3rd Anniversary Sweepstakes Contest Rules
NO PURCHASE IS NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. A PURCHASE WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING. ALL FEDERAL, STATE, LOCAL, AND MUNICIPAL LAWS AND REGULATIONS APPLY. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED.
1. SPONSOR:
The When Words Count Retreat (the “Retreat”) 1st Anniversary Sweepstakes, (the “Sweepstakes”) is sponsored by When Words Count Press, LLC, P.O. Box 26900 Baltimore, MD 21212, DBA When Words Count Retreat, 1764 Marsh Brook Road Rochester, VT 05767, (“Sponsor”).
2. ELIGIBILITY:
When Words Count Retreat’s 3rd Anniversary Sweepstakes (“the Contest” or “the Sweepstakes”) is open to any legal resident of the fifty (50) United States, the District of Columbia and Canada who is at least eighteen (18) years old at the time of entry and who either has written and published a book or currently is writing a book. Employees of When Words Count Retreat and other companies associated with the promotion of the Contest, and their respective parents, subsidiaries, affiliates and advertising and promotion agencies as well as the immediate family (spouse, parents, siblings, and children) and household members of each such employee are not eligible. Void in Puerto Rico and wherever prohibited by law. (To prove authorship of a book, published-author entrants may be required to provide The Sponsor, through the official Sweepstakes Entry Form) with a direct link to where his or her title is currently being offered for sale on a well-known book retailing website (i.e., Amazon, Smashwords, Barnes and Noble, etc.). Said link must lead to information identifying the entrant as the work’s author. To prove active development of a book, non-published author entrants may be required to provide The Sponsor, through the official Sweepstakes Entry Form, or other means, with a one-page synopsis of the work in progress, the book’s working title and a sample chapter of the book — uploaded in a single, electronic file.)
3. HOW TO ENTER:
Enter The Sweepstakes on-line by filling out the official entry form at http://funnels.whenwordscountretreat.com/holiday_sweepstakes or by clicking on ads found within Facebook.
4. AGREEMENT TO OFFICIAL RULES:
Participation in the Sweepstakes constitutes entrant’s full and unconditional agreement to, and acceptance of, these Official Rules and the decisions of the Sponsor, which are final and binding. Winning a prize is contingent upon being compliant with the Official Rules and fulfilling all other requirements set forth herein.
5. CONTEST PERIOD:
The Contest begins at 12:00 a.m. EDT on Friday, November 21st, 2014 and ends at 11:59 p.m. EDT on December 25th, 2014 (the Contest Period). Entries that are submitted before or after the Contest Period will be disqualified. Submissions will be accepted for the duration of the Contest using any of the following methods: Online.
6. ONE ENTRY PER HOUSEHOLD:
Limit: one (1) entry per person and per household, through the official website entry form, for the duration of the Contest Period, regardless of method of entry. If we receive multiple entries on the official entry form from an individual or household (even if entered under separate and distinct, email addresses or phone numbers) then all entries from that individual or household shall be disqualified. Entries received from any person, email address or household in excess of the stated limit will be void. All entries become the property of the Sponsor and will not be acknowledged or returned.
7. SELECTION OF THE WINNERs
Winner selection shall occur between Midnight on December 24th, 2014 and on or about 5:00 p.m. December 25th, 2014. 150 Prize winners shall be selected by The Sponsor who shall have sole discretion in selecting a judge; but no ineligible individual or employee of an Ineligible Individual may be selected. The judge who pulls the winning names will be the official conductor of the drawing. The judge’s decisions are final and binding in all respects. By participating, entrants agree to abide by, and be bound by, the Official Rules and the decisions of the judge. Actual means of notification to be determined by Sponsor in its sole discretion.
8. ROOM AVAILABILITY
Room reservations may be secured on a first-come, first-served basis by any verified winner who has properly claimed his prize by the Prize-Claim deadline, submitting a completed online Declaration of Compliance (Consi sting of an Affidavit of Eligibility and a Publicity Release form.) To reserve a Prize Room for the number of nights and guests preferred, all third-place prize winners or any winner who intends to bring a guest, must provide the Sponsor, by the Prize-Claim deadline, with a valid credit card number and authorize the Sponsor to charge the card for an amount equal to 50% of the billable cost of the booking. Winners will have until the Reservation Deadline to select and secure their dates. Should the winner fail to arrive at the retreat on his or her designated arrival date, the full deposit shall be treated as a non-refundable deposit to partially offset the cost for the unused food and to compensate the Sponsor for the lost use of the room – as well as for preventing the Sponsor from assigning the room to an alternate winner, and any remain balance shall be due and payable. The winner may still arrive the following day and enjoy the remaining portion of his Grand Prize offering. Upon arrival, winners who have outstanding balances due, shall be required to pay those balances, including VT’s 9% sales tax and a 17% gratuity on meal service before occupying their rooms. No VT sales tax will be charged for the free room or board portion of any prize. Rooms Available: Two (2) deluxe rooms (The Twain and the Fitzgerald) and four (4) Premium Rooms: the Hemingway, Miller, Dickinson and Ellison will be available to winners for booking throughout the Prize Period. No bookings will be accepted for the Thanksgiving Holiday Weekend, November 21 to November 23rd. Check-in is between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. (Check out is between 11 a.m. and Noon.) Prizes are NOT TRANSFERRABLE to any third party. However, each winner may invite one guest to join him or her and share the Prize room.
10. CANCELLATIONS.
Any sweepstakes winner who cancels his reserved prize date and provides at least 14 days advanced, written notice shall receive a one-year credit for the amount of any payments made. The credit shall be good for one year from the date of notification, but the winner shall forfeit the remaining value of his or her prize. Any winner who cancels his or her prize reservation or fails to show up for his or her reserved prize date shall forfeit his or her deposit and/or prize and any unpaid balance shall be considered IMMEDIATELY due and payable.
11. ODDS OF WINNING
Odds of winning the Grand Prize is 1 divided by the total number of eligible entries received. Odds of winning the Second Place prize is 2 divided by the total number of eligible entries received, minus 1 (the Grand-Prize winner). Odds of winning a third-place prize is 50, divided by the total number of eligible entries received, minus 3 (the grand prize and second place prize winners).
12. SWEEPSTAKES WINNER NOTIFICATIONS
Winners shall be notified at least once, on December 25th, 2014, by phone and e-mail. The Sponsor also will post a complete list of winners’ names (First initial, last name, State/Province and prize level won) on its Facebook Page at www.facebook.com/whenwordscountretreat on or about December 25th, 2014. Contestants who do not find an email notification in their inboxes may visit the Facebook page to look for a name similar to theirs and then recheck their email inboxes and spam folders to determine if they are, indeed, among the Prize Winners.
13. WINNER’S RESPONSIBILITIES
Prize winners will be required (except where prohibited by law) to claim their prizes by completing electronically or otherwise signing an Affidavit of Eligibility/Liability Release and a Publicity Release (collectively known as a “Declaration of Compliance”) and by completing the winner claims form and paying their meal service/room-hold deposit, by no later than 11:59 p.m. EST, January 1st, 2014. Prizes may be awarded to alternate winners if the winner fails to complete these steps by any means provided on or through the Sweepstakes Claim Page, or if the prize notification email (containing the link to the claims form page) should be returned to the Sponsor as undeliverable. Winners cannot claim their prize and/or book a stay at the retreat as a winning sweepstakes contestant without first fully completing and successfully submitting the Sponsor’s First Anniversary Sweepstakes Claim Form.
14. LIABILITY RELEASE
By participating, entrants agree, and by accepting prize, winners agree, to release and hold harmless When Words Count Press, LLC, of Baltimore, MD and all of its affiliate and subsidiary companies (Including without limitation, When Words Count Retreat, of Rochester, VT, and their affiliates, agents and subsidiaries, and the officers, directors, shareholders, agents and employees of any of the above entities organizations from any and all liability, loss or damage incurred by participating in these Sweepstakes and/or the awarding, receipt, acceptance, possession or use/misuse of the Prize.
15. MODIFICATION
Sponsor reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to modify, cancel, postpone, delay, suspend and/or terminate this Sweepstakes game in whole or in part in the event that the Sweepstakes game is not capable of running as planned or as intended by these Official Rules by reason of any of the technical or other disabling causes as described in Rule 4 above or other causes that, in the sole discretion of the Sponsor, impair, corrupt or interrupt the administration, fairness, security or integrity or proper play of the Sweepstakes game, including without limitation, hurricane, fire, flood, epidemic, earthquake, explosion, labor dispute or strike, act of God or public enemy, war, terrorist threat or activity or insurrection. In the event of cancellation, Sponsor shall award the Sweepstakes Prize (or a prize of equal or greater value) in a random drawing from all eligible, non-suspect entries received as of the time of cancellation. Sweepstakes are initially provided by Sponsor to entrant under the name “The When Words Count Retreat 1st Anniversary Sweepstakes” but the name of the Sweepstakes is subject to change at the discretion of the Sponsor and any such name change shall be posted along with the rules at www.whenwordscountretreat.com/first-anniversary-sweepstakes/ . Additional companies or organizations may join in sponsoring the Sweepstakes and such additions shall likewise be posted at www.whenwordscountretreat.com/first-anniversary-sweepstakes/.
16. NOT SPONSORED BY FACEBOOK.
This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook. You understand that you are providing your information to When Words Count Press, LLC and not to Facebook. The information you provide will only be used to send you promotional e-mails, if you opt-in to receive more information.