The WMUR Blogging Competition: OFFICIAL RULES

1.  NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. A PURCHASE WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF
WINNING. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED. The WMUR.gather.com Blogging Competition (the "Competition") is sponsored by Gather Inc. ("Gather"), 85 Devonshire Street, 3rd floor, Boston, MA, 02109. 

2.  Competition Period:The WMUR.gather.com Blogging Competition runs from 12:00 AM EST, Tuesday, May 8, 2007 through 11:59 PM EST, Sunday, May 27th, 2007.  The Sponsor's computer clock governs time stamp.

3.  Eligibility: (a) This Competition is open to legal residents of New Hampshire.  Submissions from residents outside the state of New Hampshire are not eligible.  This Competition is governed exclusively by the laws of the state of New Hampshire and of the United States. To be eligible, you must at least 18 years of age as of May 7, 2007.  You are not authorized to participate in the Competition if you are not at least 18 years of age.

(b) Employees, officers, directors, agents and representatives of Gather Inc. ("Sponsor"), American Public Media Group, Minnesota Public Radio, Southern California Public Radio, Hearst-Argyle Television, Inc., The McGraw-Hill Companies, Simon & Schuster and their respective parent companies, subsidiaries, affiliates, promotion, advertising, design, web design, web hosting, publicity, production and print production agencies and anyone connected with the production, hosting and distribution of this Competition (collectively, " Competition Entities"), their immediate family members (parents, children, siblings, spouse and each of their respective spouses, regardless of where they live) and members of any of their households are not eligible to enter. All federal, state and/or local laws, rules and regulations apply.

(c)Blogging submissions (hereafter the "Submissions") must be original, previously unpublished and by your submission you represent to us that the foregoing is true.  All Submissions must be in English. Submissions must include the tags wmur and democrat, republican or independent (depending how you self-describe). Submissions must not violate copyright or other laws; must contain properly cited material, if applicable and by your submission you represent that they are.  Submissions may not be submitted elsewhere unless and until the entrant has been eliminated from the Competition. By entering your Submission in the Competition, you hereby give WMUR first broadcast and publication rights in all media until such time as you are eliminated from the Competition. This Competition is run only on the Internet.  By entering this Competition, you agree that if you are selected as a Winning Blogger, you will participate in blogging at an agreed upon location before and during the Democratic and Republican primary debates held in New Hampshire. You also agree to be interviewed on camera by members of the WMUR staff.

4. How to Enter: Before 11:59 PM (EST) Sunday, May 20, 2007, you must (1) go to [web page] join gather.com and create a user profile, including your full, legal name, your hometown, and a valid e-mail address. (2) You must then join the WMUR.gather.com group in order to be eligible to submit politically relevant and topical articles/blogs on WMUR.gather.com. You are encouraged to keep track of your articles/blogs and regularly reply to comments and questions posted by the community. (4) Articles/blogs have no word limit, but are encouraged to be approximately 500 words.

5. Article Rights: By entering this Competition, you explicitly (i) certify  that you meet the eligibility requirements as set forth in these Official Rules; (ii) grant to the Sponsor and WMUR the right to use and publish excerpts from your Submission and to use your name, likeness and the biographical information you provide (except street address, telephone number, and email address) during the Competition; iii) represent and warrant that you own or have  exclusive rights to the entirety of your Submission and have the right to grant to Sponsor temporary rights to post excerpts of your Submission; (iv) represent and warrant that you have not used licensed material or any material owned by someone other than you and that your Submission will not be libelous, or infringe or violate the rights of any third parties,including but not limited to copyrights, trademarks, or rights of publicity/privacy or include any indecent, obscene or offensive material; and (v) represent and warrant that your Submission is original and you have not copied or plagiarized the content, in whole or in part, for your Submission from other material.  You further agree that you will not submit your Submission to any other competition until you have been notified by WMUR and/or Gather that your Submission has been eliminated from the Competition. By entering this Competition you agree that if you are selected as a Winning Blogger, you will be available to participate in live broadcasts in locations determined by WMUR to blog before, during and after the Democratic and Republican primary debates located in New Hampshire.

WMUR reserves the right to broadcast and publish excerpts of all Submissions in all media. WMUR reserves the right to request that the finalists (15) engage in additional Competition related activities including but not limited to, interviews, blog posts, live-chats with members, and/or video posts.

Nothing herein shall obligate Sponsor or WMUR to publish or otherwise use any materials you provide as a Competition entrant or as a winner, and even if you are selected as a Competition winner, your services may be terminated at any time.

6. Competition Details and Winners Selection: The Competition

will run in two (2) stages:

STAGE 1:

5/8/07: Launch of Competition: Self-identified Democrats,

Republicans and Independents are encouraged by WMUR to submit

blogs about the Presidential race to WMUR.gather.com. Each

blog is considered one entry. Entrants are encouraged to enter

multiple times. Each entry should be approximately 500 words in length.

5/20/07: At 11:59 pm EST the Submission period officially

closes. 

STAGE 2:

5/21/07: Local citizens will be encouraged to pick their

blogger representatives by going to WMUR.gather.com and voting

for their favorite bloggers from 5/21/07 through 5/27/07.

5/27/07: At 11:59 pm EST the Voting Period officially ends.

5/31/2007: Finalists Announced: Based on the ratings given by

the Community, the Community's Top 15 picks; (5)

self-described Democrats, (5) self- described Republicans, (5)

self-described Independents will be announced on-air by WMUR.

Notes on comments and ratings: Gather will monitor the Competition

for irregular voting patterns and fraud, and will disqualify votes

and entrants if, in the Sponsor's sole judgment, they determine that

the integrity or fairness of the Competition has been, or could be,

compromised. Entrants are eligible to vote in the Competition but

are expected to do so fairly and in the spirit of the competition.

7.  General: Competition administration and verification will be

supervised by Gather, whose decisions are final.  By participating

in this Competition, you agree to have your submission reviewed as

described in these Official Rules and to be bound by these Official

Rules, Gather's privacy policy and the decisions of the judges and

Sponsor, whose decisions are final. The submission of entries will

be conducted on the Internet at www.gather.com only. Sponsor is not

responsible for lost, late, illegible, misdirected, incomplete or

garbled entries; for those who cannot access the Internet or cannot

click-through for any period of time; for messages that are garbled;

if entry is not captured correctly, or for any technical, hardware,

software, telephone, Internet, virus contamination, network, human

error, electronic malfunctions, Force Majeure or any other problems;

and for delay, failure or malfunction for any reason. Sponsor

assumes no liability for damage caused to entrants or any other

person's/entity's computer hardware, software or communications

network, regardless of cause. Sponsor reserves the right to

terminate/cancel or modify the online entering process or disqualify

any entrant if, in Sponsor's sole judgment, it determines that the

integrity or fairness of the Competition has been, or could be,

compromised or that the Competition is not capable of running as

planned or fairly, including infection by computer virus, bugs,

tampering, unauthorized intervention (hacking), fraud, technical

failures, Force Majeure or any other cause. Should this Competition

be terminated/canceled during the Competition Entry Period, judging

will take place in the manner detailed above from all Submissions

received up to the point of termination/cancellation. In the case of

a dispute regarding the identity of the person submitting an online

entry, the entry will be deemed submitted by the name on the

registration form. By entering this Competition, an entrant

explicitly releases, discharges and holds harmless the Competition

Entities (as defined below) and their shareholders, successors and

assigns, one and all, from any and all liability, actions, causes of

action, damages, actual, incidental or consequential, claims and

demands whatsoever in law or equity, including all "costs," which

he/she now has or may acquire, by reason of any personal injury,

death, loss of or damage to property, or any reason, occurring

during or arising out of his/her participation in the Competition.

The Competition Entities and their respective officers, directors,

employees, affiliates, related entities, partners, partnerships,

principals, representatives, agents, licensees, successors and

assigns (i) make no warranty, guarantee or representation of any

kind concerning the prizes; and (ii) disclaim any implied warranty.

The right to receive any prize is non-assignable and

non-transferable and no prize substitution, extension, transfer,

exchange or cash equivalent will be allowed. All federal, state and

local laws and regulations apply.  Winners may be required to sign

Affidavits of Eligibility and publicity, liability release forms

prior to being awarded their prizes.

As used herein the term "Competition Entities" shall mean: Sponsor

and WMUR and their parents, subsidiaries and affiliates.

CAUTION: ANY ATTEMPT BY AN ENTRANT TO DELIBERATELY DAMAGE ANY WEB

SITE OR UNDERMINE THE LEGITIMATE OPERATION OF THE CONTEST MAY BE A

VIOLATION OF CRIMINAL AND CIVIL LAWS AND SHOULD SUCH AN ATTEMPT BE

MADE, SPONSOR RESERVES THE RIGHT TO SEEK DAMAGES FROM ANY SUCH

PERSON TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW.

8.  Miscellaneous.  If any provision of this Competition shall be

deemed to violate any federal, state or municipal law, it shall be

amended to conform to such law and all other provisions shall remain

in full force and effect.

Sponsor, and all production and hosting agencies shall not be

responsible for technical, pictorial, typographical or editorial

errors or omissions in any marketing materials or these Official

Rules. This Competition is conducted in American English.

9.  Dispute Resolution / Choice of Law. Except where

prohibited by law, by participating in this Competition, entrant

agrees that: All issues and questions concerning the Competition and

these Official Rules shall be governed by New Hampshire law without

giving effect to any principles of conflicts of law of any

jurisdiction. Entrant agrees that any action at law or in equity

arising out of or relating to this Competition shall be filed only

in the state or federal courts located in New Hampshire and entrant

hereby consents and submits to the personal jurisdiction of such

courts for the purposes of litigating any such action. Except where

prohibited by law, by participating in this Competition, entrant

agrees that: (a) any and all disputes, claims, and causes of action

arising out of or connected with this Competition shall be resolved

individually, without resort to any form of class action; and (b)

any and all claims, judgments and awards shall be limited to actual

out-of-pocket costs incurred, including costs associated with

participating in this Competition but in no event attorneys' fees;

and (c) under no circumstances will any entrant be permitted to

obtain awards for and hereby waives all rights to claim punitive,

incidental and consequential damages and any other damages, other

than for actual out-of-pocket expenses, and any and all rights to

have damages multiplied or otherwise increased.

By entering this Competition, each entrant agrees that

any and all disputes, claims, actions and causes of action arising

out of or connected with this Competition or the prize awarded and

all issues and questions concerning the validity, interpretation and

enforceability of these Official Rules shall be resolved

individually, without resort to any form of class action, and

exclusively in a court of competent jurisdiction sitting in Manchester, New Hampshire.  Any and all claims, judgments and awards

shall be limited to actual out-of-pocket costs incurred and never

shall include consequential, incidental or punitive damages, and in

no event attorneys' fees or "costs." Some jurisdictions do not allow

the limitation or exclusion of liability for incidental or

consequential damages, so the above may not apply to you.

 
10.  Use of Data.  Gather Inc. will be collecting personal data about participants online, in accordance with Gather Inc.'s privacy policy. Please review Gather Inc's privacy policy at http://www.gather.com/privacy.jsp. By participating in the Competition, participants hereby agree to Gather Inc.'s Policy and in these official Rules and acknowledge that they have read and accepted Gather Inc.'s privacy policy.

11.  Sponsor: Gather Inc., 85 Devonshire Street, 3rd floor, Boston, MA 02109. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners. The use of certain products and services as prizes does not imply participation in, or approval of, this Competition by their respective companies.