LITTLE WISHES
OFFICIAL RULES
1. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR TO WIN. A PURCHASE WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR ODDS OF WINNING. SUBJECT TO APPLICABLE FEDERAL, STATE, LOCAL AND MUNICIPAL LAWS AND REGULATIONS. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED.
2. Eligibility. Subject to the additional restrictions below, the LITTLE WISHES CONTEST is open to legal U.S. residents (excluding Puerto Rico) who are 18 years or older at the time of entry. Entrants must not be convicted of a felony. Employees and contractors of WFAA-TV (“Sponsor”), TEGNA Inc., or SAM PACK AUTO GROUP, and each of their respective affiliated companies, and advertising and promotional agencies, and the immediate family members of, and any persons domiciled with, any such employees or contractors, are not eligible to enter or to win.
3. How To Enter. The Contest will begin at 12:00 a.m. CST on January 1, 2023 and end at 11:59 p.m. CST on DECEMBER 31, 2023. The Sponsor reserves the right to shorten or extend the Contest Period. To enter, go online by visiting wfaa.com/littlewishes, completing all required information and following all posted instructions. All essays must be the sole, original work of the entrant, must be typewritten or legibly printed in English, and must be limited to 500 words. Judges may disqualify previously published essays/video or those that have won previous awards or competitions. A qualified screener will review all nominations and deliver a list of finalists to a panel of judges. On or around the first week of each month, a panel of qualified judges the Sponsor selects will judge in the finalists for that month and select one monthly winner. Judges will award up to 50 points for entries that demonstrate a compelling need, and up to 50 points for quality of the written essay nomination. The finalist entry with the highest overall score will be the winner. In the event of a tie for first place, judges will re-judge the tied finalist entries using the same criteria.
Maximum one (1) entry per person. Multiple entries by means of software generated or other automated processes will be disregarded. Entries not selected as a winner will automatically rollover to subsequent months of the Contest, if applicable.
Multiple entrants are not permitted to share the same email address. Sponsor will not be responsible for incomplete, lost, late, postage-due, misdirected, or illegible entries, Entries that exceed the 500-word limit that do not comply with the provisions of these Official Rules will be disqualified. All entries become property of Sponsor and none will be returned. Contestants acknowledge and agree that Sponsor shall have the right to edit, adapt, modify, reproduce, publish, promote, create a sound recording of, broadcast, or otherwise display or use entries in any way it sees fit without limitation or compensation to entrants. Sponsor further reserves the right to disqualify any entry that is alleged to infringe on any third-party’s intellectual property rights, or that Sponsor, in its sole discretion, deems obscene, offensive or otherwise inappropriate for viewing by a general audience. By entering, you agree to receive e-mails from Sponsor or those directed by Sponsor. You can opt-out of the receipt of such e-mails by following the directions on the Contest website or in any email received from Sponsor.
4. Winner Selection. On or around the third Monday of the month following submissions until the end of the Contest one monthly winner will be visited in person by WFAA (i.e. the final visit in December 2020). If the person who placed the nomination cannot be reached within 5 days after WFAA’s initial attempt on or around the first Monday of the month, or if the selected winner will be unavailable to accept the prize, WFAA will select an alternate winner from the remaining nominations.
5. Prizes and Odds. One (1) Monthly winner for each month of the Contest between February 2020 and December 2020 inclusive (eleven (11) winners total) will receive a prize matching their nomination with a value not less than $500.00 and not more than $6,000.00.
Odds of winning depend on the number of eligible entries received.
6. Winner Notification and Acceptance. The nominator(s) of each winner will be notified within five business days of selection by the panel of judges at the telephone number, and/or email address provided on winner’s entry form. If notification is by phone, Sponsor will call during regular business hours at number provided on entry form and will leave no messages. Failure to reach nominator by phone after three (3) attempts, return of email notification as undeliverable, or failure of winner to respond to email notification may result in disqualification of winner, forfeiture of his or her interest in all prizes, and selection of a substitute winner from among all remaining eligible entries. To claim prize, each winner must present a valid photo identification. Winners may waive their right to receive prizes. Prizes are nonassignable and nontransferable. No substitutions allowed by winner. Prizes are not redeemable for cash. Prizes and individual components of prize packages are subject to availability and Sponsor reserves the right to substitute prizes of equal or greater value. Winners are solely responsible for reporting and payment of any taxes on prizes. Winners may be required to complete an affidavit of eligibility/liability certifying that the entrant’s submission is entrant's original work, that entrant owns right to the work, that the submission has not previously won an award or prize in a contest and has not previously been published, and that entrant has complied with the Official Rules of the Contest, and a liability and publicity release (except where prohibited by law) which must be returned as directed by Sponsor. Failure to sign and return the affidavit or release, or to comply with any term or condition of these Official Rules, may result in a winner’s disqualification, the forfeiture of his or her interest in the prize, and the award of the prize to a substitute winner. Except where prohibited, acceptance of any prize constitutes winner’s consent to the publication of his or her name, biographical information and likeness in any media for any commercial or promotional purpose, without limitation the Internet, or further compensation. Prizes not won and claimed by eligible winners in accordance with these Official Rules will not be awarded and will remain the property of Sponsor.
7. Participation. By participating, contestants agree to be bound by these Official Rules and the decisions of Sponsor. Sponsor reserves the right to disqualify persons found tampering with or otherwise abusing any aspect of this Contest as solely determined by Sponsor. In the event the Contest is compromised by a virus, non-authorized human intervention, tampering or other causes beyond the reasonable control of Sponsor which corrupts or impairs the administration, security, fairness or proper operation of the Contest, Sponsor reserves the right in its sole discretion to suspend, modify or terminate the Contest. Should the Contest be terminated prior to the stated expiration date, Sponsor reserves the right to award prizes based on the entries received before the termination date. Sponsors will not be responsible for incomplete, lost, late, postage-due, misdirected or illegible entries (either photos or ballots), poor quality photos, or for failure to receive entries or votes or other electronic communications due to transmission failures or technical failures of any kind, including, without limitation, malfunctioning of any network, hardware or software, whether originating with sender or Sponsor. The authorized account holder of the e-mail address submitted at time of entry will be considered the entrant. An “authorized account holder” shall mean the natural person assigned to such e-mail account by the Internet access provider, online service provider, or other organization responsible for assigning e-mail addresses for the domain associated with such e-mail account. A potential winner may be requested to provide proof that in the event of a dispute, all online entries will be deemed to have been submitted by the owner of the ISP account from which they were sent. For these purposes, an ISP account holder shall mean the natural person assigned to such ISP account by the Internet access provider, online service provider or other organization responsible for assigning ISP addresses for the domain associated with such ISP account. Any questions regarding the number of entries, or votes submitted, or the owner of an ISP account shall be determined by Sponsor in its sole discretion, and Sponsor reserves the right to disqualify any entries or votes by persons determined to be tampering with or abusing any aspect of the Contest.
8. Copyright. By entering the Contest, each contestant grants to Sponsor an exclusive, royalty-free and irrevocable right and license to publish, print, edit or otherwise use the contestant’s submitted entry, in whole or in part, for any purpose and in any manner or media (including, without limitation, the Internet) throughout the world in perpetuity, and to license others to do so, all without limitation or further compensation. Each contestant further agrees that if his/her entry is selected by Sponsor as the winning entry, he/she will sign any additional license or release that Sponsor may require and will not publicly perform or display his or her submission without the express permission of Sponsor.
9. Construction. The invalidity or unenforceability of any provision of these rules shall not affect the validity or enforceability of any other provision. In the event that any such provision is determined to be invalid or otherwise unenforceable, these rules shall be construed in accordance with their terms as if the invalid or unenforceable provision was not contained therein.
10. Sponsor. The Little Wishes Contest is sponsored by WFAA-TV. The decisions of Sponsor and the Contest judges regarding the selection of winners and all other aspects of the Contest shall be final and binding in all respects. Sponsor will not be responsible for typographical, printing or other inadvertent errors in these Official Rules or in other materials relating to the Contest. For a list of winners available after December 31, 2023 or a copy of these Official Rules, visit wfaa.com or send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to “Winners List/Official Rules” (as applicable), Little Wishes 606 Young St., Dallas, TX, 75202. If you have any questions regarding this Contest, please contact Pete Freedman: pfreedman@wfaa.com or 214-977-6274.
