Official contest rules

Kate Lee
6 min readOct 15, 2013

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{PRELUDE: We don’t want to be one of those companies with all kinds of legal text that our users need to read. However, we do operate in a world full of laws, rules, and regulations. Some of those make sense, a whole lot do not, and virtually none of them move at internet speed to enable innovation. While we apologize for doing this, we do need to protect our company and the Medium platform from unnecessary fines, lawsuits, and other bad things. If you have any questions, please email terms@medium.com and we’ll get back to you. Good luck!}

The Man Repeller Contest (the “Contest”) is sponsored by The Obvious Corporation (“Sponsor”). NO ENTRY FEE. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. The Contest entry period begins on October 16, 2013 at 12:01 a.m. Pacific Time and ends on November 23, 2013 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time (the “Contest Entry Period”).

1. Eligibility: The Contest is open to legal residents of the U.S., excluding Arizona and U.S. territories, eighteen (18) years of age or older at the beginning of the Contest Entry Period, and who have active e-mail and Twitter accounts and internet access and have been granted white list access to Sponsor’s Medium platform (www.medium.com) (“Medium”). Employees of Sponsor and its affiliates, subsidiaries, advertising, promotion, fulfillment or other coordinating agencies, individuals providing services to Sponsor through an outsourcer or temporary employment agency during the Contest Entry Period, and their respective immediate family members and persons living in their same household, are not eligible to participate in the Contest. By entering the Contest, you agree to be bound by these Official Rules. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED.

2. To Enter: As an Entrant, you may enter the Contest by accessing Medium during the Contest Entry Period and posting a story or work of fiction you have written (an “Entry”) to the “Man Repeller Contest” collection featured on Medium. Except as otherwise provided in these Official Rules, there are no word limits or topic restrictions associated with Entries. Select “Publish” to post your Entry to Medium before the end of the Contest Entry Period. Entries will be subject to the Medium Terms of Service, accessible athttps://medium.com/policy/9db0094a1e0f.

No mechanically reproduced mail-in entries are allowed and any use of robotic, automatic, programmed or the like Entry methods will void all entries by such methods.

3. Prize Selection:

During the period from November 9, 2013 until November 23, 2013 (the “Voting Period”), all Medium users can vote to “recommend” any Entry via Medium. At the end of the Voting Period, Sponsor will determine the three (3) Entries which have the highest ranking on Medium based on (i) the number of “recommend” votes an Entry has received during the Voting Period, (ii) the number of Medium users who have read the Entry and (iii) other statistics based upon Sponsor’s proprietary algorithm (“Top Entries”). In the event there is a tie in determining the three (3) Top Entries on Medium, Medium will select the Entry with the most “recommend” votes by Medium users.

On or around November 27, 2013 a group of judges will judge the three (3) Top Entries to determine the Contest winner. The Top Entries will be judged according to the following: (a) originality/creativity (40%); (b) uniqueness (30%); and (c) impact (30%). The entrant whose Top Entry earns the highest overall score from the judges will win. The decisions of the judges will be final. If any ties must be broken to determine the winner, the judges will choose the Top Entry that is most creative.

As an entrant, you represent and warrant that your Entry: (i) is original and created by you, (ii) has not been awarded a prize in any other competition, including other competitions conducted by Sponsor, and (iii) does not violate the intellectual property or proprietary rights of other parties. You also agree that your Entry is not offensive or defamatory, and does not contain contain vulgar or profane language, as determined by the judges and the Sponsor.

4. Prizes and Odds: The prizes to be awarded from the Contest to the winner are one (1) $100 gift certificate to Shopbop.com and one (1) $50 gift certificate to Shopbop.com. The odds of winning a prize depend on the total number of eligible entries received. No cash or other substitution of prizes is permitted, except at the sole option of Sponsor for a prize of equal or greater value. Sponsor will not replace any lost or stolen prizes. Winners are solely responsible for any and all federal, state, provincial and local taxes, if any, that apply to prizes.

5. Notification of Grand Prize Winner: Sponsor will notify the winner by e-mail within five (5) business days of selection of the winner. The winner may be required to sign and return an affidavit of eligibility and publicity/liability release within seven (7) days of notification. If a selected winner cannot be contacted, is ineligible, fails to claim a prize and/or, where applicable, an affidavit of eligibility and publicity/liability release is not timely received, is incomplete or modified, the prize may be forfeited and an alternate winner will be selected from remaining valid, eligible entries timely submitted. In the event of a dispute regarding who submitted an Entry, the Entry will be deemed submitted by the authorized account holder of the e-mail account specified in the Entry. “Authorized account holder” is defined as the natural person who is assigned to an e-mail address by an Internet access provider, online service provider, or other organization (e.g., business, educational institution, etc.) that is responsible for assigning e-mail addresses for the domain associated with the submitted e-mail address.

6. General Rules: The Contest is offered by Sponsor, The Obvious Corporation of 760 Market Street, Third Floor, San Francisco, CA 94102, which is not responsible for (a) late, lost, delayed, damaged, incomplete, illegible, or misdirected Entries, responses, or other correspondence, regardless of how delivered to Sponsor; (b) theft, destruction, unauthorized access to or alterations of Entries; or (c) phone, electrical, network, computer, hardware, software program or transmission malfunctions, failures or difficulties.

You agree to indemnify, defend and hold Sponsor and its affiliates, subsidiaries, directors, officers, employees, sponsors and agents, including advertising and promotion agencies, and assigns, and any other organizations related to the Contest, harmless, from any and all claims, injuries, damages, expenses or losses to person or property and/or liabilities of any nature that in any way arise from participation in this Contest or acceptance or use of a prize, including without limitation, any claim that your Entry infringes or misappropriates the intellectual property or proprietary rights of any third party.

In no event will Sponsor be liable to you for any direct, special, incidental, exemplary, punitive or consequential damages arising out of or in connection with your participation in the Contest, whether such liability arises from any claim based upon contract, warranty, tort (including negligence), strict liability or otherwise, and whether or not Sponsor has been advised of the possibility of such loss or damage. Some jurisdictions do not allow the limitation or exclusion of liability for incidental or consequential damages, so the above limitation or exclusion may not apply to you.

7. Additional Conditions: Except where prohibited, by participating in the Contest, you consent to the use of your name, photo and/or likeness, biographical information, Entry and statements attributed to you (if true) for advertising and promotional purposes, including without limitation, inclusion in Sponsor’s newsletters, marketing materials, the Contest Collection page and Sponsor’s Medium or corporate websites, without additional compensation. Allow six (6) to eight (8) weeks for delivery of prize.

Sponsor reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to cancel, modify or suspend the Contest in whole or in part, in the event of fraud, technical or other difficulties or if the integrity of the Contest is compromised, without liability to the entrant. Sponsor reserves the right to disqualify any entrant or winner, as determined by Sponsor, in its sole discretion. The Contest is subject to these Official Rules and all applicable federal, state, provincial and local laws and regulations apply. These Official Rules are governed by the law of the State of California, without reference to rules governing choice of laws. Any action, suit or case arising out of, or in connection with, this Contest or these Official Rules must be brought in either the federal courts or state courts located in San Francisco, California.

Personal Information: Sponsor may collect personal data about entrants online, in accordance with its privacy policy and as may be more specifically set forth in these Official Rules. Please review these Official Rules and Sponsor’s Privacy Policy. By participating in the Contest, you agree to Sponsor’s collection and use of your personal information in accordance with that privacy policy.

8. Winner’s List, Official Rules: For a copy of these Official Rules, send your request and a stamped, self-addressed envelope to Man Repeller Contest, The Obvious Corporation, 760 Market Street, Third Floor, San Francisco, CA 94102 or (for Winner’s list only) send an email message to yourfriends@medium.com with “Winner’s list” as the email subject and contest name specified in the body of the e-mail.

9. Sponsor’s Address: 760 Market Street, Third Floor, San Francisco, CA 94102.

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Kate Lee

currently @stripe, ex-@WeWork, @medium, ICM Partners