Emeril's Best Mac 'n' Cheese Ever Challenge Rules

Jan. 11, 2008 — -- Do you think you have a recipe for the best mac 'n' cheese in America? Now's the time to put it to the test by entering Emeril Lagasse's Best Mac 'n' Cheese Ever Challenge.

You can e-mail "Good Morning America" your original recipe by clicking here. E-mail entries must be received by 5 p.m. Feb. 1.

You can also mail your recipe to:
Emeril's Best Mac 'n' Cheese Ever Challenge
Ansonia Station
P. O. Box 234081
New York, NY 10023-9412
All mail entries must be postmarked Feb. 1 and received by Feb. 6.

Ten quarter-finalists' recipes will be chosen by Emeril and a judging panel. Those entrants will be asked to submit a short video showing them making their mac 'n' cheese. From those 10, Emeril and the judging panel will narrow it down to five semi-finalists, whose recipes will be posted on gma.abcnews.com for viewers to vote on their favorite.

The winner will be flown to New York City to prepare their recipe on "Good Morning America" with Emeril Lagasse.

Read the official contest rules below.

"Emeril's Best Mac 'n' Cheese Ever Challenge" OFFICIAL RULES
NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN.

Eligibility Guidelines:
Challenge is open to legal residents of the fifty (50) United States and District of Columbia, 21 years of age or older. Challenge sponsored by Good Morning America ("Show") and American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. ("Sponsor").

Only original recipes are eligible. Entries must include standard U.S. measurements, a complete list of ingredients in order of use, complete preparation directions, and any other relevant information. The recipe may not have been previously published or won any contest or be currently entered in a competition. Professional chefs and/or cooks are disqualified from participation in this Challenge. Any submission not meeting these requirements will be disqualified.

Any individuals (including but not limited to employees, consultants, independent contractors, and interns) who have, within the past six months, performed services for Good Morning America ("GMA"), American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. ("ABC"), any organizations responsible for sponsoring, fulfilling, administering, advertising or promoting the Challenge or supplying the prize, and their respective parent, subsidiary, affiliated and successor companies, and immediate family and household members of such individuals, are not eligible to enter or play. "Immediate family members" shall mean parents, step-parents, children, step-children, siblings, step-siblings, or spouses. "Household members" shall mean people who share the same residence at least three months a year

Challenge Entry Period:
"Emeril's Best Mac 'n' Cheese Ever Challenge" (the "Challenge") entry period begins 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time ("ET") on 1/11/08 and ends 11:59 am ET on 2/1/08 (the "Challenge Period"). Sponsor computer is the official clock for this Contest. All internet entries must be received by 5:00 pm on 2/1/08 and all mail entries must be postmarked by 2/1/08 and received by 2/06/08.

How to Enter:

One entry per person. Send your original recipe for mac 'n' cheese, along with an essay of no more than 100 words stating why it is the best mac 'n' cheese recipe. If possible, include a photograph of the finished mac 'n' cheese. Recipes must include pasta as an ingredient but the pasta used does not have to be macaroni. Also, be sure to include your name, address, all phone numbers and an e-mail address (if available). Recipe and personal information will not count toward the 100 word essay limit.

Emeril's Best Mac 'n' Cheese Ever Challenge
Ansonia Station
P. O. Box 234081
New York, NY 10023-9412

Or enter online at the Good Morning America page of abcnews.com . There you will find instructions on the appropriate and acceptable file formats and sizes for submitting your entry electronically.

Judging Procedure, Notification and Finalists Judging:
Eligible entries will be judged on the basis of originality, ease of preparation, appearance, consistency and taste. Decisions of the judges are final as to all contest-related matters. The same judging criteria apply through all levels of the Challenge.

Ten entries will be chosen as quarter-finalists by a panel of judges selected at the sole discretion of Good Morning America. Each of the ten quarter-finalists will be asked to submit a short video, no longer than four minutes in length, showing themselves preparing their mac 'n' cheese recipe.

A judging panel will review the quarter-finalist entries and select five of these entries as semi-finalists. On or about 2/15/08 videos of the five semi-finalists may be featured on Good Morning America along with mac 'n' cheese dishes prepared by GMA following the recipes as submitted. The semi-finalists will then have their recipes and possibly other audio/video clips featured on the Good Morning America website and viewers will be invited to go to abcnews.com to vote for their favorite mac 'n' cheese. Voting will begin at approximately 9 am ET on or about 2/15/08 and will end at approximately 11:59 am ET on or about 2/22/08.

The top three entrants, based on the number of on-line viewer votes received, will be deemed Finalists. Finalists may be invited to appear on Good Morning America on or about 2/29/08, where the Winner will be announced. The Winner will be determined based on an even weighting of viewer votes received and the GMA panel of judges. After the Winner is announced, Winner will be invited to prepare his or her mac 'n' cheese dish on the show with Emeril Lagasse, schedule permitting.

Finalists must be available to appear on Good Morning America in New York on or about 2/29/08. Choice of dates for any appearance is at Good Morning America's sole discretion. If a Finalist is unable to travel on the dates selected, that Finalist may be required to forfeit prize and the semi-finalist with the next highest number of votes may be deemed a Finalist, if time permits.

In the event of a tie, the entrant with the highest score in the originality category as determined by the panel's first round of judging will be deemed the entry to continue on at any point in time during the competition when a tie might occur. In the event any entrant who proceeds into advanced levels of competition is deemed ineligible, fails to comply with Challenge procedures, or is not available to claim prize during specified dates, any prize may be awarded to a runner-up.

Entrants selected to participate in advanced levels of participation will be notified by phone and or e-mail on or about 2/25/08. All responses to notifications and execution of paperwork required for advanced participation must be completed in the time specified by the Sponsor.

Finalists who may be invited to New York City to appear on Good Morning America may each receive one (1) night's hotel accommodations (one room, single occupancy). If Finalists live more than 250 miles from final destination they may each receive one roundtrip (1) coach class, airfare from an airport near the Finalist's home to a New York City area airport and roundtrip ground transportation from airport to hotel/studio. If a Finalist lives within 250 miles of New York City, Sponsors, at their sole discretion, may provide alternate transportation.

By participating, entrants agree to be bound by these official rules and the decisions of the Sponsor/Judges and the Challenge administrator, which shall be final in all respects.By entering the Challenge, Entrants agree to execute any and all paperwork requested by the Sponsor which may include, but is not limited to, a background check prior to any on-line or on air appearance of Entrant or Entrant's submission or related materials.

All recipe submissions will become the sole property of ABC, which may reprint or otherwise exploit the recipe in any manner, in any media. Winner will be required to sign and return an affidavit of eligibility, release and indemnification within seven days of notification of winning. By participating in this Challenge and accepting any prize that they may win, entrants agree to release American Broadcasting Companies, Inc., its parent, subsidiary, affiliated and successor companies, advertising and promotion agencies and prize suppliers, and each of their respective officers, directors, agents, representatives and employees, as well as each of their respective successors, representatives and assigns (collectively, the "Released Parties") from any and all actions, claims, injury, loss or damage arising in any manner, directly or indirectly, from participation in this contest and/or acceptance or use of any prize.

Entrants authorize the Released Parties to use their name, voice, likeness, biographical data, city and state of residence and entry materials in programming or promotional material, worldwide in perpetuity, or on a winner's list, if applicable, without further compensation unless prohibited by law. Sponsor is not obligated to use any of the above mentioned information or materials, but may do so and may edit such information or materials, at Sponsor's sole discretion, without further obligation or compensation.By submitting entry materials, entrants certify that such materials are original and created by entrant, that entrants have the necessary rights, permission and authority to submit such materials, and, if applicable, that entrants maintain a valid copyright in the materials.

Entrants acknowledge that such materials may be included and/or discussed in a broadcast, that such discussion may include statements or opinions by the broadcast talent or others about the entrants, the entrants' appearances and/or the materials, and that those statements and opinions may be considered surprising, humiliating, embarrassing, derogatory, defamatory or otherwise offensive or injurious to them, Sponsor's employees, its studio or at-home audience and/or other third parties. Entrants release the Released Parties from any actions, claims, injury, loss or damage allegedly caused, directly or indirectly, by any such statements or opinions made during a broadcast.

Void where prohibited. All federal, state and local laws and regulations apply. Sponsor reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to disqualify any individual who tampers with the entry process and to cancel, terminate, modify and/or suspend the contest in the event of tampering or other circumstances, including but not limited to acts of God or civil disturbance that render it impractical or impossible to complete or fulfill the contest as originally planned.

Official rules will be posted on the GMA page (abcnews.com.); the name of the winner will be posted on the same Web site and announced on the broadcast.