Art Contest Official Rules

1. ELIGIBILITY: Employees of Sponsor, Reed Exhibitions, and all their respective employees, any advertising and promotion agencies, their respective parent, subsidiary and joint venture companies, or any other entity involved in the development or administration of this Contest, as well as members of such employees' immediate families and households (including children, spouses and siblings and/or other people living in the same households as such persons, whether related or not), are not eligible to participate. By participating, entrants agree to be bound by these Official Rules and the decisions of the representatives of Reed Exhibitions ("Sponsor") and New York Anime Festival ("the Show") who will be judging the entries (the "Judges"), and/or any other sponsors, which are binding and final on matters relating to this Contest.

2. HOW TO ENTER:
(1) Create an original piece of art you feel represents “winter” (see instructions below). You may submit images that were created before this announcement. Do not use any photos, images, or art that do not meet the Originality criteria in section 3.
(2) Once you have created your character, login to TheOtaku.com and submit it to the New York Anime Festival Art Contest section.
(3) All entries must be received by 11:59 p.m. ET on October 31, 2007.

CREATE YOUR CHARACTER:
Create an original piece of art you feel represents the word “winter” using your own ORIGINAL artwork (no artwork or any other material you did not create yourself). Before you start, please read the TERMS OF SUBMISSION (below) carefully. Your art should be entertaining, exciting, compelling, engaging and unique. Your art must be in the following format:

JPG file
At least 300 dpi
No other formats will be accepted.

Your art and any material you submit in connection with your art (collectively "Submission") must be original, truthful and unpublished. See below for complete Terms of Submission.

THERE IS NO LIMIT OF ENTRIES PER PERSON, but entries generated by script, macro or other automated means are void. Please note that this is not an application for employment.

3. TERMS OF SUBMISSION: By entering, you represent, warrant and agree that you created your art or, if you are not the person who created the art, you have the written permission of such person to enter your Submission in the Contest and to grant the rights you grant herein. By entering, you also represent, warrant and agree that you are 13 years of age or older as of August 21, 2007 or have received permission from a parent or guardian.

Originality: Your Submission must be your original work and must not contain any third-party content or other materials (such as text, graphics, artwork or logos), or any inappropriate or offensive materials. You represent, warrant and agree to Reed Exhibitions that it is your original creation, created only by you and it does not contain any pre-existing elements that would infringe on the copyrights of others.

Any Submissions containing material that is violent, pornographic or otherwise obscene, illegal, or racially or morally offensive, as determined by Sponsor, in its sole discretion, may be rejected as ineligible for judging. Entries must comply with all laws, rules, and regulations including, but not limited to, those concerning copyright, plagiarism, trademark, defamation and invasion of privacy. By entering, you agree that: i) Submissions remain the property of the entrant, (ii) entrant grants to Sponsor the right to alter and/or edit the Submission or any part or element thereof, (iii) Sponsor and its licensees, successors and assigns have a free and non-exclusive right to use any and all Submissions for future advertising, promotion and publicity in any manner and in any medium now known or hereafter devised throughout the world in perpetuity, and (iv) you agree to waive all claims to and shall receive no royalties of any kind now or in the future from Sponsor, its affiliates, or its licensees, successors and assigns for use of your Submission in promotion of the Show, the nyanimefestival.com website or otherwise, including copyright, trademark, public performance, digital sound recording, mechanical, synchronization or master use royalties, and you represent, warrant and agree that no other party is entitled to claim royalties from the use of the Submission as set forth in these Official Rules.

Please also be aware that your Submission may not be acknowledged and will not be received or held "in confidence" and your Submission does not create a confidential relationship or obligation of secrecy between you and the Contest or Sponsor, any of its affiliates or any of its licensees, successors or assigns. You may not resell, assign or transfer any of your rights under these Official Rules.

By entering your Submission, you acknowledge that you have read and understood these Official Rules, and you accept these Official Rules together and agree to abide by its terms and conditions, as they may be amended from time to time, and all other applicable rules and regulations. Additionally, you agree that you have all rights, approvals and/or consents necessary to submit the Submission on the terms provided in these Official Rules and your Submission does not violate the rights of any other person or entity or any law.

4. SELECTION OF FINALISTS: Beginning on November 1, 2007 Sponsor will select 15 Finalists from all Submissions.  Sponsor reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to select fewer than 15, or no, Finalists, if an insufficient number of eligible, complete, tasteful, appropriate or generally qualified entries are received. The decisions of the Judges are final and not subject to challenge or appeal.  All Finalists will be displayed at the New York Anime Festival with 1st Place, 2nd Place, and 3 Place winners chosen by attendee ballots.

5. PRIZE: The Finalist selected as the 1st Place Winner will receive a copy of all manga published by Del Rey Manga in 2008 and a copy of TheOtaku.com's Art of Otaku.  Note that the winner must be at least 18 years old to receive any of Del Rey's Mature titles.  If the winner is under 18, he or she will receive only the company's age-appropriate books.  2nd and 3 Place winners will both receive a copy of Art of Otaku and a volume of manga determined by Del Rey.  Sponsor may modify the winning promo, including editing, adding or subtracting elements at its sole discretion.  No additional payment or compensation will be awarded for such exposure.

6. GENERAL RULES: Sponsor, its parents, subsidiaries and affiliates, its licensees, successor and assigns, and its marketing agencies, Inc. (collectively, "Released Parties") are not responsible for lost, late, incomplete, inaccurate, stolen, misdirected, damaged, incorrect, misrouted, undelivered, garbled, illegible or postage-due mail, entries or e-mail; or for lost, interrupted or unavailable network, server, Internet Service Provider (ISP), website or other connections, availability or accessibility or miscommunications or failed computer, satellite, telephone or cable transmissions, lines or technical failures or difficulties, or other errors of any kind whether human, mechanical, electronic, network, typographical, printing or otherwise relating to or in connection with the Contest, including, without limitation, errors which may occur in connection with the administration of the Contest, the processing of entries, the announcement of the prizes or any Contest-related materials; or the incorrect or inaccurate capture of any entry or other such information or the failure to capture any such information. 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. Released parties are not responsible for injury or damage to participants' or to any other person's computer related to or resulting from participating in the Contest or downloading materials from or use of the website. Persons who tamper with or abuse any aspect of the Contest or website, as solely determined by Sponsor, will be disqualified. CAUTION: ANY ATTEMPT BY ANY PERSON TO DELIBERATELY DAMAGE ANY WEB SITE OR UNDERMINE THE LEGITIMATE OPERATION OF THE CONTEST IS A VIOLATION OF CRIMINAL AND CIVIL LAW. SHOULD SUCH AN ATTEMPT BE MADE, SPONSOR RESERVES THE RIGHT TO SEEK DAMAGES FROM ANY SUCH PERSON TO THE FULLEST EXTENT OF THE LAW (AND TO DISQUALIFY SUCH PERSON FROM THE CONTEST, IF APPLICABLE).

Should any portion of the Contest be, in Sponsor's sole discretion, compromised by virus, worms, bugs, non-authorized human intervention or other causes which, in the sole discretion of Sponsor, corrupt or impair the administration security, fairness or proper play, or submission of entries, Sponsor reserves the right at their sole discretion to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the online portion of the Contest and accept entries solely via mail-in entry method, or to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the Contest in any manner, in Sponsor's sole discretion, and conduct judging from amongst all eligible, non-suspect entries received prior to action taken. Entrants, by participating, agree that Released Parties and their respective parents, affiliates, subsidiaries, dealerships, advertising and promotion agencies, and website providers/web masters, and all of their respective officers, directors, employees, representatives and agents will have no liability whatsoever for, and shall be held harmless by entrants against, any liability, for any injuries, losses or damages of any kind, including death, to persons or property resulting in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, from acceptance, possession, misuse or use of a prize or participation in this Contest. Each winner, by acceptance of a prize, except where legally prohibited, grants permission to Sponsor and its designees to use his/her name, address (city and state), photograph, voice, and/or other likeness and prize information for advertising, trade and promotional purposes without further compensation, in all media now known or hereafter discovered, worldwide, and on the Internet and world wide web, in perpetuity, without notice or review or approval. In the event of a dispute regarding entries received from multiple users having used the same e-mail account, the authorized subscriber of the e-mail account at the time of entry will be deemed to be the entrant and must comply with these rules. Authorized account subscriber is the natural person who is assigned the e-mail address by the Internet Service Provider (ISP), on-line service provider or other organization responsible for assigning e-mail addresses.

QUESTIONS?
If you have any questions, please contact us!