Official Rules for “The Best of BC Wine Country 2018”

 

  1. The Wines of British Columbia “The Best of BC Wine Country 2018” Contest (the “Contest”) is sponsored by The British Columbia Wine Institute (BCWI) (“Sponsor”), #107 – 1726 Dolphin Ave, Kelowna BC, V1Y 9R9. Voting will be open for four weeks from Monday, July 23, 2018 at 12:01 AM to Friday, August 17, 2018 at 11:59 PM PDT. Sponsor’s computer is the official time-keeping device for this Contest.

 

  1. Winners will be determined by popular vote. To fill out a ballot (“Ballot”) and vote, visit https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/bestofwineBC. Winners are selected by receiving the highest number of votes. The company, product, experience, pet or organization (“Candidate(s)”) with the most votes in a particular theme in a category will receive the award. Multiple candidates with an equal number of votes will both receive the award. Awards are presented by theme/ category in each region. Votes are counted accordingly and cannot be transferred from one region, contest or category to another. A candidate may be honored in more than one theme or Category, but votes will not be combined across themes or Categories. Votes are collected via a survey administered through Survey Monkey.

 

  1. It is the intention of the Sponsor to present all awards in each theme posted; however, a Candidate must receive a minimum of five (5) votes to receive any award. If no one receives that minimum, the BCWI reserve the right to eliminate the theme and not announce any winners. The BCWI reserves the right to determine what themes or categories will be included in the contest. The BCWI reserves the right to refuse votes for candidates that are deemed not appropriate for the themes for which they were cast.

 

  1. Voters, identified by an IP address, are allowed one Ballot per theme, per region. Any additional Ballots submitted by same IP address will be disqualified and not counted. Voters do not need to enter a vote in each category. Due to spelling errors, best efforts are made to standardize the write-in votes to match an existing business. In the spirit of the competition, a voter is accountable for having a first-hand experience with the nominee business or service. Vote totals will not be published.

 

  1. Use (or attempted use) of multiple identities and/or any automated system to register for, vote, or otherwise participate in the voting is prohibited and is grounds for disqualification. Sponsor is not responsible for late, lost, misdirected, delayed, incomplete, illegible or incompatible votes.

 

  1. All votes are subject to verification. We reserve the right to require proof of identity from any entrant (or any individual purporting to be an entrant) for any votes entered, or purportedly entered, by such voter to be considered valid for the purposes of the Best of BC Wine Country. Failure to provide such proof in a timely manner may result in disqualification of the applicable votes that cannot be verified.

 

  1. Any voters determined to be in violation of these rules are subject to disqualification of their votes at the sole and absolute discretion of BCWI.

 

  1. Voters have the option at time of voting of joining Sponsor’s mailing list. Selecting “Yes” to join the mailing list will be considered express permission to email Voters until such time as they opt-out.

 

  1. The Best Of BC Wine Country Contest is the sole property of The BCWI. The BCWI reserves the right to, among other things, amend the process, judge entries and determine the validity of the votes submitted. In the case of suspected fraudulent votes, reserved rights and possible actions may include, without limitation: utilization of methods necessary to determine the validity of votes; the removal of the category from the contest; disqualifying the fraudulent votes; disqualifying the recipient of the fraudulent votes in that category or any other; disqualifying that company from future contests for any period of time; withdrawing previous Best Of awards; and possible litigation.

 

  1. The winners will not receive a prize. The winners will be listed in on Winebc.com on or after September 13, 2018 and will receive a certificate attesting to their win in that theme. Public recognition has no retail value, and if, for any reason, a winner is not listed on winebc.com, no alternate prize will be awarded. It is the intention of Sponsor to honor a winner in each theme per region, provided a sufficient number of eligible candidates receive votes.

 

  1. Sponsor reserves the right to cancel, suspend or terminate this Contest or any part thereof, if Sponsor determines, in its sole discretion, that the security, administration, fairness and/or operation of the Contest has been corrupted or impaired by any non-authorized intervention, network failure, information storage failure, telecommunications failure, malfunction, or any other cause beyond Sponsor’s control. If Sponsor terminates the Contest, Sponsor will post notice of same on the Contest webpage and select the winners in each Category by applying the criteria set forth above based on eligible, non-suspect votes received as of the termination date.

 

  1. Consumers may win one of the three following prizes for voting and conducting social media posts with copy to a Wines of British Columbia social media channel (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram). Only three winners will be randomly chosen by the BC Wine Institute. The winner of the BC wine gift basket will include no more than three BC wines from across BC wine country and will not necessarily be a Best of BC winning wine. Retail value of the gift basket will not exceed $200. The winner of the BC winery accommodation prize will win accommodation for two at the Best of BC winning winery located to the closest area where the winner lives. The accommodation offered will be valued at no more than $1000 and based on the availability of the winery with no travel costs or meals provided. The winner of the Best of BC wine country dinner for two will win complimentary dinner at a winning BC winery restaurant located closest to where consumers lives with a retail value not exceeding $175. Travel costs will not be provided.
  2. By voting, the voter acknowledges the understanding of and agreement with these Official Rules.