Conditions of Entry for the BookRix Free “Frightening Fiction” Writing Competition
The participation in the English BookRix Competition (hereinafter: "Competition") arranged by BookRix GmbH & Co. KG ("Provider") are subject to and governed by the conditions of entry (hereinafter "Conditions and Rules") set out below:
1. Approval to Conditions and Rules by the User: The User approves and consents to the Conditions and Rules by participating in the Competition. It is possible to participate in the Competition as an author and/or as a reviewer. This consent to the Conditions and Rules is given regardless whether a User participates in the Competition as author or as reviewer.
2. Applicability of General Terms and Conditions (GTC) and the privacy policy: In general, the Competition is subject to and governed by the GTC and the privacy policy of BookRix GmbH & Co. KG (Provider) unless these Conditions and Rules provide for deviant or special rules.
3. Possible entrants: Any User registered in the Bookrix.com website can participate in the Competition. Citizens of Germany, Austria and Switzerland are not allowed to take part in the Competition. The participation of minors is subject to prior consent of their legal representative(s). Personnel of the Provider or of BookRix Verwaltungs-GmbH and their respective relatives (§ 15 of the German revenue code [Abgabenordnung - AO]) are not allowed to participate in the Competition.
4. Payment: There is no fee to participate in the Competition.
5. Participation as author: An author has to register on Bookrix.com and upload his or her self-created book on to the site to register for the Competition. An author can register more than one book for the Competition. Citizens of Germany, Austria and Switzerland are not allowed to take part in the Competition.
6. Requirements for stories (rights of the author, volume and language): Only self-created books may be registered for the Competition. This means that the author must own all the rights to the registered book and the contents of the book. Books which violate the rights of Third Parties are not allowed to be registered. Moreover, books which are registered for the Competition must be created by using the BookRix Text Editor tool (based on the BookRix format) and must be written in English.
Books must have a cover. Each book must be at least 25 BookRix pages long. Fiction stories involving horror, gothic themes, thrillers or dark romance are all allowed in this competition.
7. Participation as reviewer: Every User can participate in the Competition as a book reviewer. Participation as reviewer requires voting with a trophy in favor of a book that has been registered for the Competition. Users who participate in the Competition as reviewers automatically participate in the random drawing for the Amazon gift cards. It is possible to vote for more than one book. However, this does not increase the chances in the drawing for the Amazon gift cards. Citizens of Germany, Austria and Switzerland are not allowed to take part in the Competition.
8. Notes with respect to chances to win in the drawing and to the number of votes: The chances of a User who participates in the Competition as reviewer are not increased if the User votes for more than one book registered for the Competition. In case a User votes more than once for a particular book, his or her votes will count as just one vote.
9. Cancellation of the reviewer´s account: The reviewer’s votes for contest books are valid as long as the user does not delete his account on BookRix during the competition. By deleting one’s account, the reviewer cancels his votes and his participation in the Competition.
10. Recommendations with respect to voting: The Provider recommends taking into account the following criteria when rating books: creativity, design, form and style. However, these criteria are neither exhaustive nor binding. Users are free to vote on books based on their own criteria.
11. Registration: deadlines for the registration of stories and voting. Users can register books with the Provider for the Competition between September 27, 2010 to November 2, 2010, 11 p.m. London Time/GMT. Books that are registered after this date and time will not be taken into account. Users can only vote on books that are registered for the Competition between September 27, 2010 to November 2, 2010, 11 p.m. London Time/GMT. Votes can only be made online on the BookRix website between September 27, 2010, and November 2, 2010, 11 p.m. London Time/GMT.
12. Limitation of prizes: Users participating in the author contest in the Competition can win just one prize (place) in the author contest. In the case that a User registers more than one book for the Competition and more than one book from this User (author) obtains the number of votes required to be among the top 10, only one book by this User (author) will become part of the top 10. In this case, the author’s book with the higher number of votes will be kept in the top 10. Therefore, an author can win only one prize from his or her book and will not win any more prizes (places) from his or her other books. The Users (authors) with the next highest amount of votes for their registered books move up in the rankings. In addition, only one vote per one IP address will be counted as a vote.
13. Voting system: BookRix’s online voting system will determine which 10 books received the most votes. If multiple books have the same amount of votes, the selection will be decided by drawing lots. Only one vote per one IP address is counted in the contest voting. The top 10 books will be given to an independent jury.
14. Wildcards: Besides the top 10 books with the highest amount of votes, BookRix will give out a certain number of wildcards to eligible books. These wildcard BookRix books will be added to the top 10 given to the independent jury. Wildcards do not correlate with the amount of votes collected in the community voting.
Users are welcome to nominate their picks for wildcards in the wildcard thread that will be open from October 22, 2010, to October 29, 2010, 8 a.m. EST, 1 p.m. London Time/GMT. The wildcard voting thread will be announced when opened in the “I love BookRix Writing Contests” group and the BookRix newsletter so stay tuned for further information.
15. Prizes for authors: For the author contest, the 10 best-rated books and a certain number of wildcards will be given to an independent jury. The jury rates the three best books from the selection of the 10 best-rated books and wildcards. The jury determines the winning books. The jury will assign a ranking from 1st place to 3rd place.
16. Prizes for the reviewers: 10 winners will be determined among the Users participating in the Competition as reviewers. The Users who have participated in the Competition as reviewers (who have voted at least once) will be entered into a drawing to determine the winners.
17. Notification and publication of the names of the winners: The Provider will notify all winners on or before December 8, 2010, via personal message. In addition, the names of the winners will be published on BookRix as well as in the Provider's newsletter.
18. Publication of the winners’ books: The winners of the three highest places in the contest allow the Provider to use his or her book for promotional and advertising purposes within the newsletter of the Provider and/or other data carriers. The authors of the winning books will retain the copyright. Every User (author) who participates in the Competition understands that BookRix does not owe the User any additional consideration, payment, compensation, transfer of profit or forbearance beyond the above-mentioned prizes. By uploading the book to electronic form on the Provider’s website, the User who participates in the Competition acknowledges that BookRix is granted the right, free of charge, to publish the electronic file and make it available for downloading and saving by other individuals. The author has the right to remove his book from the competition at any time.
19. Prizes for winners in the Competition: The winners in the Competition will obtain the prizes set out below: First place: $800; Second place: $500; and Third place: $300.
20. Prizes in the voters’ drawing: There will be a random drawing among voters for ten $20 Amazon gift cards. This means that each of the 10 winners drawn will receive a $20 gift card for
Amazon purchases.
21. Payment of monetary prizes; non-transferability of claims to prices: The Provider will pay the monetary prizes to the respective winners by remitting the respective amounts to the bank accounts given to the Provider by the respective winners. Winners must not assign their claims to prizes from the Provider to other persons.
22. Notification of winners; re-notification deadline for winners; preclusion of claim to prize: The Provider will notify winners via personal message. Following notification, winners must notify the bank account to which the monetary prize is to be remitted and the mailing address to which the non-monetary prize (Amazon gift card) is to be sent within one month of receipt of the notification that the prize has been won. Such receipt of notification must be made to the Provider in written form or via e-mail. In case the data or information required are not sent to the Provider within one month, the respective winner will lose his or her claim to the prize.
23. Bank Accounts: The use of the bank account for remittance of the monetary prizes will only occur if the winners of the Competition send their bank account information or data to the Provider. The Provider will use such information or data to remit the monetary prize only. The Provider will not pass on the bank account information or data to Third Parties.
24. Exclusion of Users from the Competition by the Provider: The Provider is entitled to exclude Users who violate the GTC of the Provider, these Conditions and Rules and/or the Code of Conduct from the Competition. Users who are excluded from the Competition automatically cease to participate in the Competition.
25. Modification of the rules: The Provider reserves the right to modify the conditions of entry and contest details at any time.
26. Special note with respect to the limitation of liability of the Provider and certain prohibitions: Again, reference is made to sections 10, 11, 22, 23, 24 and 27 of the GTC.
27. Exclusion of legal process: Any recourse to the courts and legal steps are excluded.
