July 10, 2009
Hey, middle and high school teachers--have your class participate in the Newsday In Education (NIE) WICKED Essay Contest! For this contest, have your students each write a 1,000 word essay that tells the "untold story" of famous fictional literary characters, just like WICKED tells the "Untold Story of the Witches of Oz". You'll enter the best student essay that you receive. Out of all entries submitted by teachers, we'll choose two grand-prize winners (one middle school & one high school) and three runners-up. Each grand-prize winner will have highlights of his or her essay published on the Newsday In Education website. The grand-prize winners will also each receive a pair of tickets to see WICKED on Sunday, October 26th, a pair of tickets for the WICKED Fifth Anniversary Benefit and party on Monday, October 27th, and a hotel room for two nights. Get more details on the contest and prizes by reading the rules below. This contest expires September 30, 2008.
Click here for the form to fill out and include with the best student essay!
Official Rules
NO PURCHASE IS NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN.
Wicked Essay Contest (the "Contest") starts on September 10, 2008 and ends on September 30, 2008 ("Contest Period").
ELIGIBILITY: Contest is open to legal residents of New York who reside in Nassau, Suffolk or Queens county, who are enrolled in an accredited private or public middle school or high school. Children of employees of Newsday ("Sponsor"), WICKED LLC, and their respective parents, subsidiaries, affiliates, and promotion and advertising agencies, and members of their immediate family (spouse and parent, children and siblings and their respective spouses, regardless of where they reside) and persons living in the same household, whether or not related, of such employees, are not eligible to enter or win. Void outside the counties listed and where prohibited by law. A minor should have his/her parent's or legal guardian's permission to enter. Contest is subject to all applicable federal, state and local laws.
HOW TO ENTER: During the Contest Period, visit www.Newsday.com/nie, click on the Contest icon and print out the entry form. Complete the entry form and mail it, along with your essay of 1,000 words or less that tells the "untold story" of famous fictional literary characters (collectively, "Entry), in an envelope with proper postage affixed to: Newsday in Education, 235 Pinelawn Road, Melville, NY 11747. All Entries must be received by September 30, 2008. Limit one (1) Entry per class. Entries received from any person or class in excess of the stated limitation will be void. All Entries become the sole property of the Sponsor and will not be returned.
Entry must (i) be entrant's own original work, (ii) be legibly hand written or typed, (iii) be in English, (iv) not have been previously published or submitted in connection with any other contest, (v) be in keeping with the Sponsor's image and (vi) not be offensive or inappropriate, as determined by the Sponsor in its sole discretion, nor can it defame or invade publicity rights or privacy of any person, living or deceased, or otherwise infringe upon any person's personal or property rights or any other third party rights. Sponsor reserves the right to disqualify any Entry that it determines, in its sole discretion, is offensive or inappropriate, not in keeping with Sponsor's image or that is otherwise not in compliance with these Official Rules.
JUDGING: All eligible Entries received by Sponsor will be judged by a panel of qualified judges on or about October 8, 2008 based on the following criteria: story content, 40%, writing style, 30%, punctuation/grammar 30%. In the event of a tie, an additional, "tie-breaking" judge will determine the winners based on the criteria listed herein. Sponsor reserves the right not to award all prizes if, in its sole discretion, it does not receive a sufficient number of eligible and qualified Entries. Prize awards are subject to verification of eligibility and compliance with these Official Rules. Judges' and Sponsor's decisions are final and binding on all matters relating to this Contest.
WINNER NOTIFICATION: Potential winners will be notified by telephone, mail and/or email and may be required to complete an Affidavit of Eligibility, Liability and Publicity Release (unless prohibited by law) and any other documents required by Sponsor, which must be returned within five (5) days of date appearing on prize notification. Return of prize or prize notification as undeliverable, failure to sign and return requested documentation within the specified time period, the inability of Sponsor to contact a potential winner within a reasonable time period or noncompliance with these Official Rules by any potential winner will result in disqualification and, at Sponsor's sole discretion, the prize may be awarded to a runner-up. Sponsor reserves the right to award a prize in the name of any potential minor winner's parent or legal guardian, who will be responsible for fulfilling all requirements imposed on winners set forth herein and the parent or legal guardian of a Grand Prize winner must accompany him/her to all Grand Prize package events. PRIZES: Grand Prize (2) (one (1) middle school winner and one (1) high school winner): Each winner will receive one (1) pair of tickets (2 tickets per pair) to the Sunday matinee, October 26,2008 performance of WICKED, one (1) pair of tickets (2 tickets per pair) to the WICKED 5th Anniversary Benefit scheduled to take place on Monday, October 27, 2008 and two (2) nights' standard hotel accommodations (one (1) room, double occupancy) in a hotel in New York City selected by Sponsor. Each winner will also receive autographed copies of Wicked and Gregory Maguire's latest release, as well as the WICKED cast recording and a WICKED hat. Transportation to and from New York City is not included as part of Grand Prize package. Tickets are subject to certain terms and conditions as specified thereon. Seat locations will be determined by Sponsor. Winner and guest must comply with all venue rules and regulations. Failure to do so may result in forfeiture of such portion of prize. In the event Sponsor is unable to provide tickets to the performance or benefit event or the performance or benefit event is cancelled for whatever reason or if the winner is unable to attend the performance or the benefit event, no compensation or substitution will be provided in lieu thereof; however, remainder of prize package will be awarded and Sponsor will have no further obligation to winner. Approximate Retail Value ("ARV"): $90.95 each. FIRST PRIZE (3): Each winner will receive autographed copies of Wicked and Gregory Maguire's latest release, as well as the WICKED cast recording and a WICKED hat. ARV: $90.95. TEACHER PRIZE (6) (one (1) per winner): The teacher designated on the entry form will receive a copy of the book, Wicked. ARV: $16.00 each. Total ARV of all prizes: $3,444.75. Three (3) Runners Up will also receive autographed copies of Wicked and Gregory Maguire's latest release, as well as the WICKED cast recording and a WICKED hat. Prizes are awarded "as is" with no warranty or guarantee, either express or implied by Sponsor. Winners may not substitute, assign or transfer a prize or redeem prize for cash, but Sponsor reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to substitute a prize (or portion thereof) with one of comparable or greater value. Winners are responsible for all applicable federal, state and local taxes, if any, as well as any other costs and expenses associated with prize acceptance and use not specified herein as being provided, including any costs of transportation, meals and gratuities for Grand Prize. All prize details are at Sponsor's sole discretion.
GENERAL CONDITIONS: By participating, each entrant (and, if an eligible minor, his/her parent or legal guardian) agrees: (a) to abide by these Official Rules and decisions of Sponsor and judges, which shall be final and binding in all respects relating to this Contest; (b) to release, discharge and hold harmless Sponsor, WICKED LLC, and their respective parents, affiliates, subsidiaries, and advertising and promotion agencies, and the respective officers, directors, shareholders, employees, agents and representatives of the forgoing (collectively, "Released Parties") from any and all injuries, liability, losses and damages of any kind to persons, including death, or property resulting, in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, from entrant's participation in the Contest or the acceptance, possession, use or misuse of any awarded prize (including any travel/activity related thereto); and (c) to the use of his/her name, voice, performance, photograph/video, image and/or likeness for programming, advertising, publicity and promotional purposes in any and all media, now or hereafter known, worldwide and on the Internet, and in perpetuity by Sponsor and its designees, without compensation (unless prohibited by law) or additional consents from entrant or any third party and without prior notice, approval or inspection, and to execute specific consent to such use if asked to do so. By participating, entrant (and, if an eligible minor, his/her parent or legal guardian) also agrees not to release any publicity or other materials on their own or through someone else regarding their participation in the Contest without the prior consent of the Sponsor, which it may withhold in its sole discretion.
OWNERSHIP/USE OF ENTRIES: By submitting an Entry, each entrant (and, if an eligible minor, his/her parent or legal guardian) agrees Sponsor shall own the Entry submitted (including all rights embodied therein) and that it and its designees may exploit, edit, modify, and distribute the Entry and all elements of such Entry, including, without limitation, the names and likenesses of any persons or locations embodied therein, in any and all media now known or hereafter devised, worldwide, in perpetuity without compensation, permission or notification to entrant or any third party.
MISCELLANEOUS: Released Parties are not responsible for lost, late, incomplete, damaged, inaccurate, illegible, stolen, delayed, misdirected, undelivered, or postage-due Entries or mail; or for errors or difficulties of any kind, whether technical, mechanical, printing, typographical, human or otherwise, which may occur in connection with the administration of the Contest, the processing or judging of Entries, the announcement of the prizes, or in any Contest-related materials. Persons who tamper with or abuse any aspect of the Contest or website, who act in an unsportsmanlike or disruptive manner or who are in violation of these Official Rules, as solely determined by Sponsor, will be disqualified and all associated Entries will be void. Should any portion of the Contest be, in Sponsor's sole opinion, compromised by non-authorized human intervention or other causes which, in the sole opinion of the Sponsor, corrupt or impair the administration, security, fairness or proper play, or submission of Entries, Sponsor reserves the right at its sole discretion to suspend, modify or terminate the Contest and, if terminated, at its discretion, select the potential winners from all eligible, non-suspect Entries received prior to action taken using the judging procedure outlined above. CAUTION: ANY ATTEMPT TO DELIBERATELY DAMAGE THE WEBSITE OR UNDERMINE THE LEGITIMATE OPERATION OF THE CONTEST MAY BE IN VIOLATION OF CRIMINAL AND CIVIL LAWS AND SHOULD SUCH AN ATTEMPT BE MADE, SPONSOR RESERVES THE RIGHT TO SEEK DAMAGES AND OTHER REMEDIES (INCLUDING ATTORNEYS' FEES) FROM ANY SUCH INDIVIDUAL TO THE FULLEST EXTENT OF THE LAW, INCLUDING CRIMINAL PROSECUTION.
REQUEST FOR WINNERS' LIST: For a list of winners (available November 1, 2008 November 30, 2008), visit www.newsday.com/education.
Sponsor: Newsday, 235 Pinelawn Road, Melville, NY 11747 - WICKED, LLC.
