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Small Business Works for America Video Contest Rules

Target audience
The primary target audience for NFIB's YouTube contest is the small business community, but you don't have to be a small business owner to enter the contest.

Objective
After watching your video, the audience should be intrigued enough to visit NFIB.com to find out more.

Video perception/tone/guidelines

1. Exciting, passionate, fun, modern, smart, cool, adventurous and entrepreneurial. We're sure there will be other angles you can think of.

2. Video can be in any style: live action, animated, etc.

3. Take risks. Be fresh.

4. Use these guidelines as very broad suggestions.

5. Entries must be submitted no later than midnight, May 15, 2008.

1. Judging
There will be three semifinalists from which a panel of NFIB-selected judges will pick a winner based on the following:

• Originality (50 percent)
• Overall creativity (25 percent)
• How well the video answers the "Why Does Small Business Work for America?" question (25 percent)

2. Eligibility
Open to NFIB members and other small business owners who are legal residents of the United States, and who are 18 years or older with a valid YouTube account, and is void where and to the extent prohibited by law and is subject to all applicable laws, including, without limitation, federal, state, and local laws and regulations. Employees and directors of the National Federation of Independent Business and its affiliates, Summit sponsors (e.g., Bank of America, Dell, eBay, etc.), and other contractors working on NFIB's behalf are not eligible to participate in this contest. By participating, you agree to all the rules and decisions of NFIB ("Sponsor"), which are final and binding, in all matters pertinent to the contest. Contest begins April 1, 2008, and ends May 15, 2008.

3. To enter
Create a video no longer than 30 seconds for NFIB that answers the question "Why Does Small Business Work for America?"

To submit your video, log on to http://www.youtube.com/NFIBContest ("Contest Web site") between 12 a.m. PST on April 1, 2008, and 11:59 p.m. PST on May 15, 2008. When you register your YouTube account, you will be required to agree to the YouTube Terms of Use, located at http://www.youtube.com/t/terms, and the YouTube Privacy Policy, located at http://www.youtube.com/t/privacy. Entry must be in English. Entry must not include unsuitable content, depict or incorporate unsafe behavior or situations, obscenity, disparagement of any product or person, or other offensive conduct or material, or otherwise include inappropriate content.

Limit one video per person/address/e-mail address/YouTube registration.

Your YouTube's computer will be the official time clock for the contest.

Only one video is accepted from one YouTube registered name. If your submission is a collaboration of many people in a video, your group is responsible to designate one person to enter the contest and accept the prize on behalf of the group.

Only one prize is awarded to one submission per registered YouTube account. Any attempt to submit additional entries by using multiple/different e-mail addresses or any other methods will void all related entries and that person will be disqualified. No submission will be returned.

4. Contest requirements
All video submitted must comply with all rules and requirements and will be screened prior to public posting. However, posted video does not mean that video is deemed compliant with the official rules.

• Video must not be longer than 30 seconds
• The maximum file size is 100 MB
• Video must be the following formats: .WMV, .AVI, .MOV and .MPG. The uploading process is designed to work with most digital cameras, camcorders and cell phones. Sponsors do not guarantee that any particular device will upload successfully.

By submitting the video, you warrant and represent that: (a) your work is original and created legally, (b) has not been previously published or distributed in any media in any parts of the world, (c) it has not been entered or won previous contests or awards, (d) it does not infringe on any copyrights, trademarks, public or other intellectual property, (e) you have permission from any and all persons whose name, likeness or voice is used in the video, (f) you own all the rights to your video, including copyright, recording and the performance of the video, and (g) that you will indemnify and hold harmless Sponsor, YouTube, or their subsidiaries or affiliates, advertising, promotion or production agencies, and all their respective officers, directors, employees, representatives and agents, from any claims and damages (including reasonable attorney fees) arising from or relating to the breach or alleged breach of your representations and warranties herein, your video, or your conduct in creating your video or otherwise in connection with this video.

Any music, audio sound effect, graphics and product shots downloaded from the graphic images or video section of the contest Web site or NFIB Web site cannot be altered.

By submitting a video, you irrevocably grant Sponsor and its agents an exclusive, unlimited, worldwide, perpetual, unconditional, gratis license and right to publish, broadcast, reproduce, encode, store, copy, transmit, post, edit, modify, publicly display, publicly perform, adapt, exhibit, and/or otherwise use or reuse the video, and your name, image and likeness, and the name, image and likeness of any and all individuals appearing in the video, in any way, in any and all media (including but not limited to the contest Web site) or refrain from doing any of the forgoing, without limitation, notice, review, or approval from entrant or any other party. By participating in the contest, you agree that Sponsor and those involved in the development, production, implementation and distribution of the contest and their respective parent companies, affiliates, subsidiaries, services providers, and agencies, and their directors, officers, agents, employees, attorneys, and any other person or entity associated with such entities and/or the contest (collectively, the "Released Parties") shall not be liable for any claims, damages, losses or injuries, including third-party claims, arising from or relating to, in whole or in part, the contest. Without limiting the generality of the forgoing, you waive any and all rights of publicity and privacy in connection with the use of your name, image and likeness by the Released Parties, and agree not to assert any claims against a Released Party for violation of a right of privacy or publicity, or for defamation, slander or any related claims in connection with the exercise of the rights granted by you herein.

Sponsors are not obligated to monitor/screen entries prior to posting them to the contest Web site. By entering, you acknowledge that Sponsor has no obligation to use or post any video you submit. Sponsor cannot guaranty that each upload is successful and the Released Parties shall not be liable for submissions that are delayed, lost, misdirected, misdelivered, marked postage-due, illegible, mutilated, incorrect or incomplete, and such submissions will not be eligible for the contest. It is your sole responsibility to make sure that you have a successful upload. The Released Parties shall not be responsible for any technical malfunction of any telephone network, computer on-line system, computer equipment or software, program malfunctions or other failures of any kind, whether human, mechanical or electronic, including, without limitation, any injury or damage to any computer used to submit an entry or any other person.

All uploads past the deadline are not eligible for the contest.

5. Voting

Round 1: YouTube members may rate submitted videos NFIB has posted from contest participants from 12 a.m. on April 1, 2008, to 11:59 p.m. May 15, 2008. The aggregates of the ratings will be used by NFIB's judges' panel to select a group of three semi finalists. In order to rate during Round 1, persons must have a valid YouTube account and comply with all YouTube Terms of Use.

Round 2: The three semifinalists and the winning video will be featured on the contest site from 12:01 a.m. May 19, 2008, to 11:59 p.m. June 30, 2008. The winner will be subject to verification of eligibility, compliance with the official rules and completion of all required documents.

There will be no substitution of the prize, except at the sole discretion of the sponsor.

6. Prizes

Grand prize 

• $5,000 cash award
• Airfare, hotel accommodations for the winner plus one guest to attend the National Small Business Summit, June 8-11, in Washington, D.C. The winner will be staying at the Summit hotel, the Grand Hyatt. Local travel (including to and from the airport), meals and all other expenses are not included and shall be the sole responsibility of the winner.
• Summit registration fee and all Summit group meals are included.
• We will play and announce the winning video at the 2008 National Small Business Summit.
• One year membership to NFIB (If the winning video is submitted by someone who is not an NFIB member.)

Three runner-up prizes    

• Each runner-up video will be posted on the NFIB Summit Web site until June 30, 2008.
• The video will also be featured on NFIB.com.