FAQs: "Times Mom Stood Up For Me" Writing Competition

Q) I want to participate in the Mother's Day Contest. Where can I find all of the contest details?

A) Please click here to view the Official Rules.

Q) How do I enter the contest?
A) You must first join the Borders group at http://borders.gather.com <http://borders.gather.com/> .
Once you have joined the group, select "Publish an Article".
Draft your article. Submissions should be no longer than 300 words and can include one or more JPEG images. Images are NOT required but are encouraged.
Please include the word count at the bottom of your entry.
In the Add Tags field, you must include the word "mom". Click "Continue" at the bottom of the page.
In the Who can view my article field, click "Everyone," and also select the "Borders" group. Click "Save".

Q) Can I add tags other than “mom” to my submission?
A) Yes.  You may include as many tags as you’d like, however, you must include the tag “mom” to qualify for the contest. 
 

Q) I am not a U.S. resident. Am I eligible for this competition?
A) The contest is open to residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia only (excluding, without limitation, Puerto Rico and other US territories).  You must be at least 18 years of age to enter.

Q) Do I need to join the Borders.gather.com group to submit an entry?
A) Yes, you do need to join the Borders group at http://borders.gather.com if you are submitting an entry.  Entries must be tagged "mom".

Q) Do I need to join the borders.gather.com group to vote on the submissions?
A) No. Any Gather member can vote on a Mother's Day contest submission. We encourage all members to support your fellow gatherers by reading and rating on their submissions.  If you are not yet a Gather member, click here to join.

Q) Is there a limit to the number of essays I can submit?
A) Yes.  Only one entry per participant is allowed.

Q) Are entries to be judged on content alone, or is grammar/spelling a consideration in the final vote?
A) We encourage entrants to thoroughly check grammar and spelling before submitting their entry. The community will be considering the overall quality of the submission in choosing the top ten winning entries. Entries are expected to be of publishable quality.

Q) Can I enter the contest by editing an article I've previously posted?
A) No.  To ensure your entry into the Mother's Day Contest, you must republish your article according to the Official Rules and Submission Guidelines.  Once your entry has been published, you may make tiny edits to correct a spelling or grammatical error by clicking the "edit" button next to your submission. You may NOT edit your entry after the end of the submission period. You may not materially change the review you submit once it has been published. Any review that contains substantive changes will be disqualified.

Q) Can I publish my article to other appropriate groups on Gather.com?
A) Yes.  All entries must be: original work, unsold, and unpublished except on Gather.com.

Q) Is there a word count requirement?
A) Submissions should be no longer than 300 words and can include one or more JPEG images.  Photos are NOT required, but are encouraged. Please type the word count at the end of your entry.

Q) Who will judge the competition?
A) Community members will choose the top ten and Mitch Albom will pick the grand prize winner to be announced on Thursday, May 10.  Details on the selection process are in point five of the Mother's Day Contest Official Rules.

Q) How will Gather ensure the integrity of the rating/voting system?
A) To ensure the integrity of contests on Gather we have developed fraud detection systems to monitor rating/voting patterns as well as member account validity. We run the processes periodically throughout the contest and again at the end of the contest, across all entries. If we determine that certain ratings or actions are intended to compromise the outcome of the contest we will take appropriate actions which can include disqualifying the ratings, entrants and submissions. Entrants are eligible to vote in the competition but are expected to do so fairly and in the spirit of the competition.

Q) What was the final rating for my competition submission?
A) To ensure the integrity of the contest, we have developed processes that detect voting fraud and other irregularities.  We run the processes periodically throughout the contest and again at the end of the contest, across all entries. If we determine that certain ratings or actions are intended to compromise the outcome of the contest we will take corrective actions.  We do not answer specific questions on vote tabulation or fraud prevention because it will provide details that we do not make public to make them more effective over time. The scores shown on Gather do not reflect the full impact of our fraud control system (some steps are applied after the fact) to prevent users from testing various rating strategies in an attempt to reverse engineer our fraud identification algorithms. Therefore, rating averages can change throughout the contest even after a submission is no longer publicly viewable.

Q) What is the latest available date to submit an essay?
A) The entry period runs from Wednesday, April 11, 2007 to 11:59 PM EDT, Sunday, April 29, 2007. Sponsor's computer clock governs time stamp.

Q) Where should I ask friends and family to go to read the entries?
A) Entries can be located at http://www.gather.com/mom.

Q) At the end of the competition, for all of those entrants who do not win, will they receive the standing in relation to all other competitors?
A) No.  We will only be announcing the top ten winners in no particular order. Non-winners will not be notified, nor will a complete list of standings be posted.

If you have questions that have not been addressed in the articles referenced above, please email them to support@gather.com. We will be adding to this article as new questions are posed to us. We look forward to helping you enter and wish you good luck!