Contest Rules
Contest Period
1. The Contest runs from April 3, 2023 at 12:00am until April 30 2023 at 11:59pm EDT.
How to Enter
2. No purchase or entry fee is required.
3. During the Contest Period, entrants must send an application and story idea through the contest website.
4. Limit one Contest registration per person.
5. Application
Personal Eligibility
6. Entrants must be youth from military families between 13 and 18.
This includes:
- Families of Regular Force Members;
- Families of Reserve Force Members;
- Families of Veterans;
- Families of the Deceased; and
- Cadets.
7. Contest coordinators, CFMWS/DND employees, CFMWS/DND contractors, individuals working as casuals within PSP, students working within CFMWS/DND, and their immediate families, are not eligible to participate in the Contest.
8. CFMWS shall have the right at any time to require proof of identity and/or eligibility to participate in the contests. Failure to provide such proof may result in disqualification. All personal and other information requested by and supplied to CFMWS for the purpose of the contests must be truthful, complete, accurate, easily readable and in no way misleading.
9. CFMWS reserve the right, in their sole discretion, to disqualify any entrant should such an entrant at any stage supply untruthful, incomplete, inaccurate, uneasy to read or misleading personal details and/or information.
10. Upon completion and submission of the required information and/or documentation mentioned in the specific contest information, eligible contestants will be entered into the contest for one (1) chance to win (i.e. one entry). One winner will be chosen for each category and will receive a scholarship valued at 1,000 with the fifth winner being the wildcard pick.
Determining the Winner
11. All article ideas/applications will be reviewed by the Editors of the Canadian Forces Newspapers to choose finalists.
12. Editors may choose to nominate an article idea for a 5th entry: The Wild Card. All nominated stories will be voted on, and the nomination that receives the most votes by the selection committee will be named the 5th finalist.
13. Submissions are the draft news stories ideas, preferred format and category instead of simply a story idea. The selection committee will select the top stories in a variety of formats to be featured during the final week of April, which is the Month of the Military Child. All selected recipients (winners) will receive a lower scholarship amount instead of one grand prize winner and the opportunity to be published on our CFMWS Channels (website, social media, email) and Canadian Forces Newspapers, as well as on our internal newsletter “Maple Leaf”. One category winner will be published each day.
14. Written submissions must not exceed 750 words in length.
15. An article must be accompanied by a title of not more than 140 characters.
16. Articles must be sent digitally in Microsoft Word or .pdf format.
17. Articles may be submitted in either English or French, and will be translated for publication.
18. A submission includes one photograph that represents the story, and one headshot with a white background of the reporter; photographs must be submitted digitally as .jpg or .png format with a preferable resolution of no less than 150-300 dpi. The photo should include a caption of 20 words or less.
19. The entry submission must be your own original work and not defame nor breach any copyright or contain anything that could be deemed offensive or inappropriate. Any material that is deemed unsuitable will be removed from the judging process and disqualified.
20. Each page will be laid out the same to ensure fairness.
21. To help you in this process, you are being assigned a mentor from the Canadian Forces Newspaper Association. They will help you build an emotional story that has impact, as well as edit your draft for clarity, content, syntax and grammar. Selected winners will have the opportunity for a 1-2 hour mentorship from an expert in the specific medium. This may be one-on-one or in a group setting.
22. All entries become the sole property of the organizers and none will be returned for any reason.
23. Entries must be received no later than the end of the contest period mentioned in the specific contest information.
24. Entries will be declared invalid if they are late, illegible, incomplete, damaged, irregular, mutilated, forged, garbled or mechanically or electronically reproduced. No communication or correspondence will be exchanged with entrants except with those selected for the specific contest prize.
Awarding Prizes
25. Prizes must be accepted as awarded and are non-refundable, non-transferable and non-redeemable for any cash value. CFMWS reserves the right to make prize substitutions of equivalent monetary value. Winners are not entitled to monetary difference between actual prize value and stated approximate prize value, if any.
26. CFMWS will pay the costs to deliver the prize to the winner's home address. Each winner will be responsible for all costs or expenses related to set-up.
27. Attempts to contact the winners at least three (3) times within the fourteen (14) days after the vote. If the selected finalist does not reply and/or cannot be contacted in that time, another contestant will be selected and the recipient who could not be contacted after at least three (3) times and fourteen (14) days will be disqualified and will have no recourse towards CFMWS or anyone involved in the contest.
28. Reasonable efforts will be made to contact the replacement finalist whose story will be chosen by the selection committee, however, if the second winner cannot be reached by close of business day three (3) weeks after the end of the contest, the contest will be cancelled and no prize will be awarded.
29. The Prize will be awarded to the Contestant whose contact information (name, telephone number or email address has been given by the Contestant at time of completion of the online entry, to the Contestant who has complied with these Rules.
Youth Reporter Prize Acceptance
30. In order to win, the winning Youth Reporter will be required to sign a Prize Claim Form and Acceptance Agreement confirming compliance with the Youth Reporter Competition Rules, acceptance of the Prize as awarded and releasing CFMWS from all liability relating to the Youth Reporter Competition. No substitution for or transfer of the Youth Reporter Grand Prize will be allowed.
31. The winning Youth Reporter may be invited to attend a prize presentation at their local CAF base newspaper for a photo op to announce the winner in CAF Newspapers, on CFMWS/PSP social media sites, on the CFMWS website and on The Maple Leaf website.
Odds
32. Participants' odds of winning will depend on the total number of eligible entries received during the Contest Period.
Quebec
33. The Contest is subject to applicable federal, provincial, and territorial laws. This Contest is void where prohibited or restricted by law. For residents of Québec, any litigation respecting the conduct and awarding of the prizes in this Contest must be submitted to la Régie des alcools, des courses et des jeux du Québec only for the purpose of helping the parties reach a settlement.
General Rules
34. Each Prize claim is subject to verification by CFMWS and/or its designated representatives.
35. Entries made with multiple addresses, under multiple identities, or through the use of any device or artifice to enter multiple times or entries that are in excess of the permitted number of entries during the Contest period are automatically void.
36. All Contest entries obtained through unauthorized sources or which are incomplete, illegible, mutilated, altered, reproduced, forged, irregular or fraudulent in any way or otherwise not in compliance with these Rules are automatically void. CFMWS will be the sole and final reference source in validating a Prize claim.
37. By participating, each Contestant and selected winner and guests agree: (a) to be bound by these Rules and the decisions of CFMWS, (b) to release and hold harmless CFMWS, the Canadian Armed Forces, the Department of National Defence its affiliates, subsidiaries, and independent contractors, and their respective directors, officers, employees, agents and representatives including advertising and promotion agencies, from any and all liability for claims/damages including, but not limited to, claims/damages for personal injury, for property damage with respect to acceptance, possession or use or misuse of the Prize or participation in the Contest and (c) to permit CFMWS to use his/her name, address, city, province, of residence, photograph, video, or any likeness for advertising or publicity purposes without any additional compensation.
38. By entering the Contest, entrant releases and holds Releasees harmless from any and all liability for any injuries, loss or damage of any kind to the entrant or any other person, including personal injury, death, or property damage, resulting in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, from acceptance, possession, use or misuse of any Prize, participation in the Contest, any breach of the Contest Rules, or in any Prize-related activity. The entrant agrees to fully indemnify Releasees from any and all claims by third parties relating to the Contest, without limitation.
39. All draws are final and without appeal in all matters relating to this contest and the awarding of the prizes. By entering the contest, the contestant automatically agrees to accept and abide by these contest rules and regulations. CFMWS reserves the right to disqualify any contestant or cancel any entry that does not comply with these rules. CFMWS reserves the right to modify the terms of this contest or cancel it without notice at any time. The decisions of CFMWS in relation to this Contest will be final and binding on all entrants.
40. CFMWS shall not be responsible for incorrect, unreadable or inaccurate transcription or registration of Contest entry information, technical malfunctions, lost/delayed data transmission, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, faulty, incomplete, incomprehensible, or erased computer or network transmissions, line failures of any telephone network, failure of computer equipment, software, inability to access any online service or web site, inability to submit the online survey, or any other error or malfunction, or any injury or damage to entrant’s or any other person’s computer related to or resulting from participation or downloading any materials in this Contest.
41. CFMWS reserves the right to cancel, terminate, or suspend this Contest, at its sole discretion, in the event of a technical failure, computer virus or bug, unauthorized human intervention, fraud or any other occurrence or cause beyond its control that corrupts or adversely affects the administration, security, fairness or normal operation of the Contest, subject, in Quebec, to the approval of the Régie des alcools, des courses et des jeux.
42. If a selected entrant is awarded the Prize due to a system error, malfunction or defect the Prize will be returned to the Prize pool, to be re-awarded.
43. Under no circumstances will CFMWS, the Canadian Armed Forces, the Department of National Defence its affiliates, subsidiaries, and independent contractors, and their respective directors, officers, employees, and agents, including advertising and promotion agencies be required to award more Prizes than what is indicated in these Rules or award the Prizes other than in accordance with these Rules.
44. All contests run under recreation programs, therefore Canadian Armed Forces personnel are not considered on duty while participating. Temporary Duty allowances do not apply and an approved leave pass is required. In the case where the Grand Prize winner is unable to participate due to military operation duties, an eligible guest may participate in his/her place. Supporting documentation may be requested.
45. The Contest is subject to all Federal, Provincial and local laws, as well as the rules adopted in view of said laws. The personal information provided to enter the Contest will be used only to administer the Contest, and for no other reason.
46. By submitting entries, the contestant agrees that all submissions can be used without further permission, properly accredited, for, but not limited to: Publication on DND, CAF and CFMWS platforms such as websites and social media channels; Display at various DND locations; and Other DND/CAF Video Contest promotional material.
47. The contest rules are available in French.
48. In the event of discrepancy between the English and French versions, the English version shall prevail.
