The Lowdown

The 2019 contest is now open for submissions! Entry requirements and deadlines are posted below. Thank you for your interest in the "Teens Who Travel "essay contest!

Entering is Easy!  To enter, all you need to do is submit a piece of writing a maximum of 500 words, based on the following writing prompt:

• How can we enhance accessibility in study abroad?
​
You may only enter one piece of writing. Your essay can be formal or informal. It can focus on one specific idea for increasing accessibility to study abroad or be more general. It should be purely your own writing and any quoted material must be quoted and cited. It may be in the first person or otherwise, but if it reflects an experience that you've had, the experience should be true. You do not have to have traveled to write a submission.

Other Specifications: 

• Your travel writing piece must be no more than 500 words in length.
• Entries will be accepted between September 23rd, 2019 and October 15th, 2019.
• Entrants must be between the ages of 13-21 at time of entry. Open only to eligible legal residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia at the time of entry.
• Entries must include English text only and no photography is allowed. Your entry must edited for correct spelling, grammar and punctuation.
• Multiple submissions are not allowed. You may submit only one entry to the contest in total.
• Finalists will be announced on the site and by email on or before December 1st.
• Your submission will become the property of Teen Travel Writers (TeenTravelWriters.org) and may be published, shared, sold, or used by TeenTravelWriters.org at its discretion, including appearing on other travel sites. Your name and age may appear with the submission.
• Your submission must be your original creation and must not have been previously published. It should not link to any other websites or programs.
• All applications must be received no later than 11:59pm ET on October 15th, 2019. Late entries will not be considered.

If you are notified that you are a Winner, you will be contacted by December 1st, 2019 and asked to send a permission letter from your parents if you are under 18. More information about the Parent Permission Letter is available here. These documents must be received by email by December 15th, 2019 to teenswhotravelcontest@gmail.com. 

Winners will be required to provide a bio photo and a short biography including their name, school, and age in order to claim their prize.

Judging
​Writing will be judged on originality, quality of expression as well as accordance with standard rules of English grammar, mechanics and spelling.  We are looking for a unique travel voice that shares meaningful ways to enhance accessibility to study abroad. A panel of writers will make the final selection of winners.
​
• Submissions will be received via the website and judged without their identifying information.
• Only Finalists will be contacted for follow up documents to verify their eligibility.
​
.

 Rules & Guidelines

Ready to submit your writing?  Please read the Rules below carefully to ensure eligibility and then enter HERE!

1. No purchase necessary to enter the contest.

2. Who can enter:  The sweepstakes is open to legal U.S. residents only, between the ages 13 years old and 21 years old.  Open only to eligible legal residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia who are at least 13 years old, but no more than 21 years old, in their state of residence at the time of entry are allowed to enter.  Void where prohibited or restricted by law.  The employees of the Promoter, their families, agents and anyone else connected with this promotion are not allowed to enter or win.

3. Entrants must not previously have had a whole fiction or non-fiction book published commercially.

4. Entries must be received by 11:59 EST on October 15, 2019. The Promoter accepts no responsibility for any entries that are incomplete, illegible, corrupted or fail to reach the Promoter by the relevant closing date for any reason. Proof of posting or sending is not proof of receipt. Automatically generated entries or entries via agents or third parties are invalid and shall not be considered. Entries become the property of the Promoter and are not returned.

5. To enter write a 500-word or less travel writing article or creative writing piece on the theme of how to enhance accessibility to study abroad. Then send your entry along with personal details, including name, age, address and email address by completing the form HERE. You will also be required to submit your writing piece in a .doc or .pdf file to complete your entry.  Once you enter, your writing piece cannot be mailed or sent back to you.

6. All correctly completed entries will be forwarded to a judging panel made up of independent judges. The winner will be the entry that in the opinion of the judges is the best entry in terms of writing style, flair and story told.

7. One winner will be announced. The prize is one $25.00 Amazon Gift card. Only one entry per person. The judges may at their discretion choose to award no winner if none of the applicants are deemed worthy of the winning title, at the judges' discretion.

8. The judges’ decision is final.  The Sponsor retains the right to use all submitted writing, always making reference to the name of the author, to project and promote their institutional objectives in any way deemed appropriate in the future (exhibitions, production of commemorative booklets or calendars, creation of CDs, projections on websites, etc.). Participants in this contest explicitly accept this condition and provide TeenTravelWriters.org the right to use their entries for promotional purpose, including having your writing published online or on Social Media, such as Facebook.

9. Other than those specified above, the promoter shall not be liable for any costs or expenses arising out of or in any way connected with this prize and does not accept any responsibility for any damage, loss or disappointment suffered by the winner as result of accepting this prize.

10. The prize is non-transferrable and no cash alternative will be offered.

11. The prize is subject to availability. In the event of unforeseen circumstances, the Promoter reserves the right (a) to substitute alternative prizes of equivalent or greater value and (b) in exceptional circumstances to amend or foreclose the promotion without notice. No correspondence will be entered into.
​
12. The winner will be notified via email by December 1st, 2019. The winner must respond to confirm whether they accept their prize and must contact the sponsor by email at teenswhotravelcontest@gmail.com to claim their prize within 30 days of the Promoter sending notification. If the prize is unclaimed after this time, it will lapse and the Promoter reserves the right to offer the unclaimed prize to a substitute winner selected in accordance with these rules. 

13. By entering this competition each entrant confirms that his/her entry is their wholly-owned creation and to the extent that such entry makes use of any third party materials that these have been fully cleared unless they are no longer protected by copyright or other intellectual property rights. Entrants will keep the Promoter harmless from any claims in relation to their entry that the entry infringes the personal or proprietary right of any other person. By submitting an entry, each entrant grants to the Promoter a perpetual, royalty-free, non-exclusive license to edit, publish, translate, modify, adapt, make available and distribute the entry throughout the world in any media now known or hereafter invented. The winning entrant and the two runners up further assign to the Promoter the entire copyright and all other rights insofar as they belong to him/her of whatsoever nature in and to their entry throughout the World in any media now known or hereafter invented for the full period of copyright and all renewals and extensions thereof and the winning entrant and two runners up further waive all moral rights in his/her entry. Each entrant undertakes to complete any necessary documentation to formalize the license. If you do not want to grant us these rights, please do not submit materials to us.

14. The Promoter will use any data submitted by entrants only for the purposes of running the competition, unless otherwise stated in the entry details. By entering this competition, all entrants consent to the use of their personal data by the Promoter for the purposes of the administration of this competition and any other purposes to which the entrant has consented.

15. The winner agrees to take part in reasonable post event publicity and to the use of their names and photographs in such publicity. 

16. Promoter may disqualify any entrant whose entry does not comply with these terms and conditions (in Promoter’s sole opinion) or who, in Promoter’s sole determination, has acted in a manner that is fraudulent, dishonest or unjust to other entrants including, without limitation, tampering with the operation of the competition, manipulating or rigging votes, hacking, deceiving, cheating or by harassing or threatening other entrants or a representative of Promoter.

17. By entering the competition each entrant agrees to be bound by these terms and conditions.

Ready to submit your writing? Enter here!

OFFICIAL RULES 

OPEN ONLY TO ELIGIBLE LEGAL RESIDENTS OF THE 50 UNITED STATES AND THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA WHO ARE BETWEEN THE AGES OF 13 to 21 IN THEIR STATE OF RESIDENCE AT THE TIME OF ENTRY.  VOID WHERE PROHIBITED OR RESTRICTED BY LAW.  

Employees of the Sponsor, Promoters, any prize contributors, and each of their respective parent companies, subsidiaries, affiliates, advertising and promotion agencies (collectively, “Promotion Entities”) and each of their immediate family members (e.g., spouse, parent, child, sibling, and their respective spouses and the “steps” of each, regardless of where they reside) and persons living in the same household of each, whether or not related, are not eligible to enter or win. All applicable federal, state, provincial, territorial, and local laws and regulations apply. Void where prohibited or restricted by law

Participation constitutes entrant’s full and unconditional agreement to these Official Rules and Sponsor’s decisions and interpretations, which are final and binding in all matters related to the Sweepstakes. For purposes of the Sweepstakes, an entrant’s residential address and e-mail address will be the physical address and e-mail address submitted at the time of entry. Entrants will not be allowed to change their physical address or e-mail address.

Odds of Winning: The odds of winning the Grand Prize depend on the number of eligible entries received during the Promotion Period. 

LIMITATION OF LIABILITY: By participating in this Sweepstakes entrants agree that the Promotion Entities and each of their respective affiliates, subsidiaries, representatives, consultants, contractors, legal counsel, advertising, public relations, promotional, fulfillment and marketing agencies, website providers and each their respective officers, directors, stockholders, employees, representatives, designees and agents (“Released Parties”) are not responsible for: (i) lost, late, incomplete, stolen, misdirected, postage due or undeliverable e-mail/text notifications or postal mail; (ii) any computer, telephone, satellite, cable, network, electronic or Internet hardware or software malfunctions, failures, connections, or availability; (iii) garbled, corrupt or jumbled transmissions, service provider/network accessibility, availability or traffic congestion; (iv) any technical, mechanical, printing or typographical or other error; (v) the incorrect or inaccurate capture of registration information or the failure to capture, or loss of, any such information; (vi) any error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission, communications line failure, technical error, theft or destruction or unauthorized access to the Sweepstakes; (vii) any injury or damage, whether personal or property, to entrants or to any person's computer related to or resulting from participating in the Sweepstakes and/or accepting the Grand Prize; and (viii) entries that are late, forged, lost, misplaced, misdirected, tampered with, incomplete, deleted, damaged, garbled or otherwise not in compliance with the Official Rules. Further, the Promotion Entities are not responsible for any unanswered or undeliverable winner notifications.

GENERAL:  By entering the Sweepstakes, each entrant agrees: (i) to be bound by these Official Rules, including entry requirements; (ii) to waive any rights to claim ambiguity with respect to these Official Rules; (iii) to waive all of his/her rights to bring any claim, action or proceeding against any of the Released Parties in connection with the Sweepstakes; and (iii) to forever and irrevocably agree to release and hold harmless each of the Released Parties from any and all claims, lawsuits, judgments, causes of action, proceedings, demands, fines, penalties, liability, costs and expenses (including, without limitation, reasonable attorneys’ fees) that may arise in connection with: (a) the Sweepstakes, including, but not limited to, any Sweepstakes-related activity or element thereof, and the entrant’s entries, participation or inability to participate in the Sweepstakes; (b) the violation of any third-party privacy, personal, publicity or proprietary rights; (c) acceptance, attendance at, receipt, travel related to, participation in, delivery of, possession, defects in, use, non-use, misuse, inability to use, loss, damage, destruction, negligence or willful misconduct in connection with the use of the Grand Prize (or any component thereof); (d) any change in the prizing (or any components thereof); (e) human error; (f) any wrongful, negligent, or unauthorized act or omission on the part of any of the Released Parties; (g) lost, late, stolen, misdirected, damaged or destroyed prizing (or any element thereof); or (h) the negligence or willful misconduct by entrant.

If, for any reason, the Sweepstakes is not capable of running as planned, Sponsor reserves the right, at its sole and absolute discretion, to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the Sweepstakes and/or proceed with the Sweepstakes, including the selection of a winner in a manner it deems fair and reasonable, including the selection of a winner from among eligible entries received prior to such cancellation, termination, modification or suspension. In no event will more prizes be awarded than are stated in these Official Rules. In the event that, due to technical, typographical, mechanical, administrative, printing, production, computer or other errors, there are more winners than are stated in these Official Rules, a random drawing among the claimants will be held to determine the winner. 

PRIVACY: Each entrant expressly consents to the Sponsor storing and using the information submitted with his/her entry for the purpose of administering the Sweepstakes and/or providing and personalizing the below noted communications and for other purposes which may include, but are not limited to, sharing your information with third parties. Information may be transferred and stored for these purposes in jurisdictions outside of Canada, including the United States. Sponsor uses the personally identifiable information collected in this Sweepstakes as sales leads and may contact the individual registrants by email, mail, phone, or other contact information provided when entering the Sweepstakes. By participating in the Sweepstakes, entrant hereby agrees to receive email and other notices from Sponsor, including marketing messages, surveys, special offers and notices about other promotions. Such notices may come from Sponsor itself or from Sponsor on behalf of companies with whom the Sponsor has a business relationship. If you want to "opt-out" of being contacted by Sponsor after you have participated in one of its promotions, you may do so as follows: Send an email to teenswhotravelcontest@gmail.com. Please make sure to include the name of the Sweepstakes in the subject line and in the body of the email from which you wish to opt-out. Failure to provide this information may delay the processing of your request.
 
GENERAL: Any attempted form of participation in this Sweepstakes other than as described herein is void. Sponsor reserves the right to disqualify any entrant found or suspected, in their sole and absolute discretion, to be tampering with the operation of the Sweepstakes; to be acting in violation of these Official Rules; or to be acting in an unsportsmanlike manner or with the intent to disrupt the normal operation of this Sweepstakes. Any attempted form of participation in this Sweepstakes other than as in these Official Rules is void. If it is discovered that a person has registered or attempted to register more than once using multiple phone numbers, e-mail addresses, residential addresses, multiple identities, IP addresses, use of proxy servers, or like methods, all of that person’s entries will be declared null and void and that person will not be awarded any prize that he/she might have been entitled to receive.

No entrant shall have the right to modify or amend these Official Rules. Sponsor’s failure to enforce any term of these Official Rules shall not constitute a waiver of that provision and such provision shall remain in full force and effect. All entries and/or materials submitted become the property of Sponsor and will not be returned. In the event of any conflict with any Sweepstakes details contained in these Official Rules and Sweepstakes details contained in any promotional materials (including but not limited to point of sale, television and print advertising, promotional packaging and other promotional media), the details of the Sweepstakes as set forth in these Official Rules shall prevail.