Contest Rules
NO PURCHASE IS NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. A PURCHASE WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING. ALL FEDERAL, STATE, LOCAL, AND MUNICIPAL LAWS AND REGULATIONS APPLY. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED.
1. Eligibility
2025 National Conscience Month Essay Contest (Theme: Be A Light In The World) (aka. the "Contest") is open to legal residents of the fifty (50) United States and the District of Columbia who are a high school senior (with parent(s) or legal representative over the age of 18 as legal representative of the minor) at the time of entry. Employees of American Meditation Institute and other companies associated with the promotion of the Contest, and their respective parents, subsidiaries, affiliates and advertising and promotion agencies as well as the immediate family (spouse, parents, siblings, and children) and household members of each such employee are not eligible. The Contest is subject to federal, state, and local laws and regulations.
2. Sponsor
The Contest is sponsored by American Meditation Institute, located at Box 430 Averill Park, NY 12018.
3. Agreement to Official Rules
Participation in the Contest constitutes entrant's full and unconditional agreement to and acceptance of these Official Rules and the decisions of the Sponsor, which are final and binding. Winning a prize is contingent upon being compliant with these Official Rules and fulfilling all other requirements set forth herein.
4. Contest Period
The Contest begins on December 1, 2024 at 7:00am EST and ends on January 29, 2025 at 11:59pm EST (the "Contest Period"). Entries that are submitted before or after the Contest Period will be disqualified. Submissions will be accepted for the duration of the Contest using any of the following methods:
Online Jotform
5. How to Enter
Online: This method of entry will be available by visiting our website form (https://form.jotform.com/233459176532158) and following the directions provided to fill out the entry information, and submit. Entry must include a 1000 words or less essay in pdf file format on the topic of: “Using the Conscience. Think of a real situation in your life––or create an imaginary scenario––in which you allowed (or chose not to allow) your Conscience to guide your thoughts, words and actions. What were the results? Were there benefits? Or unexpected consequences? What did you learn from this experience?” Contest Entrant is asked to consider how they can “Be a light in the world,” based on the 2025 theme of the contest.
Limit one (1) entry per person, per email address, and per household for the duration of the Contest Period, regardless of method of entry. Entries received from any person, e-mail address, or household in excess of the stated limitation will be void. Only original essays will be accepted, any entries found to be plagiarized or created/modified with Artificial Intelligence programs will make their entry void. All entries become the property of Sponsor and will not be acknowledged or returned.
6. Prize Drawing
On or about 11:59pm EST at the end of the contest on January 29, 2025, the Sponsor will review and select the potential winner after reviewing the essays (based on content, theme, grammar use, and artistic talent) from among all eligible entries received. The odds of being selected depend on the number of entries received. Winners can request the prize via email to ami@americanmeditation.org to get a shipment of the winning item, by 11:59pm EST on or around 3/1/2025. The Sponsor will attempt to notify the potential winner via email by February 15, 2025. If the potential winner cannot be contacted within five (5) days after the date of the first attempt to contact him/her, the Sponsor may select an alternate potential winner in his/her place from the remaining non-winning, eligible entries.
7. Winner Notification
The potential winner(s) will be notified by email from ami@americanmeditation.org. Each potential Grand Prize winner (parent/legal guardian if a minor in his/her state of residence) will be required to complete, electronically sign and submit a Declaration of Compliance within seven (7) days of the date notice or attempted notice is sent, in order to claim his/her prize. If a potential winner cannot be contacted, or fails to submit the Declaration of Compliance within the required time period (if applicable), or prize is returned as undeliverable, potential winner forfeits prize. If the potential winner is at least 18 but still considered a minor in his/her jurisdiction of residence, Sponsor reserves the right to award the prize in the name of his/her parent or legal guardian, who will be required to sign the Declaration of Compliance on the potential winners behalf and fulfill any other requirements imposed on winner set forth herein. Potential winners must continue to comply with all terms and conditions of these Official Rules, and winning is contingent upon fulfilling all requirements. In the event that a potential winner is disqualified for any reason, Sponsor will award the applicable prize to an alternate winner by random drawing from among all remaining eligible entries. Only three (3) alternate drawings will be held, after which the prize will remain un-awarded. Prizes will be fulfilled approximately 8-10 weeks after the conclusion of the Contest.
Submissions may be featured by the American Meditation Institute either online or in print in connection with National Conscience Month programming and promotions, and the right to reproduce submissions is reserved by The American Meditation Institute and its sponsors.
8. Grand Prize
Grand Prize: 1- $2795 to be used only towards college expenses and the AMI foundation course
9. General Conditions
In the event that the operation, security, or administration of the Contest is impaired in any way for any reason, including, but not limited to fraud, virus, bug, worm, unauthorized human intervention or other technical problem, or in the event the Contest is unable to run as planned for any other reason, as determined by Sponsor in its sole discretion, the Sponsor may, in its sole discretion, either (a) suspend the Contest to address the impairment and then resume the Contest in a manner that best conforms to the spirit of these Official Rules or (b) terminate the Contest and, in the event of termination, award the prize at random from among the eligible, non-suspect entries received up to the time of the impairment. The Sponsor reserves the right in its sole discretion to disqualify any individual it finds to be tampering with the entry process or the operation of the Contest or to be acting in violation of these Official Rules or in an unsportsmanlike or disruptive manner. Any attempt by any person to damage the website or undermine the legitimate operation of the Contest may be a violation of criminal and civil law, and, should such an attempt be made, the Sponsor reserves the right to seek damages (including attorney's fees) and any other remedies from any such person to the fullest extent permitted by law. Failure by the Sponsor to enforce any provision of these Official Rules shall not constitute a waiver of that provision.
10. Release and Limitations of Liability
By participating in the Contest, entrants agree to release and hold harmless the Sponsor, and each of their respective parents, subsidiaries, affiliates, advertising and promotion agencies, other companies associated with the Contest, and each of their respective officers, directors, employees, shareholders, representatives, and agents (the Released Parties) from and against any claim or cause of action arising out of participation in the Contest or receipt or use of the prize (including any travel or activity related thereto), including, but not limited to: (a) any technical errors associated with the Contest, including lost, interrupted or unavailable Internet Service Provider (ISP), network, server, wireless service provider, or other connections, availability or accessibility or miscommunications or failed computer, satellite, telephone, cellular tower or cable transmissions, lines, or technical failure or jumbled, scrambled, delayed, or misdirected transmissions or computer hardware or software malfunctions, failures or difficulties; (b) unauthorized human intervention in the Contest; (c) mechanical, network, electronic, computer, human, printing or typographical errors; (d) application downloads, (e) any other errors or problems in connection with the Contest, including, without limitation, errors that may occur in the administration of the Contest, the announcement of the winner, the cancellation or postponement of the event and/or the flyover, if applicable, the incorrect downloading of the application, the processing of entries application downloads or in any Contest-related materials; or (f) injury, death, losses or damages of any kind, to persons or property which may be caused, directly or indirectly, in whole or in part, from entrants participation in the Contest or acceptance, receipt or misuse of the prize (including any travel or activity related thereto). Entrant further agrees that in any cause of action, the Released Parties liability will be limited to the cost of entering and participating in the Contest, and in no event shall the entrant be entitled to receive attorney's fees. Released Parties are also not responsible for any incorrect or inaccurate information, whether caused by site users, tampering, hacking, or by any equipment or programming associated with or utilized in the Contest. Entrant waives the right to claim any damages whatsoever, including, but not limited to, punitive, consequential, direct, or indirect damages.
Social Network Disclaimer:
*This promotion is not sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with Facebook, X (Twitter), Linkedin, Instagram, or any other social media websites. Understand that you are providing your information to American Meditation Institute and not to Facebook or any other social media providers. By participating in this promotion, you agree to a complete release of Facebook (and all social media platforms) from any claims.*
11. Disputes
Except where prohibited, each entrant agrees that any and all disputes, claims and causes of action arising out of, or connected with, the Contest or any prize awarded shall be resolved individually, without resort to any form of class action, and exclusively by the appropriate court located in New York. All issues and questions concerning the construction, validity, interpretation and enforceability of these Official Rules, entrants rights and obligations, or the rights and obligations of the Sponsor in connection with the Contest, shall be governed by, and construed in accordance with, the laws of New York, without giving effect to any choice of law or conflict of law rules, which would cause the application of the laws of any jurisdiction other than New York.
If you would like to receive a copy of these Official Contest Rules for your records, please print a copy of this form or email us at info@americanmeditation.org and use “2025 National Conscience Month Essaty Contest Guidelines” as your subject line.
12. Privacy
Information collected from entrants is subject to sponsor's privacy policy (see below).
Privacy Notice:
This privacy notice discloses the privacy practices for www.buckhillfalls.com. This privacy notice applies solely to information collected by this website and the contest webform. It will notify you of the following:
What personally identifiable information is collected from you through the website, how it is used and with whom it may be shared. What choices are available to you regarding the use of your data. The security procedures in place to protect the misuse of your information. How you can correct any inaccuracies in the information.
Information Collection, Use, and Sharing
We are the sole owners of the information collected on this site. We only have access to/collect information that you voluntarily give us via email or other direct contact from you. We will not sell or rent this information to anyone.
We will use your information to respond to you, regarding the reason you contacted us. We will not share your information with any third party outside of our organization, other than as necessary to fulfill your request, e.g. to ship an order.
Unless you ask us not to, we may contact you via email in the future to tell you about specials, new products or services, or changes to this privacy policy.
Your Access to and Control Over Information
You may opt out of any future contacts from us at any time. You can do the following at any time by contacting us via the email address or phone number given on our website:
See what data we have about you, if any.
Change/correct any data we have about you.
Have us delete any data we have about you.
Express any concern you have about our use of your data.
Security
We take precautions to protect your information. When you submit sensitive information via the website, your information is protected both online and offline.
Wherever we collect sensitive information (such as credit card data), that information is encrypted and transmitted to us in a secure way. You can verify this by looking for a lock icon in the address bar and looking for "https" at the beginning of the address of the Web page.
While we use encryption to protect sensitive information transmitted online, we also protect your information offline. Only employees who need the information to perform a specific job (for example, billing or customer service) are granted access to personally identifiable information. The computers/servers in which we store personally identifiable information are kept in a secure environment.
If you feel that we are not abiding by this privacy policy, you should contact us immediately via email: info@americanmeditation.org.