YourSphere.com "Young Writers Contest" Official Rules

Yoursphere.com “Young Writers Contest”
OFFICIAL RULES

DATES OF CONTEST: The Yoursphere “Young Writers” (the “Contest”) begins at 12:00 a.m. Pacific Time (“PT”) on July 6, 2009 and ends at 11:59 p.m. (PT) on August 15, 2009 (the “Contest Period”).

ELIGIBILITY: The Contest is open to legal residents of the 50 United States including the District of Columbia who are between the ages of nine (9) and eighteen (18) at the time of entry (the “Entrant”). Employees and their immediate family members (parents, children, siblings or spouse, regardless of where they live, or persons living in same household, whether related or not) of Yoursphere (the “Sponsor”), their parent companies, contractors, subsidiaries, distributors, sales representatives, retailers, advertising and promotion agencies, and any others engaged in the development, production, execution or distribution of this Contest are not eligible to participate. Void in Puerto Rico and where ever else restricted or prohibited by law.

HOW TO ENTER: Visit www.yoursphere.com (the “Website”) during the Contest Period and complete and submit the following required steps (collectively, the “Submission”).

1. Contest Entry Form: Fill out the Official Contest Entry Form in its entirety, including your first name, date of birth, your email, and parent’s email. Collection and use of personally identifiable information will be in accordance with the Yoursphere Privacy Policy as posted on www.yoursphere.com.

2. Essay: Submit an essay between 350 to 600 words or less describing your summer passion. Essay cannot exceed 600 words. Any format is acceptable.

Limit of one (1) Submission per Entrant during the Contest Period. Late Submissions or Submissions sent via regular mail will not be accepted. Sponsors are not responsible for lost, late, mutilated, incomplete Submissions or for the quality of any photograph submitted or posted on the Website. All Submissions shall become the exclusive property of the Sponsors and will not be returned. All Submission must be the original work of the Entrant. Sponsors have no obligation to acknowledge receipt of or to return any Submissions received. Submissions that; contain personably identifiable information; ( are determined by the Sponsors and/or the judges in their sole discretion to be indecent, offensive, inappropriate or morally objectionable, are otherwise unfit for publication to the Website; or (d) violate these Official Contest rules will not be eligible. Entrants warrant and represent that; their Submission does not violate any third party legal rights (including without limitation rights of privacy and publicity) and otherwise does not violate applicable law; and ( that the Submission does not contain any disabling device, virus, worm, back door or other disruptive or malicious code that may or are intended to impair their intended performance or otherwise permit unauthorized access to, hamper, delete or damage any computer system, software, network or data.

WINNING/JUDGING: All eligible Submissions will be evaluated by a panel of judges based on the following criteria: writing style/liveliness (50%), overall story 25%, grammar and structure (25 %). In the event of a tie, the entries involved will be re-evaluated by an additional judge who will serve as a tiebreaker. All judge’s decisions are final in all matters relating to the Contest. Potential winners will be notified by telephone or mail on or about August 20, 2009.

Prize winners will be determined based upon the Submission having the highest cumulative score. The three (3) Submissions earning the highest cumulative scores will be awarded the Grand Prize.

PRIZES:

GRAND PRIZE: Three (3) Grand Prizes of a $300 savings bond and a one year membership to yourshpere.com will be awarded. In addition, winners will be invited to become paid Yoursphere.com contributing editors.

Limit of one (1) prize per Entrant. Prizes are non transferable and no cash redemption or substitution allowed, except at Sponsor’s sole discretion. Winners (or their parent or legal guardian if winner is not the age of majority in his/her state of residence) are solely responsible for all matters that may become due in respect to the prize, including, but not limited to, all applicable federal, state and local taxes. All prizes will be awarded.

PRIZE CONDITIONS: All prizes will be awarded 3-4 weeks after all winners are determined. All prize winners consent to the use of his/her/its name, likeness, biographical information, and voice in advertising worldwide without additional compensation.

GENERAL RULES OF PARTICIPATION: This Contest is subject to all applicable federal, state and local laws. By participating, Entrants (or their parent or legal guardian if Entrant is not the age of majority in his/her state of residence) and their participating Entities agree to be bound by these Official Rules and the decisions of the Sponsors and waive any right to claim ambiguity in the Contest or these Official Rules. Sponsors are not responsible for lost, late, misdirected, undeliverable or incomplete Submissions, whether due to system errors or failures, faulty transmissions or other telecommunications malfunctions, Submissions not received resulting from any hardware or software failures of any kind, lost or unavailable network connections, failed, incomplete or garbled computer or telephone transmissions, typographical or system errors and failures, faulty transmissions, technical malfunctions, or otherwise. Sponsors may prohibit an Entrant (or their parent or legal guardian if Entrant is not the age of majority in his/her state of residence) from participating in the Contest or winning a prize if, in its sole discretion, it determines that said Entrant is attempting to undermine the legitimate operation of the Contest by cheating, hacking, deception, or other unfair playing practices (including the use of automated quick entry programs) or intending to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass any other Entrants, Sponsors, or Contest Entities. If for any reason this Contest is not able to be conducted as planned, including, but not limited to, by reason of infection by computer virus, bugs, tampering, unauthorized intervention, fraud or any other causes beyond the reasonable control of Sponsors which corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness, integrity or proper conduct of the Contest, then Sponsors reserve the right at their sole discretion to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the Contest and judge from those Submissions received up to the cancellation/suspension date. CAUTION: ANY ATTEMPT BY AN ENTRANT OR ANY OTHER INDIVIDUALTO DELIBERATELY DAMAGE THE WEBSITE OR UNDERMINE THE LEGITIMATE OPERATION OF THE CONTEST MAY BE IN VIOLATION OF CRIMINAL AND CIVIL LAWS AND SHOULD SUCH AN ATTEMPT BE MADE, SPONSOR RESERVES THE RIGHT TO SEEK REMEDIES AND DAMAGES (INCLUDING ATTORNEY’S FEES) FROM ANY SUCH ENTRANT TO THE FULLEST EXTENT OF THE LAW, INCLUDING CRIMINAL PROSECUTION.

NO LIABILITY: By participating, Entrants (or their parent or legal guardian if Entrant is not the age of majority in his/her state of residence) agree to release, discharge, indemnify and hold harmless the Sponsors, Contest Entities and each of their respective officers, directors, employees, representatives and agents from and against any claims made by winners, Entrants, or any other third parties, related in any way to the operation of this Contest as well as any other claims, damages or liability due to any injuries, damages or losses to any person (including death) or property of any kind resulting in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, from acceptance, possession, misuse or use of any prize or participation in any Contest-related activity or participation in this Contest.

WINNERS LIST. For a list of the winners, please send a self-addressed, stamped, business size (#10) envelope to: Yoursphere “Young Writers Contest” 803 2nd Street, Suite F, Davis, CA 95616

SPONSORS: Yoursphere 803 2nd Street Davis, CA 95616.