Frequently Asked Questions

a) Agreement: These details govern the Readers’ Choice Awards Promotion (the “Promotion”). No purchase is necessary to enter, be nominated, vote in or win the Awards. The act of entering the Promotion constitutes acceptance of these terms and the decisions of the Sponsor, which decisions shall be final and binding upon all entrants.

b) Sponsor: The Promotion is run by your local Metroland Media Group Ltd. publication (the “Sponsor”).

c) Eligibility: The Promotion is open to residents of Canada, excluding Quebec, who have reached the age of nineteen (19) as of the start of the Promotion Period. Employees, their immediate families (i.e. spouses or biological, step or adoptive parents, children or siblings) and anyone domiciled with any employee of the Sponsor or its affiliates, subsidiaries, advertising or promotional agencies, or fulfilment houses are not eligible to become Nominees or Winners in the Promotion, but may participate in the Promotion by nominating or voting for a business/professional in accordance with the terms below. To be eligible to be a Nominee or Winner, a business must be located within their city, Ontario and Surrounding Area.

d) Nomination: To nominate a business, visit the Promotion website and read these terms, and follow the prompts online to complete and submit the online entry form (the “Nomination”) by the end of the Nomination Period. The Nomination Period is indicated on the Readers’ Choice website. In order to be eligible for judging and to win, any nomination must be received by the date stated on the Readers’ Choice website. Each member of the public can only nominate one (1) business per category within the Nomination Period.

If a business is the only submission in a category during the Nomination Period, the business will not move forward to the Voting phase to become an “Official Nominee.” Each category must have more than one nominee to move to the Voting phase.

In connection with their submissions, each person submitting a Nomination affirms, represents and/or warrants that: (i) they own or have the necessary licenses, rights, consents and permissions to use and authorize the Sponsor to use all copyright, trademark or other proprietary rights in and to their submission to enable inclusion and use of the submission in the manner contemplated by these Promotion terms; (ii) their submission does not violate any law, statute, ordinance or regulation, will not give rise to any claims of infringement, invasion of privacy or publicity, or infringe on any rights and/or interests of any third party, or give rise to any claims whatsoever; and if applicable, he/she has the written consent, release and/or permission of each and every identifiable individual professional or business in the submission to use the name or likeness of each and every such identifiable individual professional or business to enable inclusion and use of the submission in the matter contemplated by these Promotion terms. The submission must not, in the sole and unfettered discretion of the Sponsor, be defamatory, trade libellous, provocative, pornographic or obscene, or contain, include, discuss or involve, without limitation, any of the following: crude, vulgar or offensive language and/or symbols; derogatory or discriminatory characterizations of any individual or ethnic, racial, sexual, religious or other groups; content that endorses, condones and/or discusses any illegal, inappropriate or risky behaviour or conduct; and other than the name of the professional or business you are nominating, for which you have obtained consent as outlined in (ii) above, the personal information of any individuals, including, without limitation, names, telephone numbers and addresses (physical or electronic); any identifiable third party products, trade-marks, brands and/or logos; or conduct or other activities in violation of these terms. The Sponsor reserves the right to reject, remove, alter or disqualify any submissions or nominations that in its sole discretion could be offensive or inappropriate or that do not meet the requirements of these terms and conditions.

The five (5) businesses in each category who have received the most Nominations at the end of the Nomination Period will be selected as Finalists, and will be listed on the Promotion website to be voted on by the public. In the event of a tie between certain nominees, both will be selected as Finalists. If there are fewer than five (5) businesses nominated in a category, they will all be selected as Finalists and advance to the voting phase.

In regions with a daily Metroland newspaper, the name of each Nominee will be listed in an “Official Nominees” Section that will be published in the regional Daily Metroland Newspaper. A digital version of the “Official Nominees” Section will also be posted online.

e) Voting and Awards: Members of the public will be able to vote for their favourite Finalists on the dates listed on the Readers’ Choice website. Members of the public are restricted to one vote per Finalist, per category during the Voting Period.

At the end of the Voting Period, the Finalists in each category will be ranked by number of votes received and:

• the Finalist with the most votes in a category will be selected as the “Diamond Winner”;
• the Finalist with the second most votes in a category will be selected as the “Platinum Winner”;
• the Finalist with the third most votes in a category will be selected as the “Gold Winner”; and
• each of the remaining Finalists will be selected as a “Top five Winner.”

In the event of a tie between Finalists, both businesses will be selected.

If no votes are submitted by members of the public during the Voting Period for a particular category, the Winners within that category will be selected by counting and ranking the Finalists according to the number of Nominations each received.

In regions with a daily Metroland newspaper, the name of each Winner will be listed in an “Official Winners” Section will be published. A digital version of the “Official Winners” Section will also be posted online on the websites of Metroland’s daily and community publications.

f) Release, Licence to Use Copyright and Waiver of Moral Rights: By entering the Promotion and/or accepting a Nomination or award, each entrant and Nominee irrevocably:

• authorizes the Sponsor to use their Promotion entry, including without limitation their name, city and province/territory of residence, photograph, image, picture, portrait, likeness, submission, and statements (together, “Material”) in connection with the Sponsor’s business, including without limitation for this Promotion or for general advertising and promotional purposes, in any and all forms of media now owned or hereafter invented, without further notice, review, approval, consent or compensation.
• grants the Sponsor a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free non-exclusive license to publish, use, reproduce, copy, display, distribute, edit or modify any entrant or Nominee’s Material in connection with this Promotion, other marketing and advertising purposes, or for any other reason or purpose, and each entrant and Nominee waives any and all moral rights they may have in any Material submitted. Each entrant agrees to complete and sign all documents necessary to confirm the rights granted under these official rules.
• consents to the use of their Material in advertisements for the Sponsor, including but not limited to advertisements in Sponsor’s newspapers, and to the posting of their Material online on the Sponsor’s and its affiliates’ and related companies’ websites and in social media without any further notice, review, approval, consent or compensation. In addition, each entrant and Nominee acknowledges and agrees that publishing Material in print and posting Material online brings that Material within public view, and none of the Released Parties (as defined below) will be held liable for any copying, reproducing, re-posting, or unlawful use of any published or posted Material, or any other injury, damage or loss to any entrant, nominee or any other person that may result.

As a condition of being declared a winner and prior to being awarded any award, each selected Nominee may be required to show valid photo ID and/or to sign a declaration of eligibility and release form (i) releasing the Released Parties (as defined below) from any and all liability in connection with the Promotion and/or the award; (ii) confirming compliance with these Promotion terms; (iii) consenting to the use of their name and Material, in any and all forms of media, without further compensation, in any publicity carried out by the Sponsor and its advertising and promotional agencies; and (iv) assigning any intellectual property rights, including copyright, in the Material to the Sponsor and waiving their moral rights in the Material.

g) Indemnity: By participating in this Promotion as entrant and/or Nominee, you agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless the Sponsor and each of its parents, subsidiaries, affiliates and/or related companies and licensees and each of their officers, directors, shareholders, employees, advisors, assignees, agents, licensees, representatives, sub-contractors, service providers, advertising, media buyers and promotional agencies (the “Released Parties”) from any and all damages, injuries, claims, suits, actions, causes of action, costs, expenses, liabilities or losses of any kind (including but not limited to lawyers’ fees) arising out of or relating to your participation in the Promotion; your receipt or use of any award; your violation of any term of these Promotion rules; your violation of any third party right, including without limitation any copyright, property, or privacy right; or any claim that your submission or Material caused any type of damage to a third party.

h) Privacy: We use each entrant’s and nominee’s personal information to administer this Promotion, including contacting, announcing and promoting award winners, and may transfer your personal information to third party service providers (including but not limited to prize suppliers) in order to perform services such as award fulfillment and delivery. The Contest is run in compliance with the Sponsor’s privacy policy, which may be found in full at http://notices.torstar.com/privacy-policy/index.html.

i) Banning: The Sponsor may, in its sole discretion, prohibit any person from entering or winning the Promotion whom it believes to be abusing these terms or the spirit of the awards. Such abuse includes but is not limited to entering false information and entering, nominating or voting more times than is permitted under these rules.

j) Restrictions on Use: All trademarks, trade names, brands and logos used, mentioned or displayed in connection with the Promotion are the property of Sponsor, its affiliated companies or of their respective owners. The display of these trademarks, trade names, brands and logos on this website and other sites and materials relating to the Promotion does not convey or create any license or other rights in these marks, names, brands or logos for any person, including without limitation any entrant, Nominee or Winner. Any unauthorized use of these trademarks, trade names, brands or logos is strictly prohibited.

Other: Odds of winning depend on the number of eligible nominations and votes received and the calibre of nominees within each category. In order to be eligible to win, a representative of each potential Winner may be required to correctly answer a mathematical skill-testing question, without assistance or mechanical or electronic aid. This Promotion is governed by and shall be interpreted in accordance with the laws of Ontario and the laws of Canada applicable therein and is void where prohibited by law. Sponsor reserves the right to cancel or modify the Promotion or these Promotion terms at any time without notice. The nominations, awards and related media mentions must be accepted as given, have no retail value and are non-transferable, non-exchangeable and not convertible to cash. Awards are given as-is and no warranties or guarantees are implied or expressed. The Released Parties are not liable for any lost, late, misdirected or stolen entries, nominations or votes or inability to process entries, nominations or votes, or any errors, damage, injury or negligence that may arise in connection with this Promotion or any award, including but not limited to personal injury, property damage, technical issues or failures of any website or software, viruses, website disruptions, malfunctions or website down-time, human error, personal injury or property damage incurred by any Promotion entrant or nominee. The Released Parties are not responsible for any errors or omissions in printing or advertising this Promotion. Use of any automated system including robotic or form filling software to enter, nominate, vote or otherwise participate in this Promotion is prohibited and will result in disqualification of all entries by anyone using or benefitting from such assistance. If a dispute arises regarding who submitted an online entry, nomination or vote, the entry, nomination or vote will be deemed to be submitted by the authorized account holder of the email address provided at time of entry. Authorized account holder is the natural person who is assigned to an email address by an Internet access provider, online service provider, or other organization responsible for assigning email addresses for the domain associated with the submitted email address.