To enter Carolinas Champion 2012 tell us about the grade K-12 teacher who has touched your life. Nominations accepted from all residents of the Charlotte area. All entries must be received online to be eligible. You may enter by filling out our online form, by uploading a Microsoft Word document, or by uploading a video. Entries must be complete to be eligible. You must pay normal Internet access and usage charges imposed by your on-line service.

Judging:
All eligible entries will be judged to determine four Carolinas Champion finalists, based on the entries that contain the most compelling stories of teacher commitment and involvement. Eligible entries will be judged by a panel of judges, determined by Sponsor, on dates to be announced soon, to determine the THREE FINALISTS. Of the three finalists, ONE GRAND PRIZE WINNER will be chosen by the panel of judges. Decisions of judges are final on all matters relating to Contest. Essays or videos used in the nomination process must not have won a previous prize or award and have not been previously published; must not infringe on any third-party rights and must be deemed suitable by Sponsor. Entries deemed lewd or offensive may be disqualified, in Sponsor’s sole discretion.

Prizes:
(1) lease on a Hyundai vehicle for one (1) year sponsored by Keffer Hyundai valued at $TBA; Panthers tickets for a group of students/chaperones awarded to the classroom of each teacher finalist. Finalist(s) will be notified by email and/or phone. The three finalist prizes will be recognized at three home Panthers games during the season as determined by the Sponsor. The Grand Prize winner will be announced, and all prizes awarded, at the Panthers game on a date to be announced soon. Prize(s) are nontransferable/no substitutions are allowed. Sponsor reserves the right to award a prize of equal or greater value if advertised prize (or portion of prize) is unavailable. Sponsor and its agencies assume no responsibility/liability for damages, losses or injury resulting from acceptance or use of prize.

General Rules:
Taxes, if any, related to the prize are the responsibility of the individual winner. Sponsor reserves the right to validate all information provided during nomination, and all nominees may be subject to a background check. Winner may be required to verify address and execute an assignment of rights before delivery of prize. Sponsor reserves the right to use all information provided on nomination forms and in submitted videos for the promotion of this and future Our Carolinas Champion contests. Acceptance of a prize constitutes permission to use winner’s name, likeness and entry submission for promotional purposes without further compensation except where prohibited by law. The nominating entrant acknowledges and agrees that his/her Carolinas Champion story and all related materials created in or arising out of the production of the concept shall be, effective upon creation, assigned to and become the property of Sponsor, which thereafter has the royalty-free, perpetual right to edit, re-edit, adapt, modify, reproduce, promote, distribute create derivative works and otherwise use the nominated story in any way it sees fit. By entering, entrant accepts and agrees to be bound by these official rules and the decisions of the judges. Internet entries will be declared made by the authorized account holder of the e-mail address submitted at the time of entry. "Authorized account holder" is defined as the natural person who is assigned to an email address by an Internet Access provider, on-line service provider, or other organization (e.g., business, educational institution etc.) that is responsible for assigning email addresses for the domain associated with the submitted email address. Sponsor reserves the right at its sole discretion to disqualify any individual that tampers or attempts to tamper with the entry process or the operation of the Contest or website; violates the Official Rules; or acts in an unsportsmanlike or disruptive manner, or with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass any other person. Sponsor and its agencies are not responsible for technical, hardware or software malfunctions, telephone failures of any kind, lost or unavailable network connections, or failed, incorrect, inaccurate, incomplete, garbled or delayed electronic communications whether caused by the sender or by any of the equipment or programming associated with or utilized in this Contest which may limit the ability to participate or by any human error which may occur in the processing of the entries in this Contest. Sponsor reserves the right to cancel the Contest if it becomes technically corrupted, and award prize from eligible online entries received prior to cancellation.

Eligibility:
Contest open to legal residents of the U.S. To be eligible, entrants must be a resident of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. To be eligible, each nominee must be 21 years of age or older as of January 1, 2012, must hold a valid drivers license, and must be a resident of North or South Carolina, and must be a teacher in the CMS school system. Nominees must be available and agree to appear at select Charlotte Panthers football games and on the Grand Prize game day, and must agree to the contest screening process. Winners must be available for a separate car presentation ceremony at the Keffer Hyundai lot on a date to be determined. Employees and their families of Sponsors, their affiliates, subsidiaries, advertising and promotion agencies are not eligible. This offer is void where prohibited and subject to all federal, state and local laws.

--- All rules are subject to change.