ITO EN (North America)
THE ART OF HAIKU CONTEST

OFFICIAL RULES
NO PURCHASE NECESSARY

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DESCRIPTION:
ITO EN (North America) (the “Sponsor”) and New York Seikatsu Press Inc. (the “Presenter”) are offering a contest looking for new haiku, which are poems following the syllabic pattern of 5-7-5. 

PROMOTION PERIOD:
The ITO EN (North America) The Art of Haiku Contest (the “Contest”) starts 12:00:00 am Eastern Time (“ET”) on January 1, 2023 and ends 11:59:59 pm ET on October 31, 2023 (the “Promotion Period”) which is further divided into ten (10) Monthly Entry Periods (each a “Monthly entry Period”) as defined in the Entry Submission Period Chart below.

ELIGIBILITY:
Contest open to legal residents of the 50 United States or District of Columbia (“D.C.”). Employees of ITO EN, New York Seikatsu Press Inc., their parent companies, affiliates, subsidiaries and advertising and promotion agencies, including but not limited to Marden-Kane, Inc., and members of the immediate families (defined for these purposes as including spouse, biological, adoptive and step parents, children, and siblings and each of their respective spouses, regardless of where they reside) or households (whether related or not) of any of the above are NOT eligible to enter and/or win a prize. Void outside the 50 United States, D.C. and where prohibited by law. By participating and/or accepting a prize, Entrants agree to be bound by these Official Rules and to accept decisions of the Sponsor as final in all matters relating to this Contest.

HOW TO ENTER:
Write a haiku (the “Entry”) in either Japanese or English. There are a series of Entry Submission Periods (see chart below).  There will be three (3) entry divisions (an “Entry Division”) for each Entry Period into the Contest: [1] a Japanese language entry submission for entrants over 18 years of age; [2] an English language entry submission for entrants over 18 years of age; and [3] a Japanese or English language entry submission for entrants 17 years of age or younger. 

Japanese: Haiku to be submitted in Japanese are generally expected to follow the syllabic pattern of 5-7-5 but with no requirement to include a season word (kigo).

English: Haiku in English may consider the following as models:

How to Submit your entry: There are three (3) ways to submit your entry:

1. By Email: Send an e-mail with the subject line: “ITO EN 2023 The Art of Haiku Contest Submission” to artofhaiku@itoen.com.  Within the body of the email type your haiku, along with your first and last names, complete mailing address, telephone number, date of birth, e-mail address (if you have one) and name of your school (if a student).
2. Online: Go http://artofhaiku.org and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the Official Online Submission Form and submit your haiku.  Once you have completed your Entry, click the “Submit” button to enter.
3. By Mail: Write your haiku, along with your first and last names, complete mailing address, telephone number, date of birth, e-mail address (if you have one) and name of your school (if a student) (all legibly hand printed or typed) on a piece of paper no larger than 8×10 and mail to: Shukan NY Seikatsu, New York Seikatsu Press, ATTN: ITO EN (North America) 2023 The Art of Haiku Entry, 71 West 47th Street, Suite 1205, New York, NY 10036. 

Special Instructions For Participants Under 13 Years Of Age:
If you wish to submit a haiku in this contest but you are under 13 years of age, your haiku cannot be submitted online or by email.  You must submit your entry by mail.  To be valid, write your haiku, along with your first and last names, complete mailing address, telephone number, date of birth, your parent/legal guardian’s e-mail address (if they have one), name of your school (if a student) (all legibly hand printed or typed) and your parent or legal guardian’s signature evidencing their permission for you to participate in the Contest on a piece of paper no larger than 8×10 and mail to: Shukan NY Seikatsu, New York Seikatsu Press, ATTN: ITO EN (North America) 2023 The Art of Haiku Entry, 71 West 47th Street, Suite 1205, New York, NY 10036.   

Entry Submission Period Schedule

Monthly Entry Period	Starts	Ends	Email & Online Entry Received By	Mail-In Entry Post Marked By	Mail-In Entry Received By
1	1/1	1/31	11:59:59 pm 1/31	1/31	2/4
2	2/1	2/28	11:59:59 pm 2/28	2/28	3/4
3	3/1	3/31	11:59:59 pm 3/31	3/31	4/5
4	4/1	4/29	11:59:59 pm 4/30	4/29	5/4
5	4/30	5/31	11:59:59 pm 5/31	5/31	6/5
6	6/1	6/30	11:59:59 pm 6/30	6/30	7/6
7	7/1	7/31	11:59:59 pm 7/31	7/31	8/4
8	8/1	8/31	11:59:59 pm 8/31	8/31	9/5
9	9/1	9/30	11:59:59 pm 9/30	9/30	10/5
10	10/1	10/30	11:59:59 pm 10/31	10/30	11/6

There is a limit of one (1) entry per person, per Monthly Entry Submission Period Schedule, per Division regardless of entry method.  Group entries not eligible.  If more than one (1) entry is received from the same person/email in any of the Divisions in the same Entry Submission Period Schedule, only the first entry received will be accepted.  This contest is separate from the one ITO EN holds in Japan.

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS:
Haiku must be written in English or Japanese. Each Entry must be Entrant’s own original creation, executed solely by Entrant; not have won any previous award; not have been submitted in any other competition; and be a previously unpublished and previously un-produced work. Modifying, enhancing or altering a third party’s pre-existing work does not qualify as Entrant’s original creation. Entry must be in keeping with Sponsor’s image and may not be obscene, indecent or otherwise offensive, as determined by judges or Sponsor in their sole discretion, nor can Entry defame or invade publicity rights or privacy rights of any person, living or deceased, or otherwise infringe upon any person’s personal or proprietary rights, including but not limited to intellectual property rights, and the right to submit or use Entry must not be restricted in any way. Any Entrant whose submitted material contains elements not owned by Entrant (such as, but not limited to, company or team trademarks) will be disqualified. Entries that are incomplete or do not comply with these Official Rules in any way will be disqualified. No correspondence regarding entries will be acknowledged or entered into with Entrant except as provided herein. Submission of an Entry grants Sponsor the right to use, publish, adapt, assign, edit, dispose of, and/or modify such Entry and the concepts embodied therein in any way, in commerce and in any and all media worldwide, without limitation or compensation to the Entrant (or their parent/legal guardian if Entrant is a minor) and each may be required to sign a release to that effect. Submission of an Entry further constitutes the Entrant’s (or his/her parent or legal guardian’s) consent to irrevocably assign and transfer to the Sponsor any and all rights, title and interest in and to the Entry and the concepts embodied therein. Such rights, title and interest shall include, but are not limited to, all intellectual property, sales and licensing rights. Entries become the sole property of the Sponsor and will not be returned.  Personal information including name, address, city, state, zip, email, and telephone number collected from an Entrant will be used only for the purpose of judging the Contest and to notify the Semifinalists and/or Winners in the event his/her Entry is chosen as a Semifinalist and/or Winner, and will not be re-used, sold or shared in any manner by Sponsor, Promoter, or Marden-Kane, Inc. (the “Administrator”), or any third parties unless Entrant has opted-in to receive additional information and promotional materials from Sponsor or third party.  Once the promotion has ended, all information supplied by Entrants who opt not to receive such additional information will be removed from the Sponsor’s and Administrator’s respective databases.

MONTHLY JUDGING/NOTIFICATION SCHEDULE:
Eligible entries received will be judged on a monthly basis as noted below on the “Monthly Judging Schedule.” To be eligible for a Judging Period, entries must be received by the dates for any of the Judging Periods listed below. The entries will be judged on a monthly basis. If your entry is not selected as a Semifinalist in the Judging Period in which it was entered, it will be void and not be carried over to the next Judging Period. To submit the same entry in more than one Judging Period, you must re-submit the entry each time.

Monthly Judging Schedule

Judging Period*	Starts	Ends	Potential Semifinalists Notified (on or about)	Number of Semifinalists from Over 18 Japanese Division	Number of Semifinalists from Over 18 English Division	Number of Semifinalists from Under 18 Japanese or English Division
1	1/1	2/4	2/6	7	7	7
2	2/1	3/4	3/6	7	7	7
3	3/1	4/5	4/6	7	7	7
4	4/1	5/4	5/8	7	7	7
5	5/1	6/5	6/6	7	7	7
6	6/1	7/6	7/7	7	7	7
7	7/1	8/4	8/7	7	7	7
8	8/1	9/5	9/6	7	7	7
9	9/1	10/5	10/6	7	7	7
10	10/1	11/6	11/7	7	7	7

* A Judging Period will include all eligible entries received by the specified dates in the Entry Submission Period chart listed above.

JUDGING:
During the Judging, all eligible entries will be judged by a panel of qualified judges who will include, but not be limited to, Sho Otaka, Senri Oe, Kinue Esaka, Scott Mason and Taizan Tanaka as well as representatives from Sponsor, Promoter and their marketing agencies, under the supervision of the Contest Administrator on the basis of the following criteria:

• Creativity 40%
• Originality 40%
• Clear expression of haiku 20%

In the event of a tie in any stage of judging, the Winner(s) will be determined based on whichever Entry received the highest score in the originality category from the judging criteria.  In the event of a tie in both judging criteria, the Entries would be re-judged by a different panel of judges.

Judging to determine the Gold, Silver and Bronze prize winners (from among the Semifinalists) and the Outstand School will take place on or about 11/16/23.

WINNER NOTIFICATION:
The Semifinalists will be notified by mail, e-mail and/or telephone as noted above. Contest Semifinalists, as well as the Gold, Silver and Bronze prize winners, may be required to complete and sign (where legal) an Affidavit of Eligibility and Liability, and where legal, a Publicity Release, which must be returned within three (3) days of initial issuance of written notification.  If such documents are not returned within the stated timeframe or are returned as undeliverable, the corresponding Semifinalist will be disqualified and an alternate Semifinalist will be determined based on the judging criteria and notified as per the procedures describe above.

PRIZES:
Three (3) Gold Winners (one (1) from each of the Entry Divisions as listed above) will each receive: Three (3) cases of Oi Ocha green tea (ARV: $23.50 per case = $70.50) and a Trophy (trophy has no cash value). Total ARV of prize package: 70.50 each winner. 

Three (3) Silver Winners (one (1) from each of the Entry Divisions as listed above) will each receive: Two (2) cases of Oi Ocha green tea (ARV: $23.50 per case = $47.00) and a Trophy (trophy has no cash value). Total ARV of prize package: $47.00 each. 

Three (3) Bronze Winners (one (1) from each of the Entry Divisions as listed) will each receive: One (1) case of Oi Ocha green tea (ARV: $23.50 per case = $23.50) and a Trophy (trophy has no cash value). Total ARV of prize package: $23.50 each. Total ARV of all prizes: $423.00.

Outstanding School Prize: One (1) School with the most number of outstanding entries as determined by the panel of judges will receive a certificate of recognition.  For the school to qualify for this recognition they must have a minimum of ten (10) entries submitted by different students.  There is no cash value to receiving the title of “Outstanding School”.

Gold, Silver and Bronze prize winners will also have their haiku printed in the first issue of the 2023 Shukan NY Seikatsu as well as posted on http://artofhaiku.org.  Winners are responsible for all applicable sales and income taxes on Prize.  All prizes will be awarded provided enough entries have been received.  No prize will be awarded for having achieved Semifinalist status.  Semifinalists will have their haiku published in Shukan NY Seikatsu in the fourth issue of each month following the Entry Submission Period they are deemed a Semifinalist for as well as on the website http://artofhaiku.org. 

CONDITIONS OF ENTRY:
By entering and/or accepting a prize, all participants agree that ITO EN, New York Seikatsu Press Inc., their parent companies, affiliates, subsidiaries and advertising and promotion agencies, including but not limited to Marden-Kane, Inc., and the officers, directors, and employees of each of the foregoing (“Releasees”) shall have no liability whatsoever for any injuries, losses, or damages of any kind resulting from or in connection with the acceptance, possession, use or misuse of such prize or with participation in this Contest or in prize-related activities (including, without limitation, any travel related hereto). Participants further agree that the Releasees are not responsible for the following: (i) electronic transmissions, entries, or submissions that are lost, late, stolen, incomplete, illegible, damaged, garbled, destroyed, misdirected or not received by Sponsor or its agents for any reason, (ii) any problems or technical malfunctions, errors, omissions, interruptions, deletions, defects, delays in operation or transmission, communication failures or human error that may occur in the transmission, receipt or processing of entries, votes or related materials, or for destruction of or unauthorized access to, or alteration of, entries, votes or related material, (iii) failed or unavailable hardware, network, software or telephone transmissions, damage to entrants’ or any person’s computer and/or its contents related to or resulting from participation in this Contest, or causes beyond Sponsor’s reasonable control that jeopardize the administration, security, fairness, integrity or proper conduct of this Contest; (iv) any entries submitted in a manner that is not expressly allowed under these rules (all such entries will be disqualified); (v) printing errors in these Official Rules or in any advertisements or correspondence in connection with this Contest: or (vi) cheating or fraud by any participant. Sponsor reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to cancel or suspend this Contest should viruses, bugs, fraud or other causes beyond the control of the Sponsor corrupt the administration, security or proper participation of the Contest and in such case to award the prizes based on the eligible, non-suspect entries received as of the date of cancellation.  CAUTION:  ANY ATTEMPT BY AN INDIVIDUAL TO DELIBERATELY DAMAGE ANY WEBSITE OR UNDERMINE THE LEGITIMATE OPERATION OF THIS CONTEST MAY BE A VIOLATION OF CRIMINAL AND CIVIL LAWS.  SHOULD SUCH AN ATTEMPT BE MADE, SPONSOR RESERVES THE RIGHT TO DISQUALIFY AND SEEK DAMAGES FROM ANY SUCH INDIVIDUAL TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW.

GENERAL CONDITIONS: 
By accepting a prize, winners (or his/her parent or legal guardian if appropriate) consent to the use of winner’s name, photograph, other likenesses and limited biographical information for advertising, promotional or trade purposes, including but not limited to online announcements, in commerce and in all media worldwide without limitation or additional compensation, except where prohibited by law.  Contest subject to all applicable federal, state and local laws and regulations.

OWNERSHIP AND USE OF ENTRIES:
By entering this Contest, and to the extent allowed by law, participants acknowledge and agree that all Entries shall become the sole and exclusive property of Sponsor and that Sponsor shall be free to make whatever use of the Entries as Sponsor shall, in its sole discretion, determine, without further compensation to participants. Participants hereby assign to the Sponsor all rights including without limitation copyright, trademarks, and any other rights (whether registered or unregistered) in their entry whether known or created in the future.  Participants agree to execute all such documents as may be required to assign the rights in the entries to the Sponsor at any time. Notwithstanding the foregoing to the extent that an assignment is not permissible by law in a particular jurisdiction participants grant Sponsor and its affiliates, licensees, promotional partners, and third party marketing entities a royalty-free exclusive license to edit, modify, cut, rearrange, add to, delete from, copy, reproduce, translate, adapt, publish, exploit, and use Entries themselves and the content of and elements embodied in the Entries, in perpetuity in any and all media, including but not limited to printing, digital and electronic media, (whether now existing or hereafter devised), in any language, throughout the world, and in any manner, for trade, advertising, promotional, commercial, or any other purposes without further review, notice, approval, consideration, or compensation. Except where prohibited by law, each participant waives and releases Sponsor and its affiliates, licensees, promotional partners, developers, and third party marketing entities from any and all claims that each participant may now or hereafter have in any jurisdiction based on “moral rights” or “droit moral” or unfair competition with respect to Sponsor’s exploitation of Entries without further notification or compensation to participants of any kind, and agrees not to instigate, support, maintain, or authorize any action, claim, or lawsuit against Sponsor and its affiliates, licensees, promotional partners, developers and third party marketing entities or any other person in connection with this Contest, on the grounds that any use of any Entry, or any derivative works, infringe or violate any rights of any entrant and/or any participant therein.

DISPUTES:
By participating, participants agree that (a) any and all disputes, claims and causes of action arising out of, or connected with, this Contest or any prize awarded shall be resolved individually, without resort to any form of class action, and exclusively by the appropriate court located in New York; (b) any and all claims, judgments and awards shall be limited to actual out-of-pocket costs incurred, including but not limited to costs associated with entering this Contest but in no event attorneys’ fees; and (c) to the extent allowed by applicable law, under no circumstances will participants be permitted to obtain awards for, and participants hereby waive, all rights to claim, punitive, incidental and/or consequential damages and/or any other damages, other than out-of-pocket expenses, and any and all rights to have damages multiplied or otherwise increased.  SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE LIMITATIONS OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THE ABOVE MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.  All issues and questions concerning the construction, validity, interpretation and enforceability of these Official rules, participants’ rights and obligations, or the rights and obligations of the Sponsor in connection with the Contest, shall be governed by, and construed in accordance with, the laws of New York, without giving effect to any choice of law or conflict of law rules (whether of New York or any other jurisdiction), which would cause the application of the laws of any jurisdiction other than New York.

WHO WON?
To request the names of the winners, send an e-mail with subject line: “ITO EN (North America) The Art of Haiku Contest 2023 Winners” to artofhaiku@itoen.com.  Names of the winners will be available after 11/16/23, and requests must be received no later than 11/30/23.

SPONSOR, PROMOTER & ADMINISTRATOR:
Sponsor: ITO EN (North America) INC.
1320 Greenway Drive, Suite 700, Irving, TX 75038.
Promoter: New York Seikatsu Press Inc.
71 West 47th Street, Suite 1205, New York, NY. 10036.
Administrator: Marden-Kane, Inc.
575 Underhill Blvd, Suite 222, Syosset, NY 11791.