Slow Travel Contest - January 2006 - Contest Rules

A history of the contest

Contest rules and deadlines for the Slow Travel Contest - January 2006 are explained on this page. The contest is now closed.

Important Dates

Monday, December 5, 2005: Deadline for contest entries. Entries must be received by midnight Mountain Time.*
Saturday, January 7, 2006: Online contests will be held at pre-arranged times during the day: 9:00am, 12 noon, 3:00pm, 6:00pm, 9:00pm - all Mountain Standard Time. Read more.
Friday, January 13, 2006: Winners will be announced on the message board at noon, Mountain time.
Saturday, January 14, 2006: Drawing of winners will take place in Santa Fe and on the message board at noon Mountain Time. When drawing is finished, winners start choosing their prizes.

Note: If you enter the contest, be sure to check the board on Friday, January 13 to see if you are a winner. If you are a winner, be sure to check the board on Saturday, January 14 to see where you are in the list for picking prizes. If you are not available on those dates, arrange to have a friend or one of the moderators pick for you.

* The deadline was originally November 27, but it was extended by 8 days because Pauline and Steve were traveling the first week of December.

How to Enter the Contest

Submit an entry (see below for the types of entries) and then post on the Slow Travel Contest 2006 forum on the message board with a description of your entry. You MUST post on the forum for your entry to be included in the contest. We will keep track of all entries on the message board.

Any content published on Slow Travel since July 1, 2004 (end of the last contest) can be entered, so if you had a trip report or travel notes published since then, you can enter them in the contest.

Types of Entries

All entries may be published on the Slow Travel website. Not all entries will be accepted or published. Winners will be chosen in the following categories.

Travel Notes/Instructions/Trip Planning/Travel Essays/Postcards
Trip Reports
Photo Essays
Most Reviews: The person who has sent in the most reviews in each category submitted since June 1, 2004 (Vacation Rental, Hotel and Restaurant). If there is a tie, we will draw the winner.
Online Contests: There will be five online contests. See below for details.

Have a look at our 2004 contest winners to see what we are looking for: Contest 2004 winners.

How Winners Will Be Chosen

Winners are selected based on the quality of the research and writing. We are looking for entries that are specifically suited to Slow Travelers (to our style of travel), that are well written and well researched, that are interesting, that give us new information.

You can enter more than once: You can enter more than once in any category. Enter often!!

Who is eligible for prizes?: You must be a member of our Slow Travel Message Board to be eligible for prizes. You do not have to be a paid member, although we do encourage everyone to be a supporting member! The SlowTrav moderators are not eligible for this contest.

Contest Judges: The Slow Travel moderators and Pauline and Steve will be contest judges (9 judges).

Online Contests (not eligible for Grand Prizes)

Five online contests will take place before the winners are announced and drawn. The winners of these contests will be included in the drawing, but will be added after the first "x" names are drawn (where "x" equals the number of Grand Prizes).

The online contests will be held on Saturday, January 7, 2006, at specific times (to allow people from all time zones to participate). These times are:

9:00am, 12 noon, 3:00pm, 6:00pm, 9:00pm - all Mountain Standard Time

You must be a registered member of the message board to participate. The contest takes place on the message board in real time, in the Contest 2006 forum. Decision of the administrator/moderators is final.

The types of contests will be as follows:

9:00am - One or two questions which will involve searching on the Slow Travel website, the Slow Trips Photo Gallery and/or the Slow Talk message board. The answer is posted in the question thread and first correct post wins.

12 noon - Easter Egg hunt (similar to last year). It starts with a question where the answer is found on the Slow Travel website, then you click the answer and get a new question. The hunt takes you around the website and eventually you get the final question and you post that answer on the thread. First correct post wins.

3:00pm - Multiple questions based on travel in Europe. We post a few questions and the first person to post with all the correct answers wins. These may involve geography, food, art, history, or basic travel information.

6:00pm - Same type of questions as at 9:00am. One or two questions which will involve searching on the Slow Travel website, the Slow Trips Photo Gallery and/or the Slow Talk message board. The answer is posted in the question thread and first correct post wins.

9:00pm - Same type of questions as at 3:00pm. Multiple questions based on travel in Europe. We post a few questions and the first person to post with all the correct answers wins. These may involve geography, food, art, history, or basic travel information.

How the Winners Will Choose Their Prizes

Winners get to choose their prizes according to the order determined in the drawing as we did on our 2004 contest.

The list of all winners will be posted on Friday, January 13, at noon Mountain Time.
On Saturday, January 14, at noon Mountain Time, we will put all winners in the hat and draw the winners in order. We will post each name as it is picked, in the order picked. This will be done at the home of Pauline and Steve in Santa Fe, NM. We will have someone to witness the drawing (and help us with it). I am going to get a webcam setup so everyone can watch this live!
Once the list of winners is posted, in order, the winner at the top of the list can choose their prize.
Winners chose their prizes based on their number. Winner #1 chooses his/her prize, then winner #2 chooses, etc. They can choose from the complete list of prizes.
After a winner chooses, they are removed from the list, the prize they chose is noted as "taken" and the next winner on the list moves to the top of the list and gets to choose.
When a winner is at the top of the list, they are notified by email and on the message board. (If you want us to phone you, email me your phone number once the list of winners is posted.)
If they do not choose (by posting their choice on the thread or having someone post for them) within 12 hours, their name goes to the bottom of the list of winners.

This was how we distributed 70 prizes in our 2004 Anniversary contest and it worked well and was really fun! We will do the whole thing online on the message board, in the Slow Travel Contest 2006 forum.

Slow Travel Contests

Contest 2006

Contest 2004

About the Contest

Contest Prizes

Contest Winners

Car Rental	Hotel Booking	Flight Booking	Train Tickets	Books, Maps, Events
Europe Cell Phones	Long Distance Cards	Luggage, etc.	Travel Insurance	Classifieds

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