The Love and Pride in Paradise Giveaway

1. Eligibility: The Love and Pride in Paradise Giveaway (“Giveaway”) is open to legal residents of the United States of America (excluding the states of Florida, New York and Rhode Island) and the District of Columbia, who are at least 21 years of age at time of entry. Void in Florida, New York and Rhode Island.  Employees of Starwood Hotels and Resorts, its parents, affiliates and subsidiaries, franchisees, and participating promotion and advertising agencies (collectively, “Promotion Entitles”), and members of their immediate families (spouse, parents, child, sibling and their respective spouses, regardless of where they reside) and household members, whether or not related, are not eligible to participate. Promotion Entities include the Hawaii Pride Guide, Arizona Pride Guide, California Pride Guide and New Mexico Pride Guide. Void where prohibited by law. Subject to all applicable federal, state and local laws and regulations. Participation constitutes entrant’s full and unconditional agreement to these Official Rules and Sponsor’s and judges decisions, which are final and binding on all matters related to the Giveaway.

2. How to Enter: There are two (2) ways to enter the Giveaway and submit your essay entry: (i) by email, and (ii) by mail. The “Giveaway Period” is between 12:01 a.m. Hawaii Standard Time on February 28, 2012 and 11:59 p.m. HST on March 31, 2012.

To enter via email, you must(1) type your full name, complete address, telephone number (including area code), email address, and age in the body of an email, (2) attach an electronic copy of your essay (Microsoft Word and PDF file formats are acceptable) to the email, and (3) send the email with essay attached to: theprideguides@gmail.com.  All emailed entries must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. HST on March 31, 2012

To enter via mail, you must (1) hand print your full name, complete address, telephone number ( including area code), email address, and age on a 3”x5” paper or card, (2) attach this card or paper to a copy of your essay, and ( 3) mail the copy of your essay with card attached in an envelope with proper postage affixed to: The Love and Pride in Paradise Giveaway, c/o The Pride Guides, P.O. Box 45243, Phoenix, AZ 85064. All mailed entries must be postmarked by March 31, 2012 and received by May 4, 2012.  Sponsors and its agents are not responsible for late, lost or misdirected entries.

Limit one (1) entry per eligible entrant regardless of method of entry. Multiple entries received from any one person will be considered as void. All entries and any materials submitted with entries shall become property of Sponsor and will not be acknowledged or returned.  Please retain a copy of your essay for your records. Entering constitutes entrant’s agreement that Sponsor shall have the right to publish and distribute copies of, in any media (including print, electronic and online media), entrant’s essay or portions of entrant’s essay with or without credit given to the entrant.

3. Judging Criteria and Winner Selection: This is not a game of chance. Winner will be chosen based upon the quality of a written essay entry of 500 words or fewer answering the question: “Why should I be chosen to be given a commitment ceremony or honeymoon at the Sheraton Maui Resort and Spa?” If the essay contains more than 500 words, only the first 500 words will be judged. Essays must be in English and may be typed or hand written. Illegible essays will not be considered. On or about March 31, 2012, all received essay entries will be judged on a 30-point scale as follows: 10 points for originality; 10 points for creativity; and 10 points for why the Sheraton Maui Resort and Spa would be the perfect location for a commitment ceremony or honeymoon.  All received entries will be judged by Sponsor personnel and/or Sponsor’s appointed agent using the above criteria. In the event of a tie, the essay entries involved entries involved will be judged again by an additional judge selected by the Sponsor, who will choose a winner from among the essay entries involved that best reflects the above criteria.  Decisions of the judges are final and binding in all respects.  The winner will be announced on or about April 21, 2012. Essays must be the entrant’s original creative work and cannot defame or infringe upon any copyright, trademark, right of publicity or privacy, or other intellectual property right of others.  Essays containing offensive, violent, discriminatory, profane and/or sexually explicit material will not be considered. Essays shall not contain any trademarks or logos, except that of the Sheraton Maui Resort and Spa trademarks may be incorporated into the essays.  Essays for which an entrant has previously received any award or prize are not eligible for the Giveaway and will be disqualified.

4. Winner Notification/Requirements: Potential winner will be notified by email, phone or regular/overnight mail at Sponsor’s discretion. If Sponsor cannot locate potential winner within seven (7) days of attempted notification, then the prize may be forfeited and at Sponsor’s discretion, an alternative winner may be selected from among the judged entries.  Documentation may be required to prove identity and/or eligibility.  Winners may be required to sign and return to Sponsor an Affidavit of Eligibility, a Liability/Publicity Release, Copyright License within the required time period, is not in compliance with these Official Rules, or a prize notification is returned as undeliverable, such winner may forfeit the prize, and at Sponsor’s discretion, an alternate winner may be selected.

5. Prize and Approximate Retail Value (“ARV”): The ARV = $16,500.00

Destination Wedding & Honeymoon at the Sheraton Maui Resort & Spa:

–        First (2) two nights of stay will be in a Run of Ocean guest room.

–        Last (5) five nights of stay will be in the resorts Romance Suite (Deluxe Ocean Front Suite).

–        The Sheraton Maui Resort & Spa holds one wedding per day. If the preferred date is already selected another date will be asked of.

–        Effective August 11, 2011, a $10 per night Hawaii State Tax must be paid on all complimentary room nights.

Hawaiian Airlines:

–         Two coach round trip tickets from the Unites States West Coast to Maui.

–         The TSA security fees, baggage fees and tax must be paid by on all complimentary flights.

6. General Conditions: By accepting the Giveaway, winner grants Sponsor and it designees the right to use his/her name, biographical information, photo and/or likeness, and essay (or portions thereof) for advertising, publicity, promotional and other purposes in any and all media, now or hereafter devised, throughout the world in perpetuity, without additional compensation, notification or permission, except where prohibited by law. Released Parties (as defined below) are not responsible for lost, late, incomplete, illegible, inaccurate, delayed, stolen, misdirected, undelivered or garbled entries or for postage-due mail; or for lost, interrupted or unavailable network, server, Internet Service Provider (ISP), website, or other connections, availability or accessibility or miscommunications or failed computer, satellite, telephone or cable transmissions, lines, or technical failure or jumbled, scrambled, delayed, or misdirected transmissions or computer hardware or software malfunctions, failures or difficulties, or other errors or difficulties of an kind whether human, mechanical, electronic, computer, network, typographical, printing or otherwise relating to or in connection with the Giveaway, including, without limitation, errors or difficulties which may occur in connection with the administration of the Giveaway, the processing of entries, the announcement of the Prize or in any Giveaway-related materials.  Released Parties are also not responsible for an incorrect or in accurate information, whether caused by site users, tampering, hacking, or by any equipment or programming associated with or utilized in the Giveaway. Released Parties are not responsible for injury or damage to entrants’ or to any other person’s computer related to or resulting from participating in this Giveaway or downloading materials from or use of any website associated with the Giveaway. Persons who tamper with or abuse an aspect of the Giveaway, who are in violation of these Official Rules, or who act in an unsportsmanlike or disruptive manner as solely determined by Sponsor, will be disqualified and his/her entry will be void. Sponsor reserves the right at its sole discretion to suspend, modify or terminate the Giveaway (or any portion thereof) at any time for any reason, including, but not limited to, should an portion of the Giveaway be, in Sponsor’s sole opinion, compromised by virus, worms, bugs, 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, and, if terminated, at its discretion, select the potential winner for from all eligible, non-suspect entries received for the Giveaway prior to action taken or as otherwise deemed fair and appropriate by Sponsor. If there is a dispute as to the identity of an online entrant, the prize will be awarded to the authorized account holder of the email address, and s/he must comply with these Official Rules.  The “authorized account holder” is defined as the natural person to whom the email address is assigned by an internet service provider, online service provider or other organization (e.g., business, educational institution, etc.) that is responsible for assigning email addresses for the domain associated with the submitted email address.

7. Limitation of Liability: By entering the Giveaway, entrants agree to release and hold the Promotion Entities and their respective officers, directors, employees and agents ( collectively, “Released Parties”) harmless from any injury, losses or damages, including death, to person or property caused or claimed to be caused, in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, by his/her participation in the Giveaway or his/her acceptance or use of a prize (including any travel or activity related thereto).

8. Governing Law/Jurisdiction: All issues and questions concerning the construction, validity, interpretation and enforceability of the Official Rules or the rights and obligations of participants or Sponsor in connection with the Giveaway shall be governed by and constructed in accordance with the internal laws of the state of New York, without giving effect to any choice of law or conflict of law rules or provisions that would cause the application of any other state laws. Claims may not be resolved through any form of class action. Venue for all suits will be in federal or state courts located in New York, New York.

9. Severability: If any provision(s) of these Official Rules are held to be invalid or unenforceable, all remaining provisions hereof will remain in full force and effect.

10. Sponsor: Sheraton Maui Resort & Spa of Starwood Hotels and Resorts, and The Hawaii Pride Guide of MC Publishing Inc and Hawaiian Airlines.