2006 Gather.com Travel Writing Contest Rules

Official Rules — The 2006 Gather.com Travel Writing Contest

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. A PURCHASE WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED.

1. Contest Period: The 2006 Gather.com Travel Writing Contest (the "Contest") entry period runs from 12:00 PM EST, Wednesday, March 8, 2006 to 11:59 PM EST, Monday, April 17, 2006 (the "Contest Entry Period"). Sponsor's computer clock governs time stamp.

2. Eligibility: This Contest is run only on the Internet. You may enter the Contest if you are a legal resident of the 50 United States or the District of Columbia, are 21 years of age or older at the time of entry and have Internet access as of March 8, 2006. Void in Puerto Rico and overseas U.S. territories, possessions, commonwealths and military installations and wherever prohibited, licensed, restricted or taxed. Employees, officers, directors, agents and representatives of Gather Inc. ("Sponsor"), American Public Media Group, Minnesota Public Radio, Southern California Public Radio, National Leisure Group, Inc. ("NLG"), Priceline.com, CondéNet Inc. and THE MARKETING AGENCY, LLC, 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 Contest (collectively, "Contest 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 or be awarded a prize.

3. How to Enter: Before 11:59 PM EST Monday, April 17, 2006, You must complete three (3) activities in order to enter this Contest. If you are not a member of Gather.com, 1) Click the link Enter the Travel Writing Contest on the Gather.com site. When you have landed on the Travel Writing Contest invitation page, click "Join now" and follow the directions to register. When you have completed the registration, you may enter the Travel Writing Contest. If you are a member of Gather.com, go to travelwriting.gather.com and click on "Join this Group" on the left side of the page. 2) Go to Gather.com and sign in. Click on the "Publish" button on top of the page, select article and enter your title. You may type directly into the body of the submission page or paste in your story, if it was written elsewhere. You may add a JPEG photo by clicking on "Browse," uploading your photo and clicking "Save." In the Tags fields you must insert "Travel Writing Contest" and under "who can view", you must enter "Everyone" and select the "The 2006 Travel Writing Contest" Group. Click "Publish". 3) Email a copy of your entry to the judges at travelwritingcontest@gatherinc.com. The entry may be in the body of the email or as an attachment. The subject line must say: 2006 Travel Writing Contest. Your email must contain your word count as well as your first and last name. Entrants should submit an original, first person, previously unpublished, non-fiction travel story. Submissions should be no longer than 3,000 words. Please type the word count at the end of your entry. Entries longer than 3,000 words will be disqualified. Multiple entries are permitted per author. All entries must be: in English, original material, unpublished and may not be submitted elsewhere until the Contest is over and the winners are announced. Contest entries should not contain pornography, sexual or racial slurs, offensive language or obscenities. Please do not publish the same story on Gather.com more than once (Please see travelwriting.gather.com for more details).

4.Article/Photo Rights: By entering this Contest, you explicitly (i) certify that you meet the eligibility requirements as set forth in these Official Rules; (ii) grant to the Sponsor the right to use and publish the biographical information that you provide (except street address, telephone number, and e-mail address); iii) represent and warrant that you have the right to grant to Sponsor one time use rights in the submitted essay and photos; (iv) represent and warrant that you have not used licensed material or any material owned by someone other than you; and (v) represent and warrant that your essay is original and you have not copied or plagiarized the concept for your essay from other material. All entries become the property of Sponsor and will not be returned. Gather reserves the one-time publication rights to all entries. Entrants retain reprint rights to their work.

5.Judging and Winner Selection: The Gather.com editorial team will judge all entries and choose 20 finalists who will be announced on Gather.com on Monday, April 24, 2006. The criteria the judges will use are: 1) Quality of writing (including grammar and spelling); 2) the ability to engage the reader; 3) Originality of the author's voice; 4) Inclusion of details of specific destinations visited; 5) Unique destination and/or travel circumstances. All criteria will be weighted equally (20% each). You may make tiny edits to correct a spelling or grammatical error by clicking the "edit" button next to your submission. You may not materially change the story you submit once it has been published. Any story that contains substantive changes will be disqualified. Once the 20 finalists are announced Peter Frank, the Editor-in-Chief of Concierge.com, will select the Grand Prize winner using the criteria stated above. Winners will be notified on Friday, April 28, 2006 (via email) and announced on Gather.com on Monday, May 1, 2006.

6. Quantity, Prize, Approximate Retail Value (ARV): (1) Grand Prize: A 7 night cruise for two in an ocean view stateroom aboard Windstar's Wind Spirit from Barcelona to Lisbon on Saturday, November 11, 2006 to Saturday, November 18, 2006 only, including roundtrip, coach, airline travel (which might have connections and/or stops) from New York, NY (JFK) to Barcelona, Spain and from Lisbon, Portugal back to New York, NY (JFK) inclusive of all taxes, fees and port charges associated with travel. A cruise vacation includes ship accommodations of Sponsor's choice, ocean transportation, onboard meals, some beverages and most entertainment aboard the ship. The cruise prize is awarded "as is." Winner will be responsible for all other expenditures not specifically mentioned here including, without limitation, alcoholic and some other beverages, gratuities, telephone, incidentals, transportation to and from JFK, personal expenses and travel/medical/baggage insurance. Winner must book travel using the instructions that will be provided by Thursday, June 15, 2006 and complete travel by Thursday, December 21, 2006. ARV: — $7,500. If winner is not capable of taking the specified cruise on the specific dates mentioned above, s/he will receive a credit at priceline.com to be used for other cruises that must be completed by Thursday, December 21, 2006, subject to all the conditions of the first cruise (except itinerary and travel times), blackouts and space availability.

7.  General: Contest administration and verification will be supervised by Sponsor whose decisions are final. By participating in this Contest, you agree to be bound by these Official Rules, Sponsor's privacy policy and the decisions of the judges and Sponsor. 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 or for messages, votes or videos that are garbled or if entry or voting information is not captured correctly, or for any technical, hardware, software, telephone, Internet, virus contamination, network, human error, electronic malfunctions, or any other problems; and for delay, failure or malfunction for any reason. Sponsor assumes no liability for damage caused to entrant's 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 Contest has been, or could be, compromised or that the Contest is not capable of running as planned or fairly, including infection by computer virus, bugs, tampering, unauthorized intervention (hacking), fraud, technical failures, Force Majeur or any other cause. Should this Contest be terminated/cancelled during the Contest Entry Period, judging will take place in the manner detailed above from all entries 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 name on the registration form. By entering this Contest, an entrant explicitly releases, discharges and holds harmless the Contest Entities 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 Contest and the acceptance, possession, use or misuse of a prize.  By accepting a prize, winner waives the right to 1) assert as a cost of winning the prize any and all costs of verification and redemption or travel to redeem said prize, and 2) claim any liability (including attorney's fees and costs) that might arise from redeeming or seeking to redeem said prize (including any travel related thereto). Grand Prize winner and travel companion must travel all legs of the trip together and are responsible for 1) all travel documents including, without limitation, a current, valid U.S. Passport, necessary visas or other travel documents acceptable to the US Government, the airlines, the Transportation Security Administration and the countries on the cruise, (2) all medical requirements, (3) respecting all local regulations and (4) for full compliance with the regulations of all venues. Sponsor, airline(s) and cruise line have the right to refuse travel and/or admission to anyone who does not have proper travel documents or who does not comply with all regulations or comport him/herself properly. There will be no substitution or compensation for the prize or part of the prize forfeited due to winner's or winner's companion's non-compliance with travel and venues' regulations or any other reason. Sponsor and its 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 except as expressly provided in these Official Rules or by Sponsor who reserves the right to substitute a prize (or portion of prize) of equal or greater value in case of unavailability of the prize, the price of the specified cruises rises materially prior to booking or force majeur. All federal, state and local laws and regulations apply.

8.  If any provision of this Contest 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. All taxes are each winner's responsibility; the value of the prize will be treated as ordinary income to prize recipient for income tax purposes and an IRS Form 1099 for the year 2006 will be sent to winners of prizes valued over $600.

9. Gather.com and THE MARKETING AGENCY, LLC 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 Contest is conducted in American English.

10. By entering this Contest, each entrant agrees that any and all disputes, claims, actions and causes of action arising out of or connected with this Contest 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 Suffolk County, Massachusetts. 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.

11.  For a Winners list, check the website at travelwriting.gather.com on or about Monday, May 1, 2006 until Friday, June 30, 2006.

12. Sponsor: Gather Inc., 85 Devonshire Street, 3rd floor, Boston, MA 02109.

To register for the contest click: Enter the Travel Writing Contest
Click here for: How To Submit Your Contest Entry
For latest contest news visit: Travelwriting.gather.com

Email any additional questions to: Travelwritingcontest@gatherinc.com