2) All essays must be postmarked by August 1, 1996, and received by us no later than midnight EST, August 10, 1996. Late entries will be disqualified.
3) All essays must be submitted with an entry fee of US$250.00. North Carolina law will not allow us to consider any submission that is not accompanied by the required entry fee. Please do not send cash. All checks and money orders should be made out to "La Solista Trust Account". The trust account will be kept at Centura Bank, Wilmington, North Carolina, and administered by Atlantic Land Title Agency, Inc..
4) Only one essay may be submitted by an individual, but entries may be submitted by other members of the same family as long as they are accompanied by the required entry fee.
5) Entries that are disqualified due to excessive length (over 100 words) or untimeliness (received after August 10th) will not be eligible for return of the entry fees, unless the contest is called off due to insufficient total entries received by the deadline date. The house will not be awarded unless 1800 entries are received by August 10th.
6) Contestants that wish to have their entries returned after a winner has been announced should include a self-addressed, stamped, appropriately-sized envelope and an additional US$10.00 handling fee with their entry. Entries not redeemed in this manner become the property of the contest promoters on September 1, 1996.
7) The winner of the contest is scheduled to be announced on August 15, 1996. However, the contest organizers reserve the right to postpone this announcement by 30 days if they receive an unusually large number of entries just prior to the entry deadline (you wouldn't want us to make a hasty decision, would you?). In other words, we encourage you to enter early! We are not responsible for lost, late or misdirected entries. If you want confirmation that we received your entry, send it via Registered mail, FedEx, etc.
8) To encourage entrants from not waiting until the last minute, the owners of Casa Solista are offering a second-chance prize of a one-week stay at La Solista, to be taken sometime between August 15th and September 30th, 1996 (the time frame that will be needed to legally transfer ownership of La Solista to the essay contest winner!). The second-chance prize will be awarded by a simple random drawing from ONLY the first 1000 entries that were received. There will be no substitution for this prize, no cash equivalency, nor can the winner of this prize take advantage of it at any other time than between August 15th and September 30th.
9) The winner of La Solista will be awarded fee-simple title to the house upon completion of closing. The winner will be solely responsible for all income and transfer taxes related to the winning of the house. The value of the house will be listed at $450,000. The winner will be required to sign a release of liability upon the transfer of the deed, and will be responsible for providing his or her own suntan lotion (SPF 15 or higher recommended).
10) This contest is open to all residents of the third planet from the Sun, and is null and void wherever prohibited by law. Decision of the judges is final. Note: this is a contest, not a lottery.
11) The owners of La Solista reserve the right to extend the deadline date or cancel the contest entirely in the unlikely event that we do not receive at least 1800 entries by the August 10th deadline date. Entrants can call a tape-recorded 24-hour contest hotline recording after April 1st at (910) 452-6560 for periodic updates.
12) The owners of La Solista reserve the right to stop accepting entries prior to the announced August 1st deadline if the number of entries exceeds 1800 to such a great extent as to make judging the contest within the announced time frames impossible. In such a case, refused entries will be returned with the entrants' original checks/money orders.
13) Internet users will find a La Solista web site at http://www.irregardless.net/solista and can address email inquiries here.
14) Each entrant should provide us with a full name, address, phone number, age and email address (if available). Entrants that also provide specific information as to where they heard about the contest (which tv/radio station, newspaper, web site, Usenet newsgroup, etc., will be eligible for a special prize drawing (value $250 or more) sponsored by Virtually Yours, the company providing promotional services to this contest. If you've seen the contest mentioned in print, why not just send us a copy of the article when you mail in your entry - we'd really appreciate it. Who knows, someone else may ask us here at Virtually Yours to run this same type of contest promotion for their property too, so your feedback will really be valuable!
15) Employees and immediate families of the law firms handling the trust funds for La Solista, the Atlantic Land Title Agency, Centura Bank, Virtually Yours, and the current owners of La Solista are ineligible to enter this contest.
16) All entries should be mailed to: La Solista Contest, P.O. Box 2593, Cape Fear, NC 28402-2593.
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