IABBB Business Stories Video Contest OFFICIAL RULES

All submissions must be or under in length and feature business stories.

HOW TO ENTER:

To enter the contest, filmmakers must create an Audience Awards account and follow the instructions from the contest landing page located at https://theaudienceawards.com/bbb/2020bbbinternationalvideocontest

This contest will be hosted in two rounds. From the first round, the top 10 audience voted films and the top 10 preliminary jury selected entries will advance to the final round to be juried by the International Association of Better Business Bureaus, Inc.

IABBB and BBBs will collectively be referred to as “BBB” or “Sponsor” for the remainder of the Official Rules.

From the finalists, the jury will select 10 honorable mentions, of those, there will be 1^st-3^rd place winners and 1^st place is the Grand Prize winner.

The contest opens for submissions on February 3, 2020, at 10:00 AM EDT (America/Detroit) and submissions close on March 12, 2020, at 12:00 PM EDT.

Preliminary Round voting opens on March 13, 2020, at 8:00 AM EDT and closes on March 20, 2020, at 12:00 PM EDT (America/Detroit).

Final Round Jury deliberation begins March 13, 2020, at 8:00 AM EDT and closes on March 20, 2020, at 12:00 PM EDT.

The 1st-3rd place winners and seven honorable mentions will be announced on March 25, 2020, at 12:00 PM EDT. The Grand Prize Winner will be announced at the New York film screening (May 2020).

STATEMENT OF PRIZES:

The Grand Prize Winning Filmmaker will win a Canon XC10 4K Professional Camera.

2nd place wins an iPhone 11 with 128 GB of storage.

3rd place wins an Apple Watch Series 5.

Each of the top three finalists we screen will receive a $1,000 travel stipend to attend a live screening of the top 10 finalist films in New York City (along with the top 10 finalists from BBB's last video contest, Gestures of Trust) in May 2020 where the Grand Prize Winner will be announced.

Terms:

To enter, you must have a valid Audience Awards account. Signing up for Audience Awards is free of charge.

BBB employees or family members of BBB employees are not eligible to participate in the contest.

Only residents of the United States, Canada, and Mexico who are 13 years of age or older are eligible to submit to this contest.

No purchase necessary to enter or claim a prize. A purchase does not increase your chances of winning. Odds of winning will depend on the total number of entries received. Entry via the Audience Awards account and connection is required. You must have the authority to submit the film for our consideration.

Anyone may submit to this contest, but videos will be judged for admittance into the contest before audience and jury voting opens. Preliminary judging will be based on the quality of content and adherence to the assignment. Videos will be judged by a score of one - three. Videos that score a one will not be allowed to compete in the contest.

The film must not (i) infringe any rights of publicity or privacy, moral rights or IP rights, including any music-related or voice-over rights, (ii) be defamatory or indecent, and (iii) violate any applicable laws. You must have obtained and been able to prove that you have all the necessary rights to the music and other intellectual property in your film. Creative Commons licenses will not be accepted and do not prove that you have the rights to the music on your film.

Entries will be evaluated based on the following judging criteria:
* Creativity (45%)
* Technical Merit (30%)
* Adherence to the Assignment (25%)

The approximate retail value of the prize(s) may be based on information provided by Sponsor and the value of any prize awarded to a winner may be reported for tax purposes as required by law. For tax reporting purposes, the winner(s) may be required to provide Sponsor with a valid social security number or its equivalent in Mexico and Canada before the prize is awarded. An IRS Form 1099 or its equivalent in Mexico and Canada may be issued in the name of the winner(s) or, if a minor in the jurisdiction in which they reside, in the name of their parent or legal guardian, for the actual value of the prize(s) received. The prizes are awarded “as is” without warranty or guarantee, either express or implied (including, without limitation, any implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose). Prizing may be fulfilled by a third party. Prizes are non-transferable and cannot be substituted or redeemed for cash by the winner. Prizes are subject to change.

CONDITIONS:

Payments of all federal, state, local and provincial taxes, where applicable, are solely the responsibility of the winner. Winner will be required to sign an IRS Form W-9 with the winner’s full social security number or the equivalent in Canada and Mexico. Failure to submit any required forms upon request will result in forfeiture of the prize. Winnings of $600 or more will be reported to the IRS.

In the event a prize is mailed to a winner, it will be with the prior written consent of the winner and therefore, winner assumes the risk of its loss. Sponsor is not responsible for the safe arrival of a prize. Sponsor is not responsible if a potential winner does not receive his/her prize because erroneous, expired, canceled, fraudulent, or fake information was provided during the Promotion. Only the prize(s) set forth in these Official Rules will be awarded. If, through printing or production error, or for any other reason whatsoever, more prizes are claimed than intended and/or set forth in these Official Rules, Sponsor reserves the right to award only the stated number of prizes from all legitimate, unawarded, eligible prize claims.

REDEEMING PRIZES:

Finalists will be notified via email within two weeks of the challenge closing. All winners are subject to verification at the sole discretion of BBB and Audience Awards. As part of the verification process, Audience Awards or BBB may, without otherwise altering the grant of rights to contest entities, require potential winners to sign and return an affidavit of eligibility, and except where prohibited by law, a liability and publicity release. Any and all materials submitted become the property of Sponsor and will not be returned. Prize winners outside of the United States are fully responsible for shipping, duties, taxes and other fees for prizes. The BBB is responsible for prize delivery.

NON-EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS PROVISION:

By submitting to this contest and being deemed a finalist, you agree to transfer ownership of the rights to your film submitted to this contest to BBB and Audience Awards. BBB and Audience Awards hereby grants you a non-exclusive, worldwide license, without the ability to sub-license, to use your submission solely for the purposes of demonstrating your work as part of a portfolio of prior work you created.

You hereby assign to BBB and Audience Awards exclusive rights, title, and interests, including all intellectual property rights in and to such submission. BBB and Audience Awards shall be entitled to the unrestricted use and dissemination of the submission for any purpose, commercial or otherwise, without acknowledgment or compensation to you. You agree to execute any documentation required by Audience Awards and/or BBB, in its sole discretion, to confirm such assignment to, and unrestricted use and dissemination by Audience Awards and BBB of the submission.

You must have obtained all necessary, unrestricted rights, including music rights, releases, consents, authorizations and licenses covering the film. There must not be any pending or anticipated litigation regarding the film. You may have to provide proof of rights.

All federal, state, provincial and local laws apply. By participating, entrants agree (i) to be bound by these Official Rules, including all eligibility requirements, and (ii) to be bound by the decisions of Audience Awards and BBB, including the interpretations of these Official Rules, which are final and binding in all matters relating to the contest. Audience Awards and BBB are not responsible for (i) lost, late, misdirected, deceptive, damaged, garbled or illegible entries; (ii) error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operations or transmission, theft or destruction or unauthorized access to or alterations of entry materials, or for technical, network, telephone-equipment, electronic, computer, hardware or software malfunctions of any kind, or inaccurate transmission of or failure to receive entry information by Audience Awards on account of technical problems or traffic congestion on the internet or at any website or any combination thereof; or (iii) any injury or damage to entrant's or any other person's computer related to or resulting from participating in the contest. Audience Awards and BBB reserve the right to permanently disqualify from this Contest any person they believe has violated these Official Rules.

By accepting a prize, each winner irrevocably consents to the use by Audience Awards and BBB of winner's name, likeness and statements relating to the contest, without further compensation, in all worldwide marketing, promotion and publicity carried out in perpetuity by Audience Awards and BBB. Any information provided by an entrant may be used to communicate with such entrant in relation to the contest or on a contest winner’s list. Audience Awards and BBB reserve the right to terminate, cancel, suspend and/or modify the Contest if any fraud, virus or other problems corrupt the administration, security or proper play of the contest, as determined by Audience Awards and BBB in their sole discretion. Any damage made to the website or the Audience Awards service and BBB will be the responsibility of the account holder.

If the contest is terminated before the end date/time, Sponsor will determine the winner from all eligible entries received as of the termination date/time. If any such malfunction, error, disruption or similar damage occurs and impairs the administration, security, fairness, integrity or proper play of the contest, Audience Awards and BBB may, in their sole discretion, suspend or terminate the contest by posting a notice at theaudienceawards.com.

You may not post or transmit a caption that contains threatening, libelous, defamatory, obscene, scandalous, inflammatory, pornographic or profane material or any caption that could constitute or encourage conduct that would be considered a criminal offense, that would otherwise violate any law, or is inconsistent with BBB brand image. Any response that includes any such material, as determined by BBB in its sole discretion, will be disqualified.

Entries generated by a script, computer programs, macro, programmed, robotic or other automated means will be disqualified. Entries that are incomplete, illegible, corrupted, false, lost, late or misdirected, deceptive or otherwise not in compliance with the Official Rules may be disqualified from the Contest at Sponsor's sole and absolute discretion. In the event of a dispute over the identity of an entrant, the entry will be deemed submitted by the authorized account holder of the email address associated with the Audience Awards account of the entry, which the entrant will have the obligation to establish. Authorized account holder is defined as the person assigned to an email address by an internet access provider, online service provider or other organization responsible for assigning email addresses. All materials submitted become the property of Sponsor and will not be returned. In the event a dispute regarding the identity of the individual who actually submitted an entry cannot be resolved to Sponsor's satisfaction, the affected entry will be deemed ineligible. Illegible and/or incomplete entries and entries submitted by entrants who do not meet the eligibility requirements (including all requirements with respect to age and residence) are void.

VOTING:

Voting is open to the public. Voters can vote once a day for as many films as they like. Filmmakers can vote for their own films and any other films they like once a day. Odds of winning depend on the number of eligible entries received. Any questions regarding the determination of a winner will be decided in the sole discretion of Sponsor, which is final and binding in all matters relating to this contest. If a user text verifies, the phone numbers will never be used for any purpose except to protect voting standards.

YOUR ACCOUNT AND VOTING TERMS:

You are responsible for your use of the services and for any content accessed or made available to others through your account, even if that content is accessed or made available by others. Audience Awards will not be held responsible for your use of the services or for any such content. You are responsible for maintaining the security of your account login information and for any activities or actions occurring under your account. Audience Awards encourages you to use a "strong" password (passwords that use a combination of upper and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols) for your account. Audience Awards will not be responsible for any loss or damages resulting from your failure to comply with this obligation.

Each account login may only be used by one person - a single login shared by multiple people is not permitted. Fake email addresses are not allowed. You must be a human. Accounts registered by "bots" or other automated methods are not permitted. One person or legal entity may not maintain more than one free account.

You may not vote on behalf of someone else. Filmmakers and third parties may tell their customers, friends, and neighbors about the competition and direct them to Audience Awards to vote for a film. Filmmakers are encouraged to share information they believe is relevant through links to the filmmakers’ Audience Awards pages. Filmmakers are responsible for complying with all applicable terms of each third-party platform, and all applicable laws, in connection with sharing information about its film. Neither filmmakers nor third parties retained by you may solicit or entice others to vote by offering any type of consideration including gifts, awards, bribes or inducements, including merchandise, cash, online currency, discounts, lottery or anything deemed to have value in exchange for votes, including donations to charity. Noncompliance may result in removal from the competition. Soliciting others for votes or sending spam related to voting is not within the spirit of the competition and films may be subject to removal from the competition if it is determined that they have participated in any such activities.

Notwithstanding anything in these rules, filmmakers may purchase print or digital advertisements simply stating that they are participating in the program, and they are encouraged to reach out to their friends, family, and fans to vote. The count of eligible votes by the Audience Awards shall be deemed final. The Audience Awards and BBB reserve the right to eliminate or disregard any or all votes in excess of stated limits or otherwise not in accordance with the Official Rules or any instructions on the website, including any voting instructions.

The Audience Awards and BBB are not responsible for, nor are they required to count, in their sole and absolute discretion, late, lost, misdirected, unlawful or illicit votes, votes cast for a filmmaker later determined to be ineligible, votes cast in violation of the rules, votes achieved through automated means by using more than one account, using another person's name or identity, or votes that are achieved through other fraudulent means, unsportsmanlike conduct or in a manner otherwise inconsistent with these contest rules. If you are caught cheating and you have an entry in a film and video contest, your entry will/may be deleted from the contest and not be eligible to receive a prize. Using vote-collecting websites including, but not limited to, getonlinevotes.com, votesforcontest.com, vapulsemedia.net, etc. is not allowed.

NOTE ABOUT MOBILE:

If you participate in the contest via your wireless mobile device (which may only be available via participating wireless carriers and is not required to enter), standard messaging or data rates will apply according to the terms and conditions of your service agreement with your wireless carrier. Other charges may apply and may appear on your mobile phone bill or be deducted from your prepaid account balance. Wireless carriers' rate plans may vary, and you should contact your wireless carrier for more information about rate plans and charges relating to your participation in this contest. Internet and data may not be available from all mobile phone service carriers and handset models. Cellphone service may not be available in all areas. Check your phone's capabilities for specific instructions.

By participating in the challenge, winner agrees to have his/her name, voice, likeness, photograph, statements, opinions, biographical information and/or challenge entry used in any advertising or broadcasting material, whether relating to this Promotion or otherwise, in any media, worldwide, now known or hereinafter developed, in perpetuity, without additional notice, payment, or other compensation unless prohibited by law, and, where legal, to sign a publicity release confirming such consent prior to acceptance of the prize.

Sponsor is not responsible for lost, stolen, mangled, misdelivered, postage-due, illegible, incomplete or late entries, telephone service outages, delays, busy signals, equipment malfunctions and any other technological difficulties that may prevent an individual from entering or claiming a prize.

Sponsor, its sole discretion, reserves the right to disqualify any person tampering with the entry process, the operation of Sponsor’s website, or otherwise in violation of the Official Rules. Sponsor further reserves the right to cancel, terminate or modify the challenge if it is not capable of completion as planned, including infection by computer virus, bugs, tampering, unauthorized intervention or technical failures of any sort. In such event, Sponsor reserves the right, but not the obligation, to award any applicable prize(s) from the entries submitted before the cancellation, suspension, or modification of the challenge. Any attempt to undermine the operation of the Promotion may be a violation of criminal and civil law, and, should such an attempt be made, Sponsor reserves the right to seek damages from any such person to the fullest extent permitted by law.

Sponsor reserves the right to make changes in the Official Rules, including the substitution of a prize of greater or equivalent value, which will become effective upon announcement.

Failure to comply with the Official Rules may result in Participant’s disqualification solely at the discretion of Sponsor.

Sponsor is not responsible for typographical or other errors in the printing, the offering or the administration of the Promotion, or in the announcement of a prize. In any case, the final winner of all prizes will be determined, and prizes will be awarded, within a reasonable time after the end of the Promotion Period, except as agreed between Sponsor and winner.

Indemnification; Limitation of Liability: neither sponsor, the audience awards, nor their subsidiaries and affiliated entities is responsible for printing or typographical errors in any promotion-related materials or transactions that are processed late or incorrectly or are lost due to computer or electronic malfunction.

Sponsor is not responsible for lost, stolen, mangled, misdelivered, postage-due, illegible, incomplete or late entries, telephone service outages, delays, busy signals, equipment malfunctions and any other technological difficulties that may prevent an individual from entering or claiming a prize.

This promotion offer is being made exclusively by Sponsor. Sponsor and the audience awards are not responsible for technical, hardware, software, or telephone failure of any kind, lost or unavailable network connections or fraud, incomplete, garbled, or delayed computer transmission whether caused by sponsor, user, or by any of the equipment or programming associated with or utilized in the promotion, or by any technical or human error which may occur in the process of submissions which may limit a participant's ability to participate in this promotion. Neither Sponsor, the audience awards, nor their subsidiaries and affiliated entities are responsible for any damages or injury incurred by the winner and guests as a result of winning.

By entering, participants agree to release, hold harmless, defend and indemnify each of Sponsor, the audience awards, and their respective parents, subsidiaries, affiliates, and each of their respective directors, officers, employees and agents, and any and all other companies associated with this promotion (collectively, the “released parties”) against any and all liability, damages, or causes or action (however named or described), related to or arising out of (i) the promotion, (ii) participant’s participation in the promotion, and (iii) the receipt or use or misuse of the prize(s) awarded herein. Possible claims or causes of action include, but are not limited to, infringement of any right of publicity or intellectual property; threatened or actual injury, loss, or damage to any person, including death and disability; defamation or portrayal in a false light (intentional and unintentional); and damage to or loss of property, arising out of such participant’s participation in the promotion or receipt or use or misuse of any prize. In no event will the released parties be responsible for or liable for any damages or losses of any kind, including indirect, incidental, consequential, or punitive damages arising out of this promotion.

APPLICABLE LAW:

The contest and these Official Rules shall be construed and governed in accordance with the substantive laws of the state of Montana, as distinguished from the choice of law rules. By participating, entrants agree that all issues and questions concerning the construction, validity, interpretation, and enforceability of these Official Rules, entrant's rights and obligations, or the rights and obligations of Sponsor in connection with the Contest shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the state of Montana, without giving effect to any choice of law or conflict of law rules. By participating, entrants consent to the exclusive jurisdiction and venue of the federal, state and local courts located in Montana.

MISCELLANEOUS:

The names of individuals, groups, companies, products, and services mentioned herein, and any corresponding likenesses, logos, and images thereof reproduced herein, have been used for identification purposes only and may be the copyrighted properties and trademarks of their respective owners. The mention of any individual, group or company (including, without limitation, Audience Awards), or the inclusion of a product or service as a prize, does not imply any association with or endorsement by such individual, group or company or the manufacturer or distributor of such product or service and, except as otherwise indicated, no association or endorsement is intended or should be inferred. The invalidity or unenforceability of any provision of these Official Rules will not affect the validity or enforceability of any other provision.

In the event that any provision of the Official Rules is determined to be invalid or otherwise unenforceable or illegal, the other provisions will remain in effect and will be construed in accordance with their terms as if the invalid or illegal provision were not contained herein. Sponsor’s failure to enforce any term of these Official Rules will not constitute a waiver of that provision. To the extent, there is a conflict between these Official Rules and any terms of use or other agreement posted on Sponsor’s website, Audience Awards website or elsewhere, these Official Rules control.

ELIGIBILITY:

The contest is open to US, Canada, and Mexico residents only who are 13 years of age or older. An eligible minor (the age of majority is eighteen (18) in most states but twenty-one (21) in Mississippi and nineteen (19) in Alabama and Nebraska) should obtain a parent or legal guardian’s permission prior to entering. Further, entrants must be members in good standing of the Audience Awards in order to participate in the contest and win the prize(s).

Employees of Audience Awards and their affiliates and subsidiaries and employees of IABBB are not eligible to participate in the contest. The contest is governed by U.S. law, is subject to all applicable federal, state and local laws and regulations, and is void where prohibited.

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$6,000 in prizes

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2020 BBB International Video Contest

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