If you had the chance to walk in someone else’s shoes for a day, would you take it? Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be a coffee farmer in Costa Rica? Would you like to find out how Mayan communities manage forests in Mexico? Even the most mindful among us may not know what is involved in farming and forestry in Latin America.
Rainforest Alliance’s Follow the Farmer contest will give two winners (US contestants only) the opportunity to see first-hand what’s it’s like to pluck coffee beans or harvest mohogany on Rainforest Alliance Certified farms and forests. The competition gives readers the chance to win an exciting all-expenses-paid trip to explore behind the scenes of sustainable production of everyday products and publish their observations on the Guardian.
Competition entries
To enter, imagine yourself in the shoes of someone you particularly admire. It could be your grandmother or a former teacher, your local community leader or an Olympic gold medal winner – someone you believe has made a significant social and/or environmental impact, locally or globally. Whether you choose a person you know or an individual you’ve never met, your 300 to 500 word entry should focus on what you would do during a day in his or her life.
As you formulate your response, consider the following:
● How do you imagine you’d spend an entire day walking in the shoes of your hero or heroine?
● What would you hope to experience in this pair of shoes?
● What specific things would you want to accomplish during a given day?
● What concrete steps would you take to improve the lives of people and the planet?
Examples
1. If you were to choose Jane Goodall, the primatologist and animal rights activist, you could write about how you would walk in her shoes alongside chimpanzees in the Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania.
2. If you were to choose David Attenborough, the British broadcaster and naturalist known for being the voice of the popular BBC series, Planet Earth, you could write about a scene you’d create for the popular episode of The Living Planet to show the human impact on the environment.
3. If you were to choose Julia “Butterfly” Hill, who lived in a towering redwood tree in California for nearly two years, you could write about what she had to do each day to survive, both physically and mentally.
Use your imagination and paint a vivid picture. Tell us whose shoes you’d want to walk in and why.
Specifications
● Write an entry of 300 to 500 words
● To submit, fill out the form below
● Include relevant supplemental links if you’d like
● Submission deadline is Friday 19 December 2014, at 11:59 pm EST
The Follow the Farmer contest is open to contestants from the US only. Read more about the farming and forest communities that winners will visit in Costa Rica and Mexico.
Both winners will have the opportunity to share their stories with the Guardian’s global audience. Upon return from their trips, winners will submit an article, video or blog about their experiences for publication on the Rainforest Alliance Partner Zone on the Guardian website. Details to follow.
Submissions for the Follow the Farmer contest are now closed. Thank you for your participation. Winners will be notified in 2015.
Content on this page is provided by the Rainforest Alliance, supporter of the Vital Signs platform.
Terms and conditions
Rainforest Alliance’s “Follow the Farmer” Contest Rules, 2014
Overview of the “Follow the Farmer” Contest
The Rainforest Alliance invites you to submit a 300-500 word blog post describing what you imagine it would be like to walk in the shoes of someone you believe has made a significant social and/or environmental contribution.
After a selection process involving a panel of Rainforest Alliance staff and leaders from the field of conservation/journalism and a public vote on theguardian.com, the 2 entrants that are selected as winners will win a 5-day/4-night trip to visit a producer of Rainforest Alliance Certified farm or forest products. Each winner will produce content documenting their experiences that will be showcased on the Rainforest Alliance Partner Zone on the Guardian website (www.theguardian.com/rainforest-alliance-partner-zone).
Eligibility, entry period and instructions, judging criteria, prize details and winner selection and notification procedures are detailed below. BY ENTERING THIS CONTEST, YOU AGREE TO ALL CONTEST RULES AND LEGAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS LISTED BELOW.
ELIGIBILITY
This contest is open only to legal residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia, who are 18 years of age or older as of November 17 2014. Employees and immediate family members (spouse, parent, child, sibling or sibling’s spouse) of employees of the Rainforest Alliance, Inc. and its affiliates, or of Guardian News & Media LLC or its affiliates, are not eligible to participate.
This contest is void in Puerto Rico, and outside the 50 United States and the District of Columbia. All applicable federal, state and local laws apply. Void where prohibited.
As an entrant in this contest, it is your responsibility to ensure that you are eligible to enter this contest and to comply with the entry instructions and other contest rules set forth herein. Any violation of these contest rules may result in your disqualification from this contest, in the sole discretion of the Rainforest Alliance.
ENTRY PERIOD
The contest begins November 17 2014, 07:00 am EST and ends December 19 2014, 11:59 pm EST. All entries must be received within this time period in order to be considered for prizes. The Rainforest Alliance reserves the right to modify the deadline for submissions due to circumstances beyond its control.
Entrant’s Warranties and Authorization to Rainforest Alliance
By entering the contest, you warrant and represent that (a) your submission has been created by you as an original work, (b) you have obtained all required third-party releases (if any) in writing, (c) all of the content you submit as part of your entry in the contest: (i) has not won previous contests or awards, or been entered in contests, or been published previously in any medium; (ii) does not infringe any third party’s intellectual property rights; (iii) does not contain obscene or pornographic material; (iv) does not contain defamatory statements (including but not limited to words or symbols that are widely considered offensive to individuals of a certain race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation or socioeconomic group); (v) does not include threats to any person, place, business, or group, (vi) does not invade privacy or other rights of any person, firm or entity, and (vii) does not in any other way violate applicable laws or regulations, and (d) your participation in this contest does not violate any agreement between you and a third party.
By entering the contest, you grant the Rainforest Alliance the non-exclusive, transferable right to publish, use, distribute, reproduce and publicly display the content you submit as part of your contest entry, and, if you are selected as a winner, any content that you produce from your trip experience, and to create derivative works from your content, including the right to grant third parties the right to publish, use, distribute, reproduce and publicly display this content, in perpetuity, on any of its, or third parties’, websites, online, in print or other media publications, materials or exhibitions, for purposes of promoting the Rainforest Alliance’s mission and awareness of its programs, including but not limited to editorial, advertising, publicity, and fundraising purposes, without payment of compensation unless prohibited by law. You grant the Rainforest Alliance permission to share and publicly display your name, and your city and state of residence, when publishing, reproducing or otherwise using your content and when identifying you as an entrant or prize winner in this contest. Subject to the rights granted to the Rainforest Alliance, you retain all other copyrights and rights to future use of the content you enter into this contest.
By entering this contest, you agree that, if you are selected as a winner, you will document your trip experience via blog posts, photos and video for the Rainforest Alliance Partner Zone on the Guardian website. Content will be reviewed and approved by the Guardian’s editorial team before being published on the Guardian website.
If your entry is selected as one of the top five semi-finalists, as described below, Rainforest Alliance may request the right to conduct a background check on you. You may refuse such request but a refusal will result in disqualification of your entry from further consideration.
JUDGING CRITERIA & PRIZE WINNER SELECTION
Judging will be conducted in three phases. All entries will initially be judged by a panel of judges from the Rainforest Alliance consisting of five staff members from the Communications and Marketing division of the Rainforest Alliance.
The blog entries will be judged based on three (3) criteria and assigned a score of up to a maximum of 30 points for both the long list and shortlist. The three criteria, which will be weighted equally, are:
· Choice of subject: How inspiring is the subject? (maximum 10 points);
· Approach: Does the writing demonstrate an original voice or point of view? (maximum 10 points); and
· Writing ability: Is the writing clear and convincing? (maximum 10 points).
The panel of judges will select a long list of entries using these criteria. This long list of selected entries will then be judged by a notable figure in the field of conservation/journalism chosen by Rainforest Alliance staff (the “Expert Judge”), applying the same criteria. This Expert Judge will then choose a shortlist of five entries that will be posted on the Rainforest Alliance Partner Zone on the Guardian website (www.theguardian.com/rainforest-alliance-partner-zone) and on its social media channels. The public will then have the opportunity to vote for their favourite blog entry. At the end of the public voting period, votes for each blog entry will be tallied by Rainforest Alliance Communications staff. The scores from the public voting may be considered by the panel of judges who will select two (2) finalists, each of whom will receive a Grand Prize, as described below. The decisions of the judges are final and binding.
PRIZES & PRIZE WINNER NOTIFICATION
On or about February 14 2015, the Rainforest Alliance shall notify each of the 2 Grand Prize winners of his or her selection. Winners will be contacted via the email accounts that they provide with their entry form. Note that by entering this contest, you grant the Rainforest Alliance permission to contact you via email. Please make sure to check your email account after February 14 for updates. If the Rainforest Alliance is unable to contact a potential winner, does not receive an acknowledgment of receipt from a potential winner within seven (7) days, or if the notification is returned as undeliverable, the Rainforest Alliance has the option to disqualify the applicable potential winner and select an alternate winner.
Each of the 2 Grand Prize winners will receive a 5-day/4-night trip for one to visit producer communities in Costa Rica or Mexico (at Sponsor’s option). The trip will be organised and booked by Rainforest Alliance staff. Each Grand Prize will consist of: (a) one (1) roundtrip coach airline tickets from the city nearest winner’s residence in the fifty (50) United States to Costa Rica or Mexico; (b) ground transportation to designated farm or forest communities, and (c) four (4) nights’ accommodation for one. Winner must present a major credit card at hotel check-in to cover any incidental expenses. Tours and lodging are subject to availability, restrictions, blackout dates, hotel regulations and conditions and Sponsor’s approval. Winner is responsible for any and all applicable fees, service charges, surcharges or passenger facility charges and all insurance costs, federal, state, local and foreign taxes, if any, gratuities, meals, incidentals and any other unspecified expenses associated with acceptance or use of the Trip. Approximate retail value of each Grand Prize is $4,000. Odds of winning depend on the number of eligible entries received.
Each Grand Prize trip must be completed between the dates March 14 and March 29, 2015. Sponsor reserves the right to modify the trip dates and itineraries due to circumstances beyond its control. If a winner is unable to take the trip during these dates, the Grand Prize may be forfeited.
Prizes cannot be exchanged for cash or used in conjunction with any other promotion. The Rainforest Alliance reserves the right to substitute a prize of equal or greater value in the event the offered prize is unavailable. There shall be no substitutions for any prizes except as provided for at the sole discretion of the Rainforest Alliance.
All federal, state and local taxes, fees and surcharges on prizes, if any, are the sole responsibility of the prize winners.
Prize winners will be required to execute and return to Rainforest Alliance an Affidavit of Eligibility/Release of Liability/Prize Acceptance Form (“Affidavit and Release”) within seven (7) days of notification of selection as a prize winner. The Affidavit and Release will, among other things and as required under these contest rules, certify the prize winner’s eligibility to enter the contest, rights of the blog submitted, and ability to grant rights of the blog to the Rainforest Alliance; grant the Rainforest Alliance the right to publish and use the blog, without further consent of or compensation to the winner and/or any person who is mentioned in the blog; release and indemnify the Rainforest Alliance from and against liability associated with the entry, the contest and the prizes; acknowledge responsibility for taxes; and certify compliance with the USA Patriot Act and related anti-terrorism laws. Failure to sign and return an Affidavit and Release to the Rainforest Alliance within seven (7) days of notification may result in disqualification and the selection of an alternate winner. The Grand Prize winners will be required to execute a release of liability in connection with their participation in the travel prize.
The winning blog posts and winners’ documentation of trip experience may be posted on the Rainforest Alliance Partner Zone on the Guardian website, Rainforest Alliance website and/or social media accounts. They also may be used by the Rainforest Alliance for future publicity or fundraising purposes.
LEGAL TERMS & CONDITIONS
This contest is subject to all applicable federal, state and local laws and regulations.
In the event of a dispute relating to the identity of the entrant, the entrant will be deemed to be the authorized account holder of the email address used to submit the entry to the contest. The authorized account holder shall mean the natural person who is assigned to an e-mail address by an Internet Access Provider, online service provider, or other organization (e.g., business, educational institute) responsible for assigning e-mail addresses for the domain associated with the submitted e-mail address.
The Rainforest Alliance reserves the right to disqualify you if, among other reasons, you breach the warranties you are required to make, or your entry is lost, late, misdirected, incorrect, garbled or incompletely received, for any reason whatsoever, including by reason of hardware, software, browser or network failure, malfunction, congestion or incompatibility with the Rainforest Alliance’s servers. The Rainforest Alliance further reserves the right to disqualify you, and to seek damages against you to the fullest extent permitted by law, if you intentionally or recklessly damage the Rainforest Alliance website or tamper with the entry process or operation of the website or otherwise undermine the legitimate operation of the contest, or attempt to do so. Such actions may violate criminal and civil laws.
In the event that the Rainforest Alliance cannot complete the contest as planned, including but not limited to by reason of infection by computer virus, bugs, tampering, unauthorized intervention, force majeure, technical failures of any sort or other causes beyond the control of the Rainforest Alliance that corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness, integrity or proper conduct of the contest, the Rainforest Alliance reserves the right to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the contest.
By entering this contest, you agree to release the Rainforest Alliance and its affiliates, The Guardian and its affiliates and their respective officers, directors, agents, attorneys, employees and representatives, from any and all liability for any claims, demands, causes of action, damages, judgments or settlements, or for any losses or injury to earnings, profits, or goodwill, or for any direct, indirect, special, punitive, incidental or consequential damages, including attorneys’ fees and court costs, other than entrant’s out-of-pocket expenses (if any) associated with entering the contest, arising out of or relating to this contest, your access or lack of access to the Rainforest Alliance Partner Zone on The Guardian website, or in connection with any prize won, any misuse or malfunction of any prize awarded, or any use by Rainforest Alliance of the content submitted by entrants in the contest.
By entering the contest, you hereby agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless the Rainforest Alliance and its affiliates, The Guardian and its affiliates and their respective officers, directors, agents, attorneys, employees and representatives, against and from all third party claims, demands, causes of action, damages, judgments or settlements, including reasonable attorneys’ fees and court costs, arising out of or relating to this contest, or in connection with any prize won, any misuse or malfunction of any prize awarded, or any use by Rainforest Alliance of the content submitted by entrants in the contest.
In the event of any dispute, controversy or claim between an entrant and the Rainforest Alliance, the parties shall first seek to resolve the dispute through informal discussions. In the event any dispute, controversy or claim cannot be resolved informally, the parties agree that the dispute, controversy or claim will be settled by binding arbitration in accordance with the Commercial Arbitration Rules of the American Arbitration Association in effect at the time of commencement of the arbitration, and the parties agree that judgment upon the award rendered by the arbitrator may be entered in any court having jurisdiction thereof.
WINNERS’ NAMES
For the names of the winners, visit www.theguardian.com/rainforest-alliance-partner-zone after 28 February, 2015.
SPONSOR
Rainforest Alliance, Inc., with offices at 233 Broadway, 28th Floor, New York, New York, 10279, is the sponsor of this contest.
