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fearless contest official rules

    1. Eligibility:

    The Fearless Contest (the “Contest”) is open to legal residents of Canada and the United States who sign up at storybilder.com/contest/fearless or a similar Contest related link. Entrants must be 13 years of age or older as of their date of entry in this promotion in order to qualify. The Contest is subject to federal, state, provincial, and local laws and regulations and void where prohibited by law. StoryBilder Ltd.’s employees, its subsidiaries, affiliates, suppliers, partners, advertising and promotion agencies, and directors (collectively the “Employees”), as well as members of an Employees' immediate family and/or those living in the same household of Employees are ineligible to participate in the Contest.  This document represents the definitive official rules of the Sponsor for the Contest (the “Official Rules"), and takes priority over any verbal or written representations made by the Sponsor. The Official Rules are subject to change at the Sponsor’s discretion. There may be significant changes to the Official Rules before the Entry Date (defined below).

    1. Sponsorship:

    The sponsor is StoryBilder, Ltd. (“Sponsor”), located in Ontario, Canada and can be contacted at contest@storybilder.com. Sponsor will conduct the Contest substantially as described in these Official Rules. The co-sponsor is Writer’s Desk (“Co-Sponsor”), located in Denver, Colorado, USA. The Co-Sponsor will adjudicate portions of the judging process, as described below.

    1. Agreement to Rules:

    By entering the Contest, the Entrant (the “Entrant”, or “You”) agrees to abide by the Official Rules and the Sponsor’s decisions, which are fully and unconditionally binding in all respects. The Sponsor reserves the right to refuse, withdraw, or disqualify any entry at any time at the Sponsor’s sole discretion. By entering the Contest, You represent and warrant that You are eligible to participate based on eligibility requirements explained in the Official Rules. You also agree to accept the decisions of the Sponsor as final and binding as it relates to the content of the Contest. If You are below the age of majority in your jurisdiction, You agree to only participate in the Contest if you have the consent of Your parent(s) or legal guardian.

    1. Contest Entry Period:

    The entry period for the Contest begins on October 1, 2022 at 12:01 AM Eastern Standard Time and ends on October 31, 2022 at 11:59 PM Eastern Standard Time (“Entry Period”). To be eligible for the Contest, entries must be received within the specified Entry Period. The judging period begins November 1, 2022 at 09:00 AM Eastern Standard Time (“Judging Period”) and ends January 11, 2023. The public voting periods begin on November 1, 2022 at 12:01 AM and end January 11, 2023 at 11:59pm. The Entry Period and Judging Period dates may be changed at the Sponsor’s discretion.

    1. How to Enter:

    Eligible entrants can enter the Contest by submitting an original, previously unpublished work of prose fiction between 500 and 1500 words in length on the theme of either “fear” or "fearlessness" via the online form provided at www.storybilder.com/contest/submit or a similar Contest related link (the “Entry Materials” or “Stories”). As a participant, your entry must fully meet all Contest requirements, as specified in the Official Rules, in order to be eligible to win a prize. Incomplete entries or those that do not adhere to the Official Rules or specifications will be disqualified at the Sponsor's sole discretion.

    Participants may enter only once and may submit only one (1) short story. Multiple entries will result in disqualification. All participants will be automatically entered for the Grand Prize track. Participation in the Public Voting Prize track is optional.

    In addition, participants will be categorized according to age, with three available categories: Youth, for participants aged 13-15; Teen, for participants aged 16- 18; and Adult, for participants aged 19+. Each age category will compete for its own Grand Prize, Honorable Mention Prizes, and Public Voting Prize.

    Entries in the “Grand Prize” track will be judged without the Entrant’s name and personal details visible to the judges and winners will be selected through a private judging process. Entries in the “Public Voting” track will be published on the StoryBilder website where they can be read and liked by the public at large. Judging for the Public Voting Prizes will occur in three parts for each age category: the top 25 Stories will be selected by the judges, followed by public voting in two rounds, as defined in section 9.

    Prizes are awarded in each age category and associated track separately, and are separate prize pools. Participants who choose to compete in both tracks are eligible to win both prizes in their age category. 

    Fraudulent methods of entry or circumvention of the Official Rules may result in the Sponsor invalidating your entries and removing them from the Contest at the Sponsor’s sole discretion.

    1. Exclusions and Code of Conduct:

    Stories that describe sex of any kind, gratuitous torture and abuse, gratuitous acts of violence based on race, gender or sexual orientation, disability or physical appearance are not permitted.

    Fan Fiction is not permitted.

    To learn more about our community guidelines and philosophy, read our Code of Conduct. Stories that do not conform to our Code of Conduct are not permitted.

    1. Cost to Enter:

    There are no entry fees, and no purchase is necessary to participate in the Contest. Participants must comply with the requirements of the Official Rules to enter.

    1. Prizes:

    The Winner(s) of the Contest (the “Winner”) will receive cash prizes and publication consideration as follows:

    One Grand Prize shall be awarded in each age cateory. The Grand Prizes consist of $1,000.00 USD (adult category), $750.00 USD (teen category), and $500.00 USD (youth category), plus featured publication on the (“www.storybilder.com”) for a minimum of 90 days.

    In addition, three Honorable Mention prizes will be awarded in each age category. The Honorable Mention prizes consist of $200.00 USD (adult category), $100.00 USD (teen category), and $50.00 USD (youth category, plus featured publication on the (“www.storybilder.com”) for a minimum of 90 days.

    The retail value of the featured publication is difficult to value. The retail value of the featured publication is difficult to value so no estimation is proved here.

    One Public Voting Prize will be awarded in each age category. The Public Voting Prizes consist of $500.00 USD (adult category), $300.00 USD (teen category), and $150.00 (youth category) and featured publication on the  (“www.storybilder.com”) for a minimum of 90 days. The retail value of the featured publication is difficult to value so no estimation is provided here.

    The prize(s) shall be determined solely by the Sponsor and is subject to change. There shall be no cash or other prize substitution permitted except at the Sponsor’s discretion. The prize is non-transferable. The Winner, upon acceptance of the prize, is solely responsible for all expenses related to the prize, including without limitation any and all local, provincial, state, and federal taxes. The Winner shall not transfer assignment of the prize to others nor shall the Winner request the cash equivalent or prize substitution. By accepting the prize, the selected Winner grants permission for the Sponsor and Co-Sponsor to use the Winner’s likeness, entry, and name for purposes of advertising and trade without further compensation unless prohibited by law. Prizes may be paid out in a Canadian dollar equivalent at the discretion of the Sponsor.

    If the Grand Prize Winner resides in the United States, they must provide the Sponsor with a valid Social Security number or taxpayer-identification number before the Sponsor can award the prize. A Form 1099 will be issued to Grand Prize winner

    1. Selection and Notification of Winner:

    The Grand Prize Winners and Honorable Mention Prize Winners will be selected by the Sponsor and Co-Sponsor, who will assess Stories on the basis of writing quality, writing style, interpretation of theme, and originality, under the supervision of the Sponsor.  The judges will not be provided identifying information about the Entrant and will only be presented their Entry Materials.

    The Public Voting Prize Winners will be selected through a two-part process. The Sponsor and Co-Sponsor will pre-select 25 semi-finalists to be announced on the StoryBilder website on December 1, 2022 at 9 am Eastern Standard Time. Stories will be assessed on the basis of popularity, writing style, interpretation of theme, and originality, under the supervision of the Sponsor.

    Semi-finalists’ Stories will be featured on https://storybilder.com/contest/fearless, or a similar Contest related link (the “Contest Microsite”), and visitors to the Contest Microsite will be able to vote on Semi-finalists’ Stories commencing on December 1, 2022 at 9 am Eastern Standard Time. The “Semi-Finalist Voting Round” will end on December 24, 2022 at 11:59 pm Eastern Standard Time.

    The top ten (10) finalists will be announced on December 25, 2022 Eastern Standard Time, and will be determined based on which ten (10) Stories had the highest votes in the Semi-Finalist Voting Round. A similar voting process will be conducted with the top ten (10) finalist Stories to choose a winner. Accrued votes will be reset to zero. Public voting in the “Finalist Voting Round” will commence on December 25, 2022 Eastern Standard time and end on January 11, 2023 at 11:59 pm Eastern Standard Time. The Winners will be the Entrants in each age category whose story had the highest votes in the Finalist Voting Round.

    The Sponsor will notify the Winner(s) of the Finalist Voting Round and the Grand Prize once by email within ten (10) days following Winner selection. The Sponsor and Co-Sponsor is for Winner’s failure to receive notices due to email security settings that may cause notifications to be marked as spam or junk email. Sponsor and Co-Sponsor shall not be liable for the Winner’s provision of incorrect or otherwise non-functioning contact information. If the Winner 1) fails to claim the prize within thirty (30) days from the time the award notification was sent, 2) is found ineligible, or 3) does not complete and return an executed declaration and release within the specified timeframe, the prize may be forfeited and an alternate Winner may be selected. Receipt of the prize (offered in the Contest) by the Winner is upon the condition of compliance with any and all federal, state, provincial, and local laws and regulations. Winner will be required to sign a release before being eligible to receive a prize. If the Winner is below the age of majority in their jurisdiction (a “Minor”), the Sponsor may require a Winner’s parent or legal guardian to claim prizes or fulfil any Contest requirement to claim a prize on the Winner’s behalf. IF THE WINNER OR THEIR PARENT OR LEGAL GUARDIAN, VIOLATES ANY OF THE OFFICIAL RULES, THE WINNER (AT THE SPONSOR’S SOLE DISCRETION) WILL BE DISQUALIFIED, AND ALL PRIVILEGES AS WINNER WILL BE IMMEDIATELY TERMINATED.

    1. Odds:

    The Winner(s) is/are selected based on the quality of their story submitted, judged in a manner described in Section 9. The more Stories submitted to the Contest the less likely any individual Entrant is likely to win.

    1. Rights Granted by You:

    By submitting an entry (text, video, photo, etc.) into the Contest, You understand and agree that the Sponsor and Co-Sponsor, any individual acting on the Sponsor’s and Co-Sponsor’s behalf, and the licensees successors, and assigns of the Sponsor and Co-Sponsor shall, where permitted by law, have the right to print, publish, broadcast, distribute and use in any media known now or hereafter developed, in perpetuity, worldwide, and without limitation, your name, photo, portrait, voice, likeness, image, statements about the Contest, and your biographical information for news, publicity, advertising, promotional purposes, trade, information, and public relations without any further notice, review, consent, compensation, or remuneration.

    The Entry Material must be original work and not violate anyone’s proprietary or intellectual property rights. Any Entry Material found to plagiarize or otherwise violate another’s intellectual property rights will be disqualified and removed from the platform. You shall defend or settle against such claims at your sole expense, and You shall indemnify, defend and hold harmless the and Co-Sponsor from any suit, or legal action, resulting from such claims.

      1. Publishing rights

      In brief:

      1. Participants retain ownership of their work at all times
      2. Stories submitted to the Public Gallery or Grand Prize stories published on (“storybilder.com”) are considered “published” and therefore assign first world publishing rights to StoryBilder
      3. Full publishing Rights for stories submitted to the Public Gallery or Grand Prize Winners published on (“storybilder.com”) go back to the author 90 days after the contest ends.

      Entrants participating in the Public Voting Prize track agree to grant the Sponsor the Internet Publishing License (as defined below).

      Entrants in the Grand Prize track must grant a royalty-free, non-exclusive license to the Sponsor for the purpose of judging the Entry Materials submitted by them and participating in the Contest. For greater clarity, this license does not include reproducing or publishing the Entry Materials to the public. Entrants in the Grand Prize track will be required to grant the Sponsor the Internet Publishing License (defined below) if they wish to claim the prize if they are selected as a Winner.

      Subject to the terms and conditions of this Agreement, the Entrant hereby grants to the Sponsor an exclusive, royalty-free, global, non-transferable (except as otherwise provided for below in this Section), non-sublicensable licence, solely to reproduce, publicly perform, publish a translation of, display, transmit, distribute, and create derivative works of the Work in any and all media whether now or hereafter known or developed and by any and all technologies and means of delivery whether now or hereafter known or devised for the purpose of publishing the Work for the first time (the “Internet Publishing License”), for a period beginning when the Work is submitted to the Sponsor and ending 90 days after the Contest has concluded (the “Internet Exclusive Period”).

      The "Work" is defined as the Entry Materials. After the Internet Exclusive Period has ended, the Entrant may request that their Work is removed from the StoryBilder Website. The Entrant also agrees to waive any moral rights they may have in relation to the Sponsor's use of the Work for the Internet Exclusive Period.

      Except for the licences expressly granted to Sponsor in this Agreement, the Sponsor acknowledges that all right, title, and interest in and to the Work, as well as any modifications or improvements made thereto by Entrant, are owned by the Entrant.

      The Entrant represents and warrants, solely to and for the benefit of the Sponsor, that it owns the Work in connection with the Sponsor’s uses permitted hereunder the Official Rules.

      The Sponsor may only transfer or assign the Internet Publishing License to an affiliate entity.

      1. Terms & Conditions:

      In its sole discretion, the Sponsor reserves the right to modify, suspend, cancel, or terminate the Contest should non-authorized human intervention, a bug or virus, fraud, or other causes beyond the Sponsor’s control, impact or corrupt the security, fairness, proper conduct, or administration of the Contest. The Sponsor, in the event of any of the above issues, may determine the Winner based on all eligible entries received prior to and/or after (if appropriate) the action taken by the Sponsor. Individuals who tamper with or attempt to tamper with the operation or entry process of the Contest or website or violates these Terms & Conditions will be disqualified by the Sponsor in its sole discretion. In its sole discretion, the Sponsor has the right to maintain the integrity of the Contest, to void votes for any reason, including, but not limited to: multiple entries from the same user; multiple entries from the same computer beyond the number allowed by the Official Rules; or the use of bots, macros, scripts, or other technical means for entering or voting. Attempts by any entrant to deliberately damage any website or undermine the legitimate operation of the Contest may be a violation of criminal and civil laws. If any such attempt is made, the Sponsor reserves the right to seek damages to the fullest extent permitted by law.

      1. Limitation of Liability:

      Your entry into the Contest constitutes Your agreement to release, discharge and hold harmless the Sponsor and Co-Sponsor, its departments and agencies, parent, related and affiliated companies, subsidiaries, franchisees, advertising and promotional agencies, counsel, marketing partners, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Tiktok (the "Social Media Platforms") and each of the Social Media Platform's respective directors, officers, employees, shareholders, successors, sponsors, partners, licensees, subsidiaries, agents, artists, advisors, assignees, and all others associated with the administration, development and execution of the Contest and/or the 1) Winner accepting, possessing, using, or misusing of any awarded prize or any portion thereof; 2) any type of technical failure; 3) the unavailability or inaccessibility of any transmissions, phone, or Internet service; 4) unauthorized intervention in any part of the entry process or the Promotion; 5) electronic error or human error in the Promotion administration or the processing of entries; 6) accidental release or publication of materials submitted by the Entrant that the Entrant did not intend to release to the public or grant a license to do so.

      1. Disputes:

      THE CONTEST IS GOVERNED BY THE LAWS OF CANADA AND ONTARIO, WITHOUT RESPECT TO CONFLICT OF LAW DOCTRINES. The Entrant agrees, as a condition of participating in this promotion, that if any disputes cannot be resolved between the Entrant and the Sponsor, and if causes of action arise out of or are connected with the Contest, they shall be individually resolved exclusively before a court located in Ontario having jurisdiction, without resorting to any form of class action. Under no circumstances in any such dispute shall the participant be permitted to obtain awards for, and hereby waives all rights to, punitive, incidental, or consequential damages, including reasonable attorney’s fees, other than participant’s actual out-of-pocket expenses (i.e. costs associated with entering the Contest). The participant waives all rights to have damages multiplied or increased.

      1. Privacy Policy:

      Information submitted with an entry is subject to the Privacy Policy stated on the StoryBilder website. Click here [https://storybilder.com/privacy] to read the Privacy Policy. The Sponsor may use information submitted by the Entrant for the purposes of marketing the Contest and contacting the Entrant to communicate to the Entrant topics regarding the progress of the Contest. The Entrant agrees to these uses and agrees that they are reasonable. The Entrant agrees that the Sponsor may contract them for purposes of the Contest. Any information provided is given to the Sponsor and not the Social Media Platforms.

      Entrants who opt into communications from the Co-sponsor agree to allow the Sponsor to share their name, email address and location data (if provided) with the Co-sponsor. Information shared with the Co-sponsor subject to the Privacy Policy stated on the Writer's Desk website. Click here [https://www.writersdesk.us/privacy-policy] to read their privacy policy. The Co-sponsor may use information submitted by the Entrant for the purposes of marketing the products and services sold by the Co-sponsor.  The Entrant agrees to these uses and agrees that they are reasonable. The Entrant agrees that the Co-sponsor may contact them for marketing purposes. Any information provided is given to the Co-sponsor and not the Social Media Platforms.

      1. Winners List:

      You may obtain a copy of the Winner’s name(s) or a copy of these Official Rules by sending your request via email to contest@storybilder.com. Requests must be postmarked no later than March 1, 2023.

      1. Disclaimer:

      The Contest hosted by StoryBilder, Ltd. is in no way sponsored, endorsed, administered by, or associated with Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, or any other social media platform.

      [last updated: Sept 27, 2022]