (including attorneys fees) of any kind arising out of their participation in this Contest or resulting from acceptance, possession, use or misuse of any prize. The potential prize winner (or parent/legal guardian if the potential prize winner is a minor) waives the right to assert as a cost of winning the prize any and all costs of verification and redemption or travel to redeem said prize and waives any liability or claims (including attorneys fees) which might arise from redeeming or seeking to redeem said prize. In the event of non-compliance with these Official Rules, or if prize notification is returned to Sponsor as undeliverable, if prize is refused or cannot be accepted for any reason, the prize will be forfeited and an alternate winner will be selected in a random drawing. Upon forfeiture or refusal, no compensation will be given. Acceptance of prize constitutes permission to use the winner's name, Essay/Nomination , likeness, Contest submissions and/or statements attributed to winners regarding the Contest, for advertising and publicity purposes without further compensation or consent.  All entries become the property of Sponsor. This Contest shall only be construed and evaluated according to the laws of the state of New York, without regard to the principles of conflicts of laws and submission of any entry constitutes acceptance of such laws. This Contest is void where prohibited. All federal, state and local laws and regulations apply.

This Contest is not intended for gambling.  If it is determined that an Entrant is using the Contest for gambling purposes, he/she will be disqualified and reported to authorities.

Sponsor and its affiliates reserve the right to use any and all information related to the Contest, including information on an Entrant obtained through the Contest, for marketing purposes or any other purpose, unless prohibited by law.

The decisions of Sponsor regarding all aspects of the Contest shall be final and binding in all respects.  Sponsor will not be responsible for typographical, printing or other inadvertent errors in these Official Rules or in other materials relating to the Contest.  If you have any questions regarding this Contest, please contact the Publication.    

Sponsor and its affiliates reserve the right to change the rules of the Contest at any time.

NAMES OF WINNERS

To obtain the names of the Winners, contact the Publication during normal business hours. 

CONTEST ADMINISTRATOR

Second Street Media, 317 N. 11^th Street, Suite 302, St. Louis, Missouri 63101.