Contest Rules
OFFICIAL RULES FOR BEST OF HELENA
SPONSOR:
The Sponsor of Best of Helena is Lee Enterprises, Incorporated d/b/a Independent Record (“Sponsor”), with offices located at 2222 N. Washington Street Helena, MT 59602.
RESTRICTIONS, LIMITATIONS, AND ELIGIBILITY:
Nomination and voting under this Contest is open only to residents of the United States within the Independent Record circulation area who are currently of the age of majority in their state of residence and who have the capacity to enter into legally binding contracts and satisfy all eligibility requirements. Nominated business Contestants are only eligible to participate in this Contest if they have a physical storefront within the Independent Record circulation area. Employees of Independent Record and of its affiliates owned by Sponsor, and members of their immediate families (i.e., spouse, parents, children, and siblings, and their spouses) are not eligible.
Only the top five businesses with the most nominations will move onto the voting round. Only one online vote per valid and active email and IP address per person per day is allowed. One additional vote per person per phone number per day is allowed via a text-to-vote text message (where the applicable nominated business contestant has supplied a text-to-vote code) or by paper ballot. All ballots must include name, address, email address, and telephone number and must have a minimum of ten (10) entries to be counted. All online nominating and voting requires a valid registration which satisfies these Official Rules. Odds of winning depend upon the number of eligible entries. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED.
CONTEST NOMINATION AND VOTING:
Participants may nominate business Contestants between January 29 – February 10. Participants may only nominate a business Contestant for a category once during the nomination period. Voting begins between March 12 – March 30. Participants can visit go.helenair.com/Bestof25 to nominate businesses and to cast their votes.
Alternatively, participants may vote (once as an alternative to online voting and once as an alternative to text-to-vote) using paper ballots located at the Independent Record business office: Independent Record. Paper ballots may be mailed or personally delivered to Independent Record, 2222 N. Washington Street Helena, MT 59602, Attn: Best of Helena. Entries submitted by this alternative method must be received by March 30 to be eligible.
To enter a drawing without nominating a business or casting a vote in the Contest, a participant may enter by delivering or mailing the participant’s name, phone number, email address, and date of birth, all legibly handwritten on a 3” x 5” piece of paper, to Independent Record, 2222 N. Washington Street Helena, MT 59602. A participant may be entered into the drawing once per day during the voting period.
NOMINATION AND VOTER PRIZE DESCRIPTION AND VALUE:
One winner of the Nomination and Voting Drawing will receive a Samsung Neo QLED 65″ TV, iPad Pro 12.9 512 GB, Home Pod, and Apple TV 4K, having a verifiable retail value of $3,127.98. The winner will claim their prize from Montana Internet.
REGISTRATION AND QUALIFICATION:
Only one (1) registration per person. Registration requires a valid and active e-mail address. If a business Contestant receives multiple and/or irregular votes or multiple votes from the same user or users, including but not limited to, votes generated by a robotic, programmed, script, macro, other automated means or other source, Sponsor reserves the right to disqualify the entrant in its sole discretion. Any participant suspected of using a proxy for voting, concealing one’s true identity, registering in the name of a fictitious person, or registering in the name of a real person without such person’s authorization will be disqualified.
All registration information submitted by voters to the Contest must be valid. In the event Sponsor believes a registration was not valid or violated these rules, any votes related to such registration will be disqualified. Automated voting is not allowed and such votes will be disqualified. Any individual or organization found employing third-party resources, whether domestic or abroad, for the purpose of creating multiple registrations or generating votes in violation of these rules, either automatically or manually, will be immediately disqualified. Votes may not be sold, bought, or paid for. All registration and voting must follow these Official Rules.
For the medical professional category, nominees must be currently practicing or have practiced in the last year to be considered in nominations, voting, and winners.
SELECTION OF BUSINESS CONTESTANT WINNERS:
Winners will be determined by the total number of votes received during the voting period. The business Contestants that receive the most, second most, and third most votes in a category will be the First, Second, and Third place winners, respectively, for that category and will be published in the Independent Record. In the event of a tie, the tying businesses will all receive the award. All prizes are non-transferable. No cash or other substitutions are allowed.
SELECTION OF NOMINATING AND VOTER WINNERS:
Any participant who registers for the nomination or voting round will be automatically entered into a drawing to win the following prize: A Samsung Neo QLED 65″ TV, iPad Pro 12.9 512 GB, Home Pod, and Apple TV 4K. The winner of one of the drawings is not eligible to win the other drawing. In the event that a winner cannot be contacted within seven (7) days, a random drawing will be held to select an alternate winner. Sponsor is not responsible for any change of email address, mailing address, and/or telephone number of participants. All prizes are non-transferable. No cash or other substitutions are allowed.
MISCELLANEOUS:
By participating in the Contest, participants agree to comply with and be bound by the Official Rules and all interpretations of the Official Rules by the Sponsor. Decisions of Sponsor shall be final in all matters relating to the Contest.
All persons or medical professionals who are nominated must be currently practicing within one year of the contest.
If a dispute arises regarding who submitted an entry, the entry will be deemed submitted by the person in whose name the entry was made.
The Sponsor reserves the right to withdraw the transmission of the Contest and award the prize from among the eligible entries received prior to the date of withdrawal. Entrants agree to abide by these Official Rules. Failure to comply with these rules may result in disqualification from this Contest.
The Sponsor is not responsible for any errors, miscommunications, or technical failures related to the Contest. Any use of automated or fraudulent methods of participation will result in disqualification.
WINNER’S LIST:
Business winners in each category of the Contest will be published in the Independent Record on May 10. The winners of the nomination and voter drawings will be announced within 7-10 days of the close of the applicable nomination or voter period.