Sheridan Creative Writing Contest

OFFICIAL CONTEST ENTRY RULES FOR SHERIDAN’S CREATIVE WRITING CONTEST

This contest is open to Ontario High School students and recent graduates interested in the Sheridan College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning’s Creative Writing & Publishing Honours Bachelor Degree (the “Sponsor”). The rules of the contest will be interpreted and subject to Canadian federal, provincial, municipal, and local laws and regulations. Void where prohibited. No purchase necessary to enter or win.

“Sheridan Creative Writing Contest” (the “Contest”) is administered by the Honours Bachelor of Creative Writing & Publishing (the “Sponsor”). Any questions, comments or complaints regarding the Contest should be directed to the Sponsor at sheridancreativewritingcontest@gmail.com, Attn: Owen Percy, Program Coordinator. By participating in the Contest, each contestant (the “Contestant”) agrees to be legally bound by these Official Contest Entry Rules (the “Rules”) and acknowledges having read these Rules.

1. CONTEST OVERVIEW

Participants are required to submit an original piece of writing suitable for the following prompt:

• Write a piece of creative writing (short story, creative non-fiction, poetry, script, etc.) under 1000 words in length in which a problem or conflict is solved in an unexpected way.

2. CONTEST PERIOD

The Contest is run by the Sponsor and will begin on October 21, 2024, at 12:01 a.m. ET and end on December 1, 2024 at 11:59 p.m. ET (the “Contest Period”), with three winners selected. Submissions will be judged by upper-year students in the Creative Writing & Publishing program. Winners will be notified by email and/or text message. First prize is $500 or the equivalent in a gift card; second and third prizes are $250 or the equivalent in a gift card. The Sponsor reserves its right to cancel, terminate, modify, amend, extend, or suspend the Contest.

3. ELIGIBILITY

To win the Prize (as defined below), the Contestant must, at the time of the draw:

1. Be currently enrolled in an Ontario high school, or have graduated from one in the last two years.
2. Have completed all requirements listed below in Paragraph 3 - How to Enter the Contest.
3. Be at least 18 years of age, or if the Contestant is not of the legal age (i.e. 18 years) (“Minor”), the parent/guardian of the Minor must have read and agreed to these Rules on behalf of the Minor.
4. Have agreed to comply with applicable laws (including but not limited to libel and obscenity), assume responsibility for their activities, and not to harass, disrupt, abuse, or invade the privacy rights of others;
5. Have read and accepted, and agreed to comply with these Rules, and with the Privacy and Legal Statement for Sponsor found at https://www.sheridancollege.ca/privacy-legal.

4. HOW TO ENTER THE CONTEST

Participants must submit their work using the online submission form. They must submit work in a single file in .doc, .docx, or .pdf format. They must include their name and the title of the work at the top of the uploaded file.

Further Details:

1. Entries must be received between the hours of 12:01 a.m. ET on the first day of the Contest Period and ending at 11:59 p.m. ET on the last day of the Contest Period.
2. All entries must be submitted using the online submission form.
3. Entries will be captured throughout the contest period.
4. To be considered an eligible entry, Sponsor reserves the right to vet entries based on consistency with the Sponsor’s policies and procedures.
5. No purchase necessary to be considered an eligible entry, but the Contestant must follow the participation requirements to be entered into the Contest.

All entries may be subject to verification at any time. Sponsor reserves the right, in their sole discretion, to require proof of identity and/or eligibility (in a form acceptable to the Sponsor) to participate in the Contest. Failure to provide such proof in a timely manner may result in disqualification. The Sponsor will not be responsible for late, lost, illegible, falsified, damaged, untagged, misdirected, mutilated, garbled or incomplete entries, which will be void.

By entering the Contest, submitting an entry and providing your contact information, each Contestant: (i) allows the Sponsor to record the Contestant’s name, ID number, e-mail address, department/program of study; and publicly share the Contestant’s name, high school affiliation, and the title/content of their submission; and (ii) agrees to release and hold harmless the Sponsor, its affiliates, advertising and promotional agencies, suppliers of materials or services related to the Contest and all of their respective shareholders, directors, officers, employees and agents from and against any and all claims including but not limited to claims based on publicity rights, defamation, invasion of privacy, copyright infringement, trade-mark infringement, breach of contract or any other intellectual property related cause of action that relate in any way to the sharing of this information on any social media channel subscribed to by the Sponsor; (iii) gives the Sponsor consent to contact them in any way about future Sponsor events, contests and promotions; and (iv) grants the Sponsor consent to use the Contestant’s Contest-related posts on the Sponsor’s website and/or social media accounts.

5. PRIZES

Prizes of $500, $250 and $250 will be delivered in the form of an electronic transfer upon submission of an honorarium and direct deposit form, or in the form of a gift card of equivalent value.

Redeeming is subject to the regular operating days of the Sponsor. The Prize shall be planned according to the availability of the Sponsor, at the sole discretion of the Sponsor. All Prize winners must be set and/or approved by the Sponsor at the Sponsor’s sole discretion.

The Sponsor may in its discretion substitute the Prize for another prize which is, in its opinion, of equal or greater value. Any additional costs not described in these Rules as part of the Prize that are incurred in collecting and using the Prize are the Prize Winner’s responsibility.

Additional Prizes may be added throughout the Contest period in which case they will be announced on the program’s Instagram page. Prizes will be sent out via bank transfer or post within 3 months of the winner being notified of winning the Prize.

Prizes are non-transferable and must be accepted as awarded, without substitution.

6. WINNER SELECTION PROCESS

The Prize Winner’s will be notified via email and/or text (using the information provided to the Sponsor during the Contest entry processes) and the Prize Winner’s must respond within 48 business hours of transmission, or they may be disqualified (and will forfeit all rights to the Prize). In the event that a Contestant who submitted the winning entry does not respond within the 48-hour period, the Sponsor reserves the right, in its sole and absolute discretion, to select an alternate winning Contestant from among the remaining eligible entries (in which case the foregoing provisions of this section shall apply to such new selected Contestant).

The Prize Winner will receive the Prize via electronic transfer or post. The odds of winning depend on the total number of eligible entries received.

In order to be declared a Prize Winner or win any Prize, a selected Contestant must, in addition to meeting the Contest eligibility criteria, correctly answer a time-limited, mathematical skill-testing question without the assistance of any kind, whether electronic or otherwise.

7. GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS

1. By participating in the Contest, each Contestant warrants and represents that the entry submitted by the Contestant:
   1. Is original to the Contestant and that the Contestant has all necessary rights in and to the entry and image, photo, meme, video or multimedia content to enter the Contest;
   2. Confirms that the image, photo, meme, video or multimedia content is of the Contestant or was taken by the Contestant for the purposes and submission of this Contest. If the image, photo, meme, video or multimedia content contains other individuals, the Contestant confirms that they have received consent from each individual who appears in the image, photo, meme, video or multimedia content for use of this Contest.
   3. Will not give rise to any claims of infringement, invasion of privacy or publicity, or infringe on any rights and/or interest of any third party, or give rise to any claims whatsoever; and
   4. In the event of any discrepancy or inconsistency between the terms and conditions of these Rules and disclosures or other statements contained in any contest-related materials, the terms and conditions of these Rules shall govern.
2. No liability: The Sponsor will not be liable for:
   1. Any failure of the Sponsor’s website, Sponsor servers or other sites (including social media sites) during the Contest or award of the Prize;
   2. Any technical malfunction or other problems relating to the telephone network or lines, computer on-line systems, servers, access providers, computer equipment or software;
   3. The failure of any Contest registration or entry to be received by the Sponsor for any reason including, but not limited to, technical problems or traffic congestion on the internet or at any website;
   4. Any injury or damage to a Contestant’s, or any other person’s computer related to or resulting from participating or downloading any material in the Contest; or
   5. Any claims based on an alleged misrepresentation, negligence, defamation, breach of privacy, right of publicity infringement or an infringement of any applicable privacy legislation.
3. Acceptance of Prizes
   1. The costs of everything not specifically stated as included in the Prizes are the sole responsibility of the Prize Winner; and
   2. If the Prize Winner does not utilize any part(s) of his/her Prize, then any such part(s) not utilized will be forfeited in their entirety and nothing will be substituted in their place.
4. Termination of Contest: The Sponsor reserves the right, in its sole and absolute discretion, to void any entry and/or withdraw, suspend, amend or terminate this Contest in whole or in part (or to amend these rules) in any way at any time without prior notice (but subject to applicable law), in the event of an error, technical problem, computer virus, bugs, tampering, unauthorized intervention, fraud, technical failure or any other cause beyond the reasonable control of the Sponsor that, in the Sponsor’s sole discretion determines, interferes with the proper conduct of this Contest as contemplated by these Rules, or in the event of any accident, printing, administrative, or other error of any kind, or for any other reason. Any attempt to deliberately damage any website or to undermine the legitimate operation of this Contest is a violation of criminal and civil laws and should such an attempt be made, the Contestant will be automatically disqualified and the Sponsor reserves the right to seek remedies and damages to the fullest extent permitted by law. The Sponsor reserves the right, in its sole and absolute discretion, and without prior notice, to adjust any of the dates and/or timeframes stipulated in these Rules, to the extent necessary, for purposes of verifying compliance by any Contestant, entry, or vote with these rules, or as a result of technical problems, or in light of any other circumstances which, in the opinion of the Sponsor, in its sole and absolute discretion, affect the proper administration of the Contest as contemplated in these Rules.
5. Dispute: In the event of a dispute regarding who submitted an entry, entries will be deemed to have been submitted by the Authorized Account Holder of the email address that was used to submit the entry.
6. Personal Information: By entering this Contest, each Contestant expressly consents to the Sponsor, its agents and/or representatives, storing, sharing and using the personal information,  message, text, image(s), photo(s), meme(s), video(s), or multimedia content submitted with his/her entry only for the purpose of administering the Contest and in accordance with Sponsor’s privacy policy https://www.sheridancollege.ca/privacy-legal unless the Contestant otherwise specifies by giving the Sponsor notice in writing. All winning entries remain the property of the Contestant.
7. All third parties are completely released of all liability by each Contestant in this Contest. Any questions, comments or complaints regarding the Contest must be directed to the Sponsor and not to any third party.

8. MATHEMATICAL SKILL-TESTING QUESTION

Please answer the following:

20 x 2, then divide by 5, then add 2, then x 10

Answer: _________________________________

I, _______________________, (Contestant) warrant that I answered this mathematical skill-testing question without the assistance of any kind (subject to AODA requirements), whether electronic or otherwise.

9. PARENTAL/GUARDIAN DECLARATION OF CONSENT FOR MINORS

If the Contestant is not of the legal age (18 years) (“Minor”), the parent/guardian must provide consent:

I, Parent/ Guardian of the “Minor” hereby, on behalf of the Minor and his/her executors, successors and assigns, have reviewed this application, read and understand these Rules, and consent to having the Minor participate in this Contest.

_________________________________
Parent/ Guardian Name