'GMA's' Emeril's Slow Cooker Showdown Official Rules

— -- "GMA's" Emeril's Slow-Cooker Showdown Official Rules

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No purchase necessary to enter or win.

Eligibility Guidelines:

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 Slow Cooker Showdown" (the "Challenge") entry period begins 3:30 a.m. Eastern Time ("ET") on 1/23/09 and ends 11:59 am ET on 2/27/09 (the "Challenge Period"). Sponsor computer is the official clock for this Contest. All internet entries must be received by 5:00 pm on 2/27/09 and all mail entries must be postmarked by 2/27/09 and received by 3/3/09.

How to Enter:

Mail entries to:

Emeril's Slow Cooker Showdown

Ansonia Station

P. O. Box 234081

New York, NY 10023-9412

Or enter online at the Good Morning America contest page at 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 slow cooker recipe.

A judging panel will review the quarter-finalist entries and select five of these entries as semi-finalists. On or about 3/6/09 videos of the five semi-finalists may be featured on Good Morning America along with slow cooker recipes 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 slow cooker recipe. Voting will begin at approximately 9 am ET on or about 3/6/09 and will end at approximately 11:59 am ET on or about 3/9/08.

The top three entrants, based on a weighing of online viewer votes received and the GMA panel of judges, will be deemed Finalists. Finalists may be invited to appear on Good Morning America on or about 3/13/09, where the Winner will be announced. The Winner will be determined based on a weighing of viewer votes received and the GMA panel of judges. After the Winner is announced, Winner will be invited to prepare his or her slow cooker 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 3/13/09. 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 3/9/09. All responses to notifications and execution of paperwork required for advanced participation must be completed in the time specified by the Sponsor.

Prizes:

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.

Approximate Retail Value of three finalist prizes is $1,500.

Final actual value at time of booking and travel may be substantially more or less depending on dates of travel, point of origin and ticket availability. Some restrictions apply. All expenses not specifically provided for herein are the winner's sole responsibility.

Federal, state and local taxes are the sole responsibility of the winner, who will receive an IRS Form 1099 reflecting the final actual value of any prize valued at $600 or more.

Winners are not entitled to exchange or transfer prizes or to obtain cash or other substitutes, but Sponsors, in their sole discretion, may substitute prizes of equal or greater value.

If won by a minor, prize will be awarded in parent's or guardian's name.

Finalist Prize of appearing on Good Morning America is subject to availability. Sponsor is not responsible for cancellation or preemption of show or for other circumstances that make it impractical or impossible to fulfill this element of the prize. This element of the prize has no approximate retail value, and if it becomes impractical or impossible to fulfill this element, Sponsor's only obligation will be to provide the remainder of prize, if any.

Releases:

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.

Sponsor is not responsible for failed, partial or garbled computer transmissions, or for technical failures of any kind, including but not limited to electronic malfunction or damage of any network, hardware or software. If for any reason the contest is not capable of running as planned, including infection by computer virus, bugs, tampering, unauthorized intervention, fraud, technical failures, or other causes that corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness, integrity or proper conduct of the contest, Sponsor reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to disqualify any individual who tampers with the entry process, and to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the contest. No responsibility is assumed for any error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission, communications line failure, theft or destruction or unauthorized access to, or alteration of, entries; or any problems or technical malfunctions of any telephone network or lines, computer online systems, servers, or providers, computer equipment, software, failure of any e-mail or electronic entry to be received on account of technical problems or traffic congestion on the Internet or at any Web-site, or any combination thereof, including any injury or damage to entrant's or any other person's computer related to or resulting from participation in or downloading any materials from this contest. In the event of a dispute over an electronic entry, prize will be awarded to the owner of the e-mail account, not the name on the entry form.

To claim prize: (a) winner must provide proof of age, identity and residency; (b) winner must sign and return affidavit of eligibility/compliance with rules, publicity/liability release and indemnification; and (c) winner's intended guest(s) or travel companion(s), if any, must sign liability/publicity release, all within the time period specified by Sponsor.