Official Rules

"Picture The Impossible" Alternate Reality Game

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 Picture The Impossible Alternate Reality Game (the "Contest") is open to legal U.S. residents (excluding Puerto Rico) who are 13 years or older at the time of entry. The children and legal dependents of employees of the Democrat and Chronicle ("Sponsor"), Gannett Co., Inc., 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, are not eligible to participate in the Contest, or to win any prizes.

3. How To Enter. The Contest will begin at 12:01 a.m. (E.T.) on September 12, 2009 and end at 11:59 p.m. (E.T.) on October 31, 2009 (the "Contest Period").

To register for the game, participants must visit www.picturetheimpossible.com and click R.S.V.P. on the invitation to register for the game. Participants must complete all required information and follow all posted instructions, including information to confirm their identity through either their Facebook account or via a telephone number. Maximum one (1) entry per person in each of the seven (7) weekly contests. Only one (1) prize per person will be awarded.

To participate in the seven (7) weekly challenges, participants must submit their entries online at www.picturetheimpossible.com and follow the instructions for uploading their image, video, music, or text files.

Week 1, Saturday, Sept. 12 at 12:01 a.m. - Thursday, Sept 17 at 8 p.m.: Picture the Horses -submit an original photosynth montage of individual photos that are stitched together to form an interactive, three-dimensional image. One photosynth per entrant. There are no restrictions in file size, pixel dimensions or format. The photosynths must be uploaded to the PictureTheImpossible.com site.

Week 2, Saturday, Sept. 19 at 5 a.m. (when the Public Market Opens) - Sunday, Sept. 27 at 8 p.m.: Rochester Recipe Run -submit an original recipe of the Contestant's prepared using one or more local ingredients available from the Rochester Public Market. The prepared food must be brought, with a paper copy of the recipe (handwritten or typed), to the RIT Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, located at 105 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester 14623, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Week 3, Saturday, Sept. 26 at 12:01 a.m. - Thursday, Oct. 1 at 8 p.m.: "Rochester Firsts" Photo Competition -submit original digital photographs featuring three or more Rochester firsts in a single image. Limit of one photo per entrant. Must be uploaded to the PictureTheImpossible.com site. There are no restrictions in file size, pixel dimensions or format.

Week 4, Saturday, Oct. 3 at 12:01 a.m. - Thursday, Oct. 8 at 8 p.m.: "Faction Theme Song and Slideshow" -submit an original video of an original theme song accompanied by a slideshow of images representing their "faction" - one of the three participant groups (The Forge, The Tree, and The Clock) which compete in the game. Limit of one video per entrant. Videos are to be uploaded to YouTube.com following YouTube's preferred formats and specifications - Video Format: H.264, MPEG-2 or MPEG-4. Aspect Ratio: Native aspect ratio without letterboxing (examples: 4:3, 16:9). Resolution: 640x360 (16:9) or 480x360 (4:3) recommended. Audio Format: MP3 or AAC. Frames per second: 30. Maximum length: 10 minutes (2-3 minutes recommended). Maximum file size: 1 GB

Week 5, Saturday, Oct. 10 at 12:01 a.m. - Thursday, Oct. 15 at 8 p.m.: "Picture the Paper People" -submit original photographs of "paper people" life-sized cutouts of game participants in various locations around the city. Limit of one photo per entrant. Must be uploaded to the PictureTheImpossible.com site. There are no restrictions in file size, pixel dimensions or format.

Week 6, Saturday, Oct. 17 at 12:01 a.m. - Thursday, Oct. 22 at 8 p.m.: "Famous Figures' Faces" -submit artistic renderings of a famous person from Rochester's history Limit of one digital submission per entrant. There are no restrictions to the original medium, size, format or style for the rendering. The rendering must be photographed, scanned or otherwise rendered in a digital format and be uploaded to the PictureTheImpossible.com site.

Week 7, Saturday, Oct. 24 at 12:01 a.m. - Thursday, Oct. 29 at 8 p.m.: "Call to Action Videos" -submit original videos which encourage Rochesterians to support one of the three participating not-for-profits (the Golisano Children's Hospital at Strong, Wilson Commencement Park and Foodlink). Limit of one video per entrant. Videos are to be uploaded to YouTube.com following YouTube's preferred formats and specifications - Video Format: H.264, MPEG-2 or MPEG-4. Aspect Ratio: Native aspect ratio without letterboxing (examples: 4:3, 16:9). Resolution: 640x360 (16:9) or 480x360 (4:3) recommended. Audio Format: MP3 or AAC. Frames per second: 30. Maximum length: 10 minutes (2-3 minutes recommended). Maximum file size: 1 GB

Your computer must accept cookies, or any successor or similar technology, which may be used for the purpose of entry tracking. Ad blocking software on your computer needs to be disabled so that it doesn't interfere with processing your entry. Each photo, video, and musical submission must be an authentic, original photograph taken by contestant or video produced by the contestant identified on accompanying entry form, and the contestant must own the copyright in the photograph, video, or music submitted. If a photo or video contains a recognizable person or people, they must have authorized the contestant to use and publish their pictures and names for the purpose of this contest and subsequent use in any publication in connection with this Contest. All entries become property of Sponsors and none will be returned. Contestants acknowledge and agree that Sponsors 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.

Sponsors will not be responsible for incomplete, lost, late, misdirected, or for failure to receive entries 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 Sponsors. 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 submitted or the owner of an ISP account shall be determined by Sponsors in its sole discretion, and Sponsors reserves the right to disqualify any entries by persons determined to be tampering with or abusing any aspect of the Contest. Sponsors further reserves the right to disqualify any entry that is alleged to infringe on any third-party's intellectual property rights, or that Sponsors deems obscene, offensive or otherwise inappropriate for viewing by a general audience.

4. Winner Selection. Each week for the seven (7) weeks of the contest, a panel of qualified judges selected by Sponsors will judge all eligible weekly game solution submissions on the criteria listed below. Equal weight will be given to each criterion. In the event of a tie, tied entries will be re-judged on the same criteria. Decisions of Judges and Sponsors will be final and binding in all respects. Judging will conclude within 24 hours after the end of each weekly contest.

Week 1: Picture the Horses - The four best photosynths will be selected by a panel of judges from the photo staff of the Democrat and Chronicle, according to the following criteria: Originality, technical excellence, photo composition, overall visual impact and artistic merit.

Week 2: Rochester Recipe Run - The four best recipes will be tasted by a panel of judges and the best will be selected according to the following criteria: Originality, flavor, presentation of the prepared recipe and creative use of ingredients.

Week 3: "Rochester Firsts" Photo Competition - The four best images will be selected by a panel of judges from the photo staff of the Democrat and Chronicle, according to the following criteria: Originality, technical excellence, composition, overall impact, artistic merit and the incorporation of "firsts" into the final image.

Week 4: "Faction Theme Song and Slideshow" - Four winners will be chosen - an overall best and the three best, one each from the three game factions. The judges will be comprised of members of the PTI (what is PTI?) staff, Democrat and Chronicle editorial staff, and representatives of the Golisano Children's Hospital at Strong, Wilson Commencement Park and Foodlink. The judging criteria will be: Originality, technical excellence, composition, overall impact, and artistic merit.

Week 5: "Picture the Paper People" - The four best photographs will be selected by a panel of judges from Rochester Institute of Technology according to the following criteria: Originality, technical excellence, composition, overall impact, artistic merit and the creative representation of Rochester "firsts" in the placement of "paper people" cutouts.

Week 6: "Famous Figures Faces" - The four best renderings will be selected by a panel of judges comprised of members of the PTI staff and Democrat and Chronicle editorial staff, according to the following criteria: Originality, technical excellence, composition, overall impact, artistic merit and the impact of the subject on the history of Rochester.

Week 7: "Call to Action Videos" - Four winners will be chosen - an overall best "Call to Action" video plus one each representing one of the three not-for-profits (Golisano Children's Hospital at Strong, Wilson Commencement Park and Foodlink). The judging criteria will be: Originality, technical excellence, composition, overall impact, artistic merit and the demonstration of understanding of the not-for-profit's mission.

By submitting any photo or information to Picture The Impossible, participants hereby grant to the Sponsors and their affiliates, subsidiaries, licensees and assigns, an irrevocable, perpetual and royalty-free right to use, reproduce, edit, display, transmit, prepare derivative works of, modify, publish and otherwise make use of the submitted entry in any and all media, whether now known or hereinafter created, throughout the world and for any purpose. In addition to other things, the rights granted to the Sponsors includes but is not limited to the right to resize, crop, censor, compress, edit, feature, caption, affix logos to, and to otherwise alter or make use of the submitted entry.

By submitting any photo, video, music, art, or information to Picture The Impossible, participants hereby represent and warrant that the entry does not and shall not infringe on any copyright, any rights of privacy or publicity of any person, or any other right of any third party, and participants have the right to grant any and all rights and licenses granted to the Sponsors herein, including but not limited to all necessary rights under copyright, free and clear of any claims or encumbrances.

Participants acknowledge and agree that the Sponsors shall have no obligation to post, display or otherwise make publicly available any photo, video, music, art or information submitted by participants, and may, in its sole and unfettered discretion, remove, edit, modify or delete any photo or information that participants submit to Picture The Impossible.

Participants hereby agree to hold the Sponsors and their affiliates, subsidiaries, licensees and assigns, and the entities participating in the judging harmless from and against, and hereby waive any right to pursue, any claims of any nature arising in connection with the inclusion in, publication or display on any of the Sponsors' Web sites, or any other authorized use of any photo or information submitted to Picture The Impossible.

5. Prizes and Odds. There will be four (4) winners for each of the 7 weekly contests. Week 1: (4) winners of one each Kodak S730 Digital Picture Frame (ARV: $139.95). Week 2: (4) winners of one each Kodak ESP7 All-in-one Printer (ARV: $199.99). Week 3: (4) winners of one each Kodak EasyShare M381 Digital Camera (ARV: $179.95). Week 4: (4) winners of one each Kodak Zi8 Pocket Video Camera (ARV: $179.95). Week 5: (4) winners of one each Kodak ESP7 All-in-one Printer (ARV: $199.99). Week 6: (4) winners of one each Kodak S730 Digital Picture Frame (ARV: $139.95). Week 7: (4) winners of one each Kodak Zi8 Pocket Video Camera (ARV: $179.95). Total value of prizes: $4,878.92


6. Winner Notification and Acceptance. Winners of all 7 weekly contests will be contacted at the email address or phone number provided on winner's registration form. . Return of email prize notification as undeliverable, or failure to contact winner by phone after 3 attempts, may result in disqualification and an alternate winner may be selected from among all remaining eligible entries. Sponsor will arrange delivery of the prizes. Claiming of prizes requires an email response to Picture the Impossible from the winning player email address within 5 days of being notified of winning at the email address used to enter. Failure to respond shall mean that the winner forfeits the prize. Winners may waive their right to receive prizes. Prizes are non-assignable and nontransferable. No substitutions allowed by winner. Prizes and individual components of prize packages are subject to availability and Sponsors 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 instructed by Sponsors. Failure to complete, 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. Upon verification of winners' eligibility Sponsors will mail prizes to winners at the addresses they supply. 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 Sponsors.

Prizes won by minors will be awarded to parent or legal guardian who must sign any affidavit or release required by Sponsors.

7. Participation. By participating, contestants agree to be bound by these Official Rules and the decisions of Sponsors. Sponsors reserve the right to disqualify persons found tampering with or otherwise abusing any aspect of this Contest as solely determined by Sponsors. In the event the Contest is compromised by a virus, non-authorized human intervention, tampering or other causes beyond the reasonable control of Sponsors which corrupts or impairs the administration, security, fairness or proper operation of the Contest, Sponsors 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, Sponsors reserve the right to award prizes based on the entries received before the termination date.

8. Copyright. By entering the Contest, each contestant grants to Sponsors a 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.

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. Sponsors. The Picture The Impossible Alternate Reality Game Contest is jointly sponsored by the Rochester Institute of Technology and the Democrat and Chronicle. The decisions of Sponsors and the contest judges regarding the selection of winners and all other aspects of the Contest shall be final and binding in all respects. Sponsors 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 November 15, 2009) or a copy of these Official Rules, visit www.picturetheimpossible.com or send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to "Winners List/Official Rules" (as applicable), Picture The Impossible Contest, 55 Exchange Blvd., Rochester, NY 14614. If you have any questions regarding this Contest, please contact Dennis R. Floss, (585) 258-2242 or dfloss@gannett.com