“Get Connected and Win!” Video Contest Official Rules

You must agree to these Official Rules in order to enter the “Get Connected and Win!” Video Contest (the “Contest”). Entry into any portion of this Contest constitutes your acceptance of these Official Rules.

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY  – No purchase or payment of any money is necessary to enter.  Purchase will not improve the chances of winning.  All federal, state and/or local rules and regulations apply. Void where prohibited by law.

ELIGIBILITY – The Contest is open to students enrolled at the time of entry at an accredited Higher Education institution who have used McGraw-Hill Connect® for a particular course with an instructor at that same institution.  Entrants must be 18 years of age or older at time of entry. All entrants must be residents of the United States. Employees of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. (“McGraw-Hill”), and members of their immediate families are not eligible.  Entrants may not be represented under a music recording contract (e.g. by a talent agent) nor subject to an acting, modeling or other contract that would make his/her participation in this Contest a violation of third party rights.

TO ENTER – The Contest begins at 12:01 AM Pacific Time (“PT”) on February 27th, 2012 and ends at 11:59 PM Pacific Time (“PT”) March 21st, 2012 (“Contest Entry Period”).  Entrants are to submit a video (the “Video” or  “Entry”) approximately one (1) minute in length (but no longer than two (2) minutes) about McGraw-Hill Connect, using one of the following themes:

  • Connect helps me ___________.
  • My favorite thing about Connect is ___________.
  • I recommend Connect to all students because ___________.
  • I wish all my instructors used Connect because ___________.

Videos must include either a shot of or within the McGraw-Hill Connect website, or the Connect logo, available after you register under Downloads.

All Video audio must be in English.

Starting February 27th, 2012 at 12:01 AM (PT):

  1. Visit getconnectedandwin.com for additional explanation of these instructions
  2. Register and upload your Video (“Entry”) on getconnectedandwin.com
  3. Signed Video release forms must be obtained from all entrants and from anyone whose name, image, likeness, voice or comments are included in the Video.  All Video release forms must be submitted with the Entry.  The Video release form to be used for this purpose is available here.

All Entries and signed Video release forms must be received by 11:59 PM Pacific Time March 21st, 2012. For purpose of these Official Rules, “receipt” of an Entry occurs when McGraw-Hill’s contest website (or that of McGraw-Hill’s technology partners or their assigns) records the Entry information.  Any automated computer receipt (such as one confirming delivery of Entry) does not constitute proof of actual receipt by McGraw-Hill for purposes of these Official Rules.

All entrants are required to provide to McGraw-Hill the original master Video file upon request.

Limit one (1) Entry per person during the Contest Entry Period. Videos may be submitted by a team of entrants provided that the names of all team members are submitted with the Entry.  A lead team member must also be designated. All Entries must identify the instructor whose use of Connect is the subject of the Entry.  All Entries (including any team entry) may specify only one such instructor.  In the event of a dispute, online Entries will be deemed to have been submitted by the Authorized Account Holder of the email address submitted at the time of entry. “Authorized Account Holder” means the natural person who is assigned to an email address by an internet access provider, online service provider, or other organization that is responsible for assigning email addresses for the domain associated with the submitted email address.

Entries that have been tampered with or altered, and mass entries or entries generated by a script, macro or use of automated devices are void.  McGraw-Hill is not responsible for: (i) lost, late, misdirected, damaged, or illegible Entries; or (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 McGraw-Hill 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.

OWNERSHIP – All Entries, including supporting materials such as photos, and any copyrights therein, become the sole property of McGraw-Hill and will not be returned. Submission of Entry further constitutes each entrant’s consent (including that of the videographer(s) and production staff) to irrevocably assign and transfer to McGraw-Hill any and all rights, title and interest in and to the Entry, including, without limitation, all copyrights. McGraw-Hill shall have the irrevocable, worldwide right in perpetuity to reproduce, distribute, exhibit, publish or otherwise use the Entry in any and all media.

Submission of your Entry constitutes permission and rights for McGraw-Hill to use the name, image, likeness, voice and comments of all entrants and anyone whose name, image, likeness, voice or comments are included in the Video in advertising. McGraw-Hill is not responsible for any unauthorized third party use of any Entry.

Except where prohibited by law, Entry submission grants McGraw-Hill the right in perpetuity to edit, adjust, modify, abridge, condense, and excerpt such Entry and/or comments in any way, in any and all media, without limitation and without compensation to entrant. If an Entry or a portion of your Entry is selected for publication and/or other advertising purposes, it does not mean that it is a winning entry in this Contest nor does it create a confidential relationship between you and McGraw-Hill or any of its respective affiliates or subsidiaries.

Entry must be the original work of the entrant (or entrants), may not have been previously published, may not have won previous awards, and must not infringe upon the copyrights, trademarks, rights of privacy, publicity or other intellectual property or other rights of any person or entity.

All music in the Video must be completely original (created by entrants) or obtained from the Contest Media Pack available here.

JUDGING – Up to 50 eligible Entries will be selected by McGraw-Hill to be posted on getconnectedandwin.com for public voting April 4th, 2012 through 11:59 PM Pacific Time (“PT”) April 18th, 2012.  The winners will be selected by McGraw-Hill by May 9th , 2012.

Entries will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

  • Creativity: based on the representation of the theme and use of the Connect logo
  • Originality: based upon the uniqueness and authenticity of the message
  • Theme communication: how well the selected theme is expressed and its effectiveness
  • Suitability for advertising and publicity purposes
  • Number of votes received from the public on getconnectedandwin.com during the public voting period

The decisions of the judges are final in all matters pertaining to the Contest. McGraw-Hill reserves the right to not award one or more prizes if, in its sole and absolute discretion, it does not receive a sufficient number of eligible and qualified Entries.

WINNERS NOTIFICATIONS – Winners will be notified by phone, mail and/or email on or about May 9th, 2012. If a winner cannot be contacted or is otherwise unable to accept a prize as stated, that prize will be forfeited. If a prize notification or prize is returned as undeliverable, it will result in disqualification, and the corresponding prize may be awarded to an alternate in the discretion of the judges. In the event a winner declines a prize or any portion thereof, that winner will be disqualified and an alternate may be determined in the discretion of the judges. All winners are required to re-upload the original master Video file to the winners’ area designated in the winners’ notification prior to receipt of a prize.

PRIZES/APPROXIMATE RETAIL VALUE (“ARV”) – Winners are eligible for one of the following 50 prizes:  (McGraw-Hill reserves the right to not award one or more prizes if, in its sole and absolute discretion, it does not receive a sufficient number of eligible and qualified Entries.)

  • Grand prize (1) $5,000 Scholarship paid to the entrant’s educational institution plus an iPad to be awarded to the instructor of the course which is the subject of the Video.
  • Second prize (1) $2,000 Scholarship paid to the entrant’s educational institution plus an iPad to be awarded to the instructor of the course which is the subject of the Video.
  • Third prize (1) $1,000 Scholarship paid to the entrant’s educational institution plus an iPad to be awarded to the instructor of the course which is the subject of the Video.
  • Prize winners 4 through 10 (7 winners) will receive an  iPad (ARV: $499 each)
  • Prize winners 11 through 20 (10 winners) will receive an iPod Touch (ARV: $199 each)
  • Prize winners 21 through 30 (10 winners) will receive a $150 Amazon Gift Card
  • Prize winners 31 through 40 (10 winners) will receive a $100 Amazon Gift Card
  • Prize winners 41 through 50 (10 winners) will receive a PowerMat (ARV: $40 each)

Total retail value of all prizes: $17,880. Where an Entry has been submitted by a winning team, the scholarship prizes will be split equally among all team members listed on the Entry registration form. If at the time the prize is awarded, a winner is not enrolled at an accredited higher education institution, the prize amount will be paid to the former student. Non-cash prizes won by a team will be awarded to the lead team member listed on the Entry registration form. (No team will receive more than one (1) prize to be shared among team members.)  McGraw-Hill reserves the right to substitute a prize of equal or greater value at its sole discretion.

TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS –

  • Video must include sound and be done in English
  • Video should be approximately one (1) minute in length, and cannot exceed two (2) minutes
  • Video must be submitted one of the following video file formats: MPEG4, 3GPP and MOV files (Typically supporting h264, mpeg4 video codecs, and AAC audio codec without PAFF/MBAFF encoding); .AVI; .MPEGPS (Typically supporting MPEG2 video codec and MP2 audio);  .WMV; .FLV (Adobe-FLV1 video codec, MP3 audio)
  • Video file size limit: 500MB

CONTENT RESTRICTIONS – Entries must comply with the following content guidelines to be eligible:

  • Content cannot be sexually explicit or suggestive, unnecessarily violent or derogatory of any ethnic, racial, gender, religious, professional or age group, profane or pornographic, or contain nudity;
  • Content cannot promote alcohol, illegal drugs, tobacco, firearms/weapons (or the use of any of the foregoing), any activities that may appear unsafe or dangerous, or any particular political agenda or message;
  • Content cannot be obscene or offensive, endorse any form of hate or hate group;
  • Content cannot defame, misrepresent or contain disparaging remarks about other people or companies;
  • Except as stated above, content cannot contain trademarks, logos or trade dress (such as distinctive packaging or building exteriors/interiors) owned by others, or advertise or promote any brand or product of any kind, without permission, or contain any personal identification, such as license plate numbers, personal names, e-mail addresses or street addresses; the only permissible logos to include are those of McGraw-Hill, as required above.
  • Content cannot contain copyrighted materials owned by others (including photographs, sculptures, paintings and other works of art or images published on or in websites, television, movies or other media);
  • Content cannot contain materials embodying the names, likenesses, photographs, or other indicia identifying any person, living or dead, without a written consent being submitted to McGraw-Hill with the Entry;
  • Content cannot contain scenes of crowds;
  • Content cannot communicate messages or images inconsistent with the positive images and/or goodwill with which McGraw-Hill wishes to associate; and
  • Content cannot depict and cannot itself be in violation of any law or otherwise.

McGraw-Hill reserves the right to disqualify any Entry for any reason, in its sole and absolute discretion.

PRIZE CONDITIONS – Prizes are not substitutable for any other item by winners and may not be transferred or assigned. McGraw-Hill reserves the right to substitute a comparable prize of like or greater value for any prize, for any reason. Winners are responsible for all applicable federal, state and local taxes and fees, plus any other incidentals. McGraw-Hill will issue Forms 1099 to the winners and copies will be filed with the Internal Revenue Service.

Winners will be required to sign an affidavit of eligibility and liability/publicity release form prior to receipt of a prize. Non-compliance will result in disqualification and forfeit of prize. The affidavit of eligibility and liability/publicity release form must be returned, properly executed within five calendar (5) days of notification of winning, after which the entrant (or winning team) will be awarded the prize. Failure to return the affidavit and liability/publicity release within the time allotted will disqualify the winner and an alternate winner will be selected. Due to the anticipated volume of entries, no correspondence will be returned.

GENERAL – McGraw-Hill reserves the right at its sole discretion to cancel or suspend this Contest or any part thereof including terminating just one phase or portion of the Contest. Void where prohibited by law.

WINNER’S LIST – For the winners’ names, visit getconnectedandwin.com on or after May 9th, 2012.

ENTRANT’S RELEASE – By entering this Contest, entrants agree to release McGraw-Hill and all others associated with the development and execution of this Contest, including their respective affiliates, employees, agents and representatives, from and against any and all liability with respect to or in any way arising from the Contest and the awarding and use of the prizes, including liability for personal injury and/or property damage. Winners assume all liability for any injury or damage caused or claimed to be caused, by participation in this Contest or use or redemption of any prize. McGraw-Hill is not responsible for any typographical or other error in the printing of the offer, administration of the Contest or in the announcement of the prizes.

PRIVACY – Each winner will be required to give McGraw-Hill his/her social security number, legal name, age, current address, and phone number. The social security number will be used for tax record keeping purposes only. McGraw-Hill on occasion shares contact information collected about contestants with other units within the family of The McGraw-Hill Companies whose products or services we feel may be of interest to you. If you have any questions about the uses we make of this information, or if you would like to review the accuracy of the information you submitted, you may contact the McGraw-Hill Privacy Officer at privacy@mcgraw-hill.com. For more information about The McGraw-Hill Companies’ Customer Privacy Policy, visit our web site at: http://www.mcgraw-hill.com/privacy.html.

OFFICIAL RULES – By entering, each entrant accepts and agrees to be bound by these Official Rules and the decisions of the judges. Any dispute regarding these rules will be resolved by McGraw-Hill and its decision shall be final. Failure to comply with these Official Rules may result in disqualification from the Contest. McGraw-Hill reserves the right to permanently disqualify from any Contest it sponsors any person it believes has intentionally violated these Official Rules.

LEGAL WARNING – ANY ATTEMPT BY AN INDIVIDUAL, WHETHER OR NOT AN ENTRANT, TO DELIBERATELY DAMAGE, DESTROY, TAMPER OR VANDALIZE THIS WEBSITE OR INTERFERE WITH THE OPERATION OF THE CONTEST, IS A VIOLATION OF APPLICABLE LAWS AND McGRAW-HILL RESERVES THE RIGHT TO SEEK DAMAGES AND DILIGENTLY PURSUE ALL REMEDIES AGAINST ANY SUCH INDIVIDUAL TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW.

The trademarks associated with YouTube, Apple iPad, Apple iPod touch, Amazon and Powermat are NOT affiliated with this Contest in any fashion whatsoever, and no endorsement is suggested or implied.