The Valpak Shop Small® Contest

OFFICIAL CONTEST RULES

 1.         SPONSOR: The Valpak Shop Small® Contest (the “Contest”) is sponsored by Valpak Direct Marketing Systems, Inc., 805 Executive Center Dr W, St Petersburg, FL 33702 (“Valpak” or “Sponsor”).

2.         CONTEST PERIOD: The Contest will begin at 12:01:00 a.m. (EST) on January 30, 2017 and end at 11:59:59 p.m. (EDT) on April 15, 2017.  

3.         ELIGIBILITY: Subject to the additional limitations set forth below, only those individuals who are legal residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia who are eighteen (18) years of age or older, or the age of majority in their state of residence, whichever is older at time of entry may submit entries to nominate an eligible small business.

Contest is not open to employees of Sponsor, American Express (the “Promotional Partner”) or any of their respective parent companies, affiliates, subsidiaries, franchisees and advertising or promotional agencies, or to the immediate family members of, or to any persons domiciled with, any such employees. For purposes of the Contest, “immediate family members” are defined as spouses, children, siblings, parents, grandparents and grandchildren.

An eligible small business must meet the criteria outlined below:

• be a for-profit only organization and a resident of North America;
• have been actively engaged in business activity for at least (6) months immediately preceding the start of the Contest Period;
• have a valid employer identification number or taxpayer identification number;
• ooperate at least 1 but less than 25 retail locations within the United States;
• if business is a franchise or licensee of a brand, it cannot have more than 20 corporate-owned stores or more than 100 stores in total;
• may not be a government agency, public administration organization, political organization, charity, nonprofit, business or trade association, direct seller or shopping property management firm.
• may not be a (a) religious organization; (b) business that manufactures, promotes or sells diet aids, drugs or other pharmaceuticals, pornography, sexual aids, gambling, liquor, tobacco (includes e-cigarettes), firearms or other weapons; (c) business that promotes or advocates for any sensitive or controversial topic, or otherwise participates in activities that Sponsor in its sole discretion determines to be inconsistent with the values of American Express or the Shop Small Movement.

  In addition, Sponsor may in its sole discretion disqualify a small business if Sponsor believes, among other things, it or any of its owners, directors, officers, management or affiliated organizations:

• are, or have at any time been, under any investigation for fraud, misconduct (financial or otherwise) or other criminal activity;
• disparage or denigrate (in writing or otherwise) any race, age, gender, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion, political affiliation, national origin, citizenship, ancestry, marital status, veteran status or mental or physical disability or condition or otherwise discriminates (in an exclusionary way) against any of those groups based solely on being classified as fitting into those groups;
• disparage, denigrate (in writing or otherwise), or act by means of adversarial or confrontational tactics to impact a product, service, person, industry, or organization including, but not limited to the Sponsor;
• participate in the Contest, or otherwise conduct itself, in an unsportsmanlike or inappropriate manner; or
• violate any of the terms of these Contest rules.

 4.         HOW TO ENTER: To enter the Contest, entrants (“Entrants”) are required to visit valpak.com/shopsmall (the “Contest Website”) click on the Contest banner and submit an entry during the Contest Period. User registration or login is required to complete the submission form (“Entry”). As part of the Entry, you will be required to nominate an eligible small business (“Nominee”) and provide responses to the following: (1) What makes this business special to you? (2) How do you feel when you Shop Small here? (3) What’s your favorite item or service here? (4) How do they build strong relationships with their customers and community? Narrative responses must be less than 500 words for each response.

In addition to answering the questions listed above, each Entrant will be required to submit the following information about the Nominee:

• Business Name
• Street Address
• City
• State
• ZIP Code
• Business Type
• Business Website (optional)
• Name of Business Owner (optional)
• Photo (optional)

You must also confirm that you meet the eligibility requirements and read and agree to these Contest rules. Limit one (1) entry per person, per day. Duplicate entries (regardless of whether they are submitted on different days) will be disqualified.

 All entry content must be appropriate for all ages. You represent and warrant that you will not submit any content that contains (a) information that violates any obligation of confidentiality; (b) any viruses, spyware, malware, or other malicious components that are designed to harm the functionality of a computer in any way; (c) inappropriate content, for example but not limited to, profanity, defamatory statements, words or symbols widely considered offensive to individuals of any certain race, ethnicity, religious, sexual orientation or socioeconomic groups, threats to any person, place, business, or group; (d) content that infringes on the intellectual property rights of a third party. Entries violating these guidelines may be disqualified. Sponsor, in its sole and absolute discretion, will determine if an entry violates the guidelines in these Official Contest Rules or any applicable law.

By submitting your online entry in the Contest, you agree to be bound by Sponsor’s Visitor Agreement and Privacy Policy, which are hereby incorporated by reference and are posted on www.valpak.com. All entries become the property of Sponsor and none will be returned. In the event of a dispute in connection with the identity of the individual who submitted an entry, the entry will be deemed to have been submitted by the authorized account holder of the email account identified on the online entry form, provided that such person satisfies all other Contest eligibility requirements. The authorized account holder is deemed to be the natural person who is assigned to an email address by an Internet access provider, service provider, or other online organization that is responsible for assigning email addresses for the domain associated with the submitted email address. Any questions regarding the number of entries submitted or the identity of the individual who submitted an online entry shall be determined by Sponsor in its sole discretion whose decisions shall be final and binding, and Sponsor reserves the right to disqualify any entries by persons who submit false or misleading entry information or who Sponsor determines to be tampering with or abusing any aspect of the Contest.

By submitting an entry, you grant Sponsor a worldwide, royalty-free, sub-licensable, and transferable right and license to use, copy, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, publish and display your responses on Sponsor and/or Promotional Partner’s websites and in any media for any commercial or promotional purpose (including, without limitation, the internet), without further compensation. The foregoing license will be perpetual and non-exclusive.

By entering the Contest and providing an email address, each Entrant grants Sponsor express permission to send Entrant emails related to the Contest, including, but not limited to notification of  Winners and a follow-up email in order to gather feedback regarding the Contest to be used in the planning and design of future promotions.

Sponsor reserves the right to edit entries for grammatical, typographic or style errors before posting to the Contest Website.

 5.         AUTHORIZATION:  BY ENTERING THE CONTEST, YOU REPRESENT AND WARRANT THAT (I) YOUR ENTRY IS ORIGINAL, WAS LEGALLY OBTAINED AND CREATED, AND DOES NOT INFRINGE THE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS OR OTHER LEGAL, EQUITABLE, OR MORAL RIGHTS OF ANY THIRD PARTY; (II) YOUR ENTRY IS TRUTHFUL AND REFLECTS YOUR HONEST OPINIONS, BELIEFS, AND/OR PERSONAL EXPERIENCES; (III) YOU HAVE OBTAINED PERMISSION TO SUBMIT YOUR ENTRY FROM EVERYONE NAMED, DEPICTED OR DESCRIBED IN YOUR ENTRY, AND YOU CAN MAKE THOSE AUTHORIZATIONS AVAILABLE TO SPONSOR UPON REQUEST; (IV) THE ENTRY YOU ARE SUBMITTING HAS NOT PREVIOUSLY BEEN PUBLISHED OR ACCEPTED FOR PUBLICATION AND IS NOT CURRENTLY UNDER CONSIDERATION FOR PUBLICATION; AND (V) YOU WILL NOT DISSEMINATE OR OTHERWISE SUBMIT YOUR ENTRY TO ANY OTHER ENTITY FOR PUBLICATION.

 6.         JUDGING PERIOD: Between April 16, 2017 and April 21, 2017, a committee of judges consisting of employees of Sponsor and Promotional Partner, will review each of the Entry submissions and score each according to the following criteria:

1. Compelling nature of the story about what make this business special – 50%
2. Energy, enthusiasm, creativity and passion about the business – 25%
3. Overall impression - 15%
4. Positive impact on the community – 10%

The Nominee whose Entry submission received the highest score will be declared the Grand Prize Provisional Winner while the Nominees associated with the next three (3) Entries will be declared Secondary Provisional Winners. In the event of a tie, scores for overall impression will be used to determine the Winners. In the event of a further tie, the still tied entries will be re-judged by a new panel of judges using the criteria above. All results are unofficial until verified by Sponsor. Sponsor reserves the right to select fewer winners if the quality or quantity of eligible Entries is insufficient. Decisions of judges are final and binding in all respects. Sponsor reserves the right to select no winner if the quality or quantity of eligible entries is insufficient.

7.         PRIZES AND ODDS: The award of the prize is subject to verification of eligibility and compliance with these Official Rules. GRAND PRIZE: One (1) Grand Prize Nominee will receive a $5,000 American Express Gift Card and a Valpak marketing campaign (12 month print campaign for 5 Valpak mailing zones plus a digital package). Approximate Retail Value (ARV) of the Grand Prize is $24,200. SECONDARY PRIZES: Three (3) Secondary Prize Nominees will each receive a $1,000 American Express Gift Card and a Valpak marketing campaign (3 month print campaign for 3 Valpak mailing zones plus a digital package). ARV of the Secondary Prize is $4,000. Entrant with the winning Grand Prize Nominee will receive a $5,000 American Express Gift Card and remaining three (3) Entrants with winning Secondary Nominees will receive a $1,000 American Express Gift Card. ARV of all prizes awarded in the Contest is $44,200.  Limit one (1) Prize per Nominee and one (1) Prize per Entrant. Odds of winning a prize depend on the number of eligible entrants and the quality of the Entry/skill of the Entrant.

8.         PRIZE WINNER NOTIFICATION: On or about April 22, 2017, the Sponsor’s fulfillment center will attempt to contact the selected Provisional Winners by letter, email, or phone in advance of any public announcement (“Notification”). If a Prize Provisional Winner does not respond to the Notification according to the directions in the Notification within the time frame set forth in the Notification, then that Prize Provisional Winner will be disqualified and the  Entry Submission with the next highest score will be the a substitute Prize Provisional Winner.  In the event either a Nominated Prize Provisional Winner or Nominee Prize Provisional Winner is disqualified, the corresponding Nominee Prize Provisional Winner or Nominated Prize Provisional Winner will also be disqualified. Upon verification of eligibility and compliance with these Official Rules, the Prize Provisional Winner will be declared a Prize Winner.

Sponsor reserves the right to substitute a prize of equal or greater value for any reason whatsoever. The prizes are non-assignable and nontransferable. All federal, state and local taxes on the prize value awarded and for all costs and expenses not specified herein, related to any merchandise prize, including but not limited to delivery, installation, service activation fees, and other expenses incurred by accepting the merchandise prize are the sole responsibility of each Winner.

Sponsor shall withhold taxes from any award as is required by law. Prior to receiving a Prize, the Prize Winners will be required to provide the Federal Tax ID number (Nominees only) and must complete a W-9 tax form. Winners will be required, as instructed by Sponsor, to complete and sign (i) an affidavit of eligibility/liability certifying that such Winner has complied with the Official Rules of the Contest; and (ii) a liability and publicity release (except where prohibited by law), which must be returned via mail or hand delivery within ten (10) business days of date of sender’s notification postmark. Failure to sign and return any of these documents or to comply with any term or condition of these Official Rules may result in a Winner’s disqualification, the forfeiture of its interest in the Prize, and, at Sponsor’s discretion, the presentation of the Prize to a substitute recipient. A Prize not won and/or claimed by a Winner and not awarded to a substitute recipient by Sponsor in accordance with these Official Rules will remain the property of Sponsor.

 Unless prohibited by law, acceptance of a prize constitutes permission for the Sponsor and their respective advertising and promotional agencies to use a Winner’s name, address (city and state/province), and photo, image and/or likeness for any commercial, publicity or promotional purposes without further notice, compensation, review or approval, worldwide and in perpetuity, in any and all forms of media, now known and hereafter devised, including without limitation the Internet.

 A PARTICIPANT OR NOMINEE, INCLUDING A PROVISIONAL WINNER, IS NOT A WINNER OF A PRIZE UNLESS AND UNTIL SPONSOR HAS COMPLETED ITS VERIFICATION OF PARTICIPANT’S OR NOMINEE’S ELIGIBILITY AND COMPLIANCE WITH THESE OFFICIAL RULES.

9.         PARTICIPATION.  By participating, you agree to be bound by these Official Rules and the decisions of Sponsor and any Contest judges or administrators appointed by Sponsor, which shall be final and binding in all respects. Any person attempting to defraud or in any way tamper with the Contest will be ineligible for the prize and may be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

 10.       RELEASE. By participating in the Contest, each participant agrees to fully release, forever discharge and hold harmless Sponsor, Promotional Partner and their respective parent companies, subsidiaries, affiliates, and franchisees, and the officers, directors, employees, agents, representatives and successors and assigns of all of the foregoing companies (collectively, the “Contest Entities”) from and against any claims, costs, liabilities, losses, injuries and damages arising out of the Contest, including, but not limited to, any claims for personal injury, death, or damage to or loss of property, loss of enjoyment, or any other harm whatsoever arising out of: (1) participation in the Contest; (2) the quality, receipt, possession, use, or misuse of any prize; or (3) any travel or activity that is related to the Contest or any prize.

 11.       PUBLICITY RELEASE; INDEMNIFICATION:  BY ENTERING THE CONTEST, YOU AGREE THAT THE CONTEST ENTITIES HAVE THE ABSOLUTE RIGHT AND PERMISSION TO PUBLISH YOUR ENTRY ON THE CONTEST WEBSITE AND TO BROADCAST, PUBLISH, OR OTHERWISE USE YOUR ENTRY, BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, IN CONNECTION WITH THE CONTEST OR FOR ANY COMMERCIAL, PUBLICITY, OR PROMOTIONAL PURPOSE WITHOUT LIMITATION, REVIEW OR APPROVAL, NOTICE OR COMPENSATION TO YOU.  BY ENTERING, YOU GRANT THE CONTEST ENTITIES A ROYALTY-FREE AND IRREVOCABLE LICENSE AND RIGHT (BUT NOT THE OBLIGATION) TO TELECAST, BROADCAST, COPY, EDIT, ADAPT, MODIFY, REPRODUCE, PUBLISH, CREATE DERIVATIVE WORKS OF, DISTRIBUTE, USE, OR OTHERWISE PUBLICLY DISPLAY ANY OR ALL OF YOUR ENTRY MATERIALS, OR ANY PORTION THEREOF, IN ANY MANNER OR MEDIUM THROUGHOUT THE WORLD IN PERPETUITY, FOR COMMERCIAL, PUBLICITY, OR PROMOTIONAL PURPOSES, AND TO LICENSE OTHERS TO DO SO, WITHOUT LIMITATION, REVIEW OR APPROVAL, NOTICE OR COMPENSATION TO YOU.

If Contest Entities use of your entry materials causes Contest Entities to be subject to a claim by any third party, you agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless the Contest Entities, and all persons acting by, through, under, or in concert with them, against any and all damages, costs, judgments and expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ and legal fees) which the Contest Entities (or any one of them) may incur as a result of the use of your entry materials.      

 12.       DISCLAIMERS OF LIABILITY. By entering, participants acknowledge and agree that the Contest Entities will not be liable for losses, damages or injuries of any kind resulting from acceptance/possession/use/misuse of and/or inability to use a prize(s), the theft of prizes or mail, travel to and from or participation in any prize-related activity, participation in the Contest, printing, mailing or distribution errors, or any malfunctions of the telephone network, computer internet system, computer dating mechanism, computer equipment, software, or any combination thereof, or for any entries that are late (including delayed data transmissions), tampered with, garbled, incomplete, misdirected, lost, postage-due, forged, illegible, inaudible, mutilated, mechanically duplicated, mass machine printed, or otherwise not in compliance with these Official Rules. Contest Entities are not responsible or liable for any injury or damage to any participant’s or third person’s computer or mobile device and/or their contents, related to or resulting from the Contest. Sponsor reserves the right to terminate, suspend or modify the Contest if, in its sole discretion, it determines that for any reason the Contest is not capable of running as originally planned, or fraud, technical failures, printing, mailing or distribution errors, or any other unanticipated causes or occurrences have compromised the fairness or integrity of the Contest. In the event the Contest is terminated prior to the stated end date, Sponsor reserves the right to award the prize in a random drawing from among all eligible entries received as of the date of termination, though in such a context, BY ENTERING, PARTICIPANTS FURTHER ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT EVERYTHING REGARDING THIS CONTEST, INCLUDING THE WEBSITES, APPS, ENTRY PAGES AND THE PRIZE, ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” AND THAT TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THE CONTEST ENTITIES DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES AND CONDITIONS REGARDING THE PRIZES, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES AND CONDITIONS OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR OR GENERAL USE OR PURPOSE. Any and all guarantees and warranties and conditions for merchandise prizes are subject to the manufacturer’s and/or service provider’s terms and conditions, and winners agree to look solely to such manufacturers and/or service providers for any warranty, condition or guarantee claim.

Except where prohibited, by participating in the Contest entrants agree that: All issues and questions concerning the construction, validity, interpretation and enforceability of these Official Rules, or the rights and obligations of participant(s) and Sponsor and its agents shall be governed by and construed exclusively in accordance with the laws of the State of Florida, USA without giving effect to any principles of conflicts of law of any jurisdiction.  Entrant agrees that any action at law or in equity arising out of or relating to this Contest, or awarding of the prizes, shall be filed individually, without resorting to any form of class action and shall be filed only in the state or federal courts located in the State of Florida, USA and entrant hereby consents and submits to the personal jurisdiction of such courts for the purposes of litigating any such action.

 Sponsor will not be responsible for typographical, printing or other inadvertent errors in these Official Rules or in other materials or announcements relating to the Contest.

13.       CONTEST MAIL OPT-OUT REQUEST/WINNERS LIST. To request the name and locations of the Winners (available after May 5, 2017) or a copy of these Official Rules, send a self-addressed, stamped business-size envelope to The Valpak Shop Small® Contest, P.O. Box 13428, St. Petersburg, Florida 33733, USA, Attn: Promotions Department. Indicate whether you are requesting the name of the Winners, or a copy of these Official Rules, or any combination of the foregoing. Residents of Vermont may omit return postage for rules. If you no longer wish to receive mailings for Promotions or sweepstakes sponsored by Valpak, write to 805 Executive Center Dr W, St Petersburg, FL 33702, USA – Attn: Sweepstakes Removal. This contest is not sponsored or administered by American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc.