Birds & Blooms Backyard Photo Contest (#211) Official Rules

1.  Eligibility: This Contest is open to legal U.S. residents residing in one of the 50 United States or District of Columbia and legal residents of Canada (excluding the Province of Québec) who are 18 years of age or older at time of entry. This Contest is sponsored by RDA Enthusiast Brands, LLC (“Sponsor”), the publisher of Birds & Blooms.  Employees, officers and directors of Sponsor and its parent companies, affiliates, subsidiary companies, judging agents and promotion partners, and their immediate families (parents, children, siblings, spouse) or members of the same household (whether related or not) of such employees/officers/directors are not eligible to participate. Contest is void where prohibited by law or otherwise regulated.

2.  How To Enter: Contest begins at 9:00am Central Time on July 1st, 2019 and ends at 3:00pm Central Time on August 30th, 2019 (the “Deadline Date”). To enter visit https://www.birdsandblooms.com/contests and follow the instructions. All entries must include your full name, address, city, state/province, zip/postal code, telephone number and email address (if you have one). Entries submitted in geographic areas in which the entry is not permissible will be disqualified. If entries do not contain all necessary information, entrant will be disqualified. Please be certain to follow all directions. Sponsor is the official timekeeper for this Contest. In the event the Contest is entered via a mobile device, Message and Data charges may apply.

Entrants will be able to submit photographs in three categories: Best of Birds, Best of Flowers, or Best of Butterflies. Entrants will be required to tell us in at least 50 words where the image was taken, why the photo was chosen, and, if possible, identify the particular species or plant variety in the photo. Digital photos should be at least 5 MB in size with a maximum size of 25 MB, and 300 DPI. Eligible persons can submit one photo per category.

All entries become the property of Sponsor and will not be returned. Each submission must be the original work of entrant and must not infringe the copyright, trademark, privacy, publicity or other rights of any person or entity. By submitting an entry for this Contest, you grant Sponsor, its parent company, subsidiaries, affiliates, partners and licensees all right, title and interest in the submitted entry which includes the right to publish your photo and any other information provided worldwide in all print and electronic media (now or hereafter existing) without time limitation, and the right to include your name and hometown (e.g., city and state) in connection therewith. Sponsor reserves the right to crop, edit, modify, translate, reproduce and distribute the submitted material in any medium and in any manner as it deems appropriate. Sponsor may contact you via phone or email regarding your submission.

3.  Judging: All entries must meet the Contest requirements. A panel of Birds & Blooms staff will review and select 12 semi-finalists (4 in each category) based on the following criteria:

  • Originality: 20%
  • Quality 60%
  • Personality 20%

In the event of a tie, the highest score in the Quality criterion will break the tie.

Voting for Winners: To vote electronically, anyone with an email address may go to www.birdsandblooms.com/contests and vote in accordance with the Voting Terms and Conditions for this Contest. After the 12 semi-finalists are chosen, there will be two user-voting periods. The first voting period will consist of the 12 semi-finalists and will determine one Category Winner for each category. The second voting period will consist of all the Category Winners and will determine a Grand Prize Winner. The first public voting period will be held beginning on or about Nov. 1st, 2019, and ending on or about Nov. 29th, 2019. Users should log onto www.birdsandblooms.com/contests to vote on the 12 semi-finalists, choosing their favorite in each category. The submission that gets the most votes in each category will be the Category Winner and will then go on to the second period to determine the Grand Prize Winner. The second public voting period will be held from about Dec. 2nd, 2019 to Dec. 19th, 2019. Limit one vote per person per category in the first voting period and one vote per person in the second voting period. In the event of technical difficulties, voting dates are subject to change without notice.

4.  Winners and Prizes:  A total of 12 semi-finalists, 3 Category Winners and 1 Grand Prize winner will be selected. The 12 semi-finalists will have their submissions posted on www.birdsandblooms.com/contests and will each receive $50.00. The three Category Winners will receive an additional $100.00 each. The Grand Prize Winner, chosen from the three Category Winners, will receive an additional $1,000.00. Each prize is not transferable and cannot be substituted or assigned by the winner, unless prohibited by law. Sponsor reserves the right to substitute a similar prize of equal or greater value in the event that the stated prize cannot be awarded for any reason. All taxes, if any, are the responsibility of each semi-finalist and winner. Sponsor will not be responsible for any loss, liability or damage arising out of the acceptance or use of any prize(s). All prizes are guaranteed to be awarded, assuming a sufficient number of qualifying entries is received and meet the minimum judging criteria. The total approximate retail value of all prizes in this Contest is $1,900.00.

5.  Selection of Winners:  Semi-finalists will be determined and notified on or about October 15th, 2019 by regular mail and/or email. Category Winners and Grand Prize Winner will be determined and notified on or about December 20th, 2019 by regular mail and/or email. Semi-finalists will be required to execute a Statement of Eligibility, Release and Payment Authorization within 10 days of prize notification attempt or be disqualified and prize may be awarded to an alternate winner. In the event any semi-finalist or winner is a minor in his or her place of residence, all required documentation must be signed by parent or legal guardian. Return of prize or prize notification as undeliverable will result in disqualification and an alternate may be selected. Entry and/or acceptance of prize(s) constitutes permission for the Sponsor and its affiliates, agencies and licensees (if any) to use the entrant’s name, hometown (e.g., city and state) and/or likeness for advertising and trade purposes without further compensation or authorization, worldwide and in perpetuity, in any and all forms of media, now known and hereafter devised, unless prohibited by law.

6.  Conditions:  By entering, participants agree to be bound by these complete Official Rules and Sponsor’s Privacy Policy, accessible at www.tmbi.com/privacy-policy.  Sponsor is not liable for any malfunctions or failures of any telephone network or lines, computer internet system, servers or providers, computer equipment, software, failure of any email on account of technical problems or traffic congestion on the internet or at any website, or any combination thereof, including any injury or damage to participant’s or any other person’s computer, mobile or any other device and/or its contents related to or resulting from participation or downloading/uploading any materials relating to this Contest, or other technical difficulties or failures or other errors of any kind.  Sponsor reserves the right to terminate or modify the Contest at any time for any reason.  In such a circumstance, all semi-finalists and winners will be selected based on entries received to date of termination. Sponsor also reserves the right to modify this Contest in the event an insufficient number of entries are received and/or an insufficient number of entries meet the minimum judging criteria.

In the event that two similar entries are received, only the entry judged to best meet criteria as set by Sponsor will be included in the final judging.  Entrants agree to indemnify Sponsor, its affiliated and subsidiary companies from and against any and all claims and liabilities arising out of or in connection with this Contest. In the event of any dispute regarding the identity of an entrant who submitted an online entry, the authorized account holder of the email address used for the entry at the time of entry will be deemed the entrant. “Authorized account holder” is defined as the natural person who is assigned to an email address by an internet access provider, online service provider, or other organization (e.g. business, educational institute) that is responsible for assigning email address for the domain associated with the submitted email address. Any potential winner may be requested to provide Sponsor with proof that such winner is the authorized account holder of the email address associated with the winning entry. Sponsor, in its sole discretion, reserves the right to disqualify any person tampering with the operation of the website or the entry process.

7.  No Recourse to Judicial or Other Procedures/Severability:  To the extent permitted by law, the rights to litigate, to seek injunctive relief or to make any other recourse to judicial or any other procedure in case of disputes or claims resulting from or in connection with this Contest are hereby excluded, and any entrant expressly waives any and all such rights. In the event that a court of competent jurisdiction finds the foregoing waiver unenforceable, entrants hereby consent to the jurisdiction and venue residing exclusively within the federal or state courts sitting in Milwaukee County in the State of Wisconsin and agree that any and all disputes, claims, and causes of action arising out of or connected with this Contest or any prize awarded shall be resolved individually, without resort to any form of class action. Entrants agree that these Official Rules are governed by the laws of the State of Wisconsin, without reference to principles of conflicts of law. If any provision(s) of these Official Rules are held to be invalid or unenforceable, all remaining provisions hereof will remain in full force and effect.

8.  Anticipated Number of Entrants:  The total number of entrants anticipated nationwide is 7,000.

9.  Winners’ List/Consumer Information:  If you do not want to receive future sweepstakes or skill contest postal mailings from Sponsor, specify your request and write to: Birds & Blooms Backyard Photo Contest (#211) Mailing List, P.O. Box 3125, Harlan, Iowa 51593-0191. To receive a list of winners, write to Birds & Blooms Backyard Photo Contest (#211) Winner List, P.O. Box 50005, Prescott, Arizona 86301-5005. Winners’ list request must be received within one year of the Deadline Date.

Contest Facts
Birds & Blooms Backyard Photo Contest (#211) Prizes Retail Value Number of Prizes Anticipated Number of Entries Final Closing Date
Semi-Finalist Prize Category Winner Prize Grand Prize $50 $100 $1,000 12 3 1 7,000* 7,000* 7,000* 8/30/19
*Depends on the number of eligible entries received. YOU HAVE NOT YET WON. No one will know who the winner is until after the Contest ends. Final Closing Date is the last date entries are accepted. See Official Rules for details. ENTRY IS FREE.
You don’t have to buy anything to enter. Just fill out the Entry Form as directed. You will be entered for the prize(s) offered in this Contest. BUYING WON’T HELP YOU WIN.

Your chances of winning without a purchase are just as good as the chances of someone who buys something.