The Gather.com Short-Form Writing Competition: Official Rules

Official Rules — The Short-Form Writing Competition on Gather.com

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

1.   Contest Period: The 2006 Short-Form Writing Competition

(the "Contest") encompasses three Contest entry periods:

July 2006: 7:00 AM ET, Tuesday June 27, 2006 to 11:59 PM ET, Monday, July 31, 2006.

August 2006: 12:00 AM ET, Tuesday August 1, 2006 to 11:59 PM ET, Thursday, August 31, 2006.

September 2006: 12:00 AM ET, Friday, September 1, 2006 to 11:59 PM ET, Sunday, September 30, 2006.

December 2006: 12:00AM ET, Friday, December 1, 2006 to 11:59PM ET, Sunday, December 31, 2006. Sponsor's computer clock governs time stamp.

2.    Eligibility: Published and unpublished authors are eligible to compete in the Gather.com Short- Form Writing Competition. Entries shorter than 2,000 words or longer than 10,000 words will be disqualified. All entries must be: in English, not overly violent or sexually graphic material (no erotica), not material that violates copyright laws, contain properly cited material if need be, be previously unpublished (except on Gather.com), original material, not submitted elsewhere until the Contest period is over and the winners are announced. Writers cannot submit the same entry in multiple Contest periods. Writers cannot submit more than one entry in a Contest period. Writers cannot submit entries in two consecutive Contest periods. For example, if a writer enters the July competition (June 27- July 31), and is not selected during the July Contest period, he/she cannot re-enter with a new submission until the September Contest period begins (September 1). Amazon Shorts winners through Gather.com during July – September are not eligible to win another Contest period during that time. For example, if a writer submits a story and wins the July Contest period, he/she is not eligible to win the August or September competition. This Contest is run only on the Internet. You may enter the Contest if you are 13 years of age or older at the time of entry and have Internet access as of November 30, 2006. Employees, officers, directors, agents and representatives of Gather Inc. ("Sponsor"), American Public Media Group, Minnesota Public Radio, Southern California Public Radio, Amazon.com Inc., 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 ET Sunday, December 31, 2006, you must complete three (3) activities in order to enter this Contest. 1) If your entry has been previously published on Gather.com, remove it from the site. 2) Send your entry in the body of an email or as an attachment to: amazonshorts@gather.com. The subject of your email should read Amazon Shorts Entry. In the email you must include your name (first, last), email address, entry title, word count. We will email all entrants to confirm their submissions. If you have entered the Contest and have not received a confirmation notice of your submission by Wednesday, January 3, 2007, please email amazonshorts@gather.com. 3) To complete your entry, click on the link in your confirmation email to join the Amazon Shorts Contest group on Gather.com. If you have any trouble registering for the site and the Amazon Shorts group, please email amazonshorts@gather.com for help. The Contest administrator will post your entry to Gather.com within 2 business days.

4.    Article 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 email address); iii) represent and warrant that you have the right to grant to Sponsor one time use rights in the submitted entry. (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 entry is original and you have not copied or plagiarized the concept or portions of text for your entry from other material. Gather reserves the one-time publication rights to all entries. If your entry is selected as an Amazon Short, you will grant Amazon.com exclusive rights to the entry for six months from date of publication on the Amazon.com site.  

5.    Judging and Winner Selection: Each entry will have a 14-day voting period from the date it is posted to the Amazon Shorts group by the Gather.com Contest administrator. Each month, 3 members' choice winners will be selected using a combination of number of votes and average rating. An additional editors' pick winner will be selected by the Gather Editorial Team after a review of the month's entries. The editors' pick winner will be selected at the editors' discretion and independent of member ratings and number of votes. All winning selections will be submitted to Amazon Shorts for final approval. Amazon Shorts reserves the right to reject any Gather-selected winning entry.  

6.    Quantity, Prize, Approximate Retail Value (ARV): (4) Winners: The four winners each month will have the opportunity to have their entries published and sold through Amazon.com as part of the Amazon Shorts program. Each accepted entry will be sold at Amazon.com's standard rate for Amazon Shorts (subject to change at any time) and Amazon will have exclusive right to the winning shorts for six months from the date of publication on Amazon.com. Amazon will contact each winner to handle all contractual agreements associated with the program once winners are announced and notified.

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; 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 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/canceled 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. 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. 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

9.    Gather.com 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 monthly starting August 2006 at http://amazonshorts.gather.com.

12.    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 Contest by their respective companies.