Physics Caption Contest Rules

Caption Submission Deadline is Sunday, June 1, 2008 (11:59 p.m. EDT)

To enter, email your caption to  Caption Contest with your suggested caption. One entry per person or email address. The email must contain the entrant's mailing address, phone number, and email address. The phone number, street address and email address will be kept confidential but are necessary for identification purposes. Any US resident age eighteen or over can enter, except employees, agents, or representatives of the American Physical Society (APS), or any member of their immediate family.

Entries that are lost, late, misdirected, garbled, or incompletely received, for any reason, including by reason of hardware, software, browser, or network failure, malfunction, congestion, or incompatibility at the Web site or elsewhere, will not be eligible. The APS, in its sole discretion, reserves the right to disqualify any person tampering with the entry process, the operation of the Web site, or otherwise in violation of the rules. It further reserves the right to cancel, terminate, or modify the Cartoon Caption Contest if it is not capable of being completed as planned, for reasons including but not limited to: infection by computer virus, bugs, tampering, unauthorized intervention, force majeure, or technical failures of any sort.

Three finalists will be selected from the entrants to the Cartoon Caption Contest by a member or members of the editorial staff of APS News (the “Judge(s)”). All three finalists’ captions will be published in the July APS News, along with each finalist’s name and city and state. In the event two or more valid entries contain the identical caption (including punctuation) and are selected as a finalist, the Judge(s) will draw the finalist by random selection. All decisions of the Judge(s) are final and binding.

The winner of the contest will be the person whose caption received the greatest number of valid votes (“Votes”) from the public and who satisfies all of the rules (“Qualified Winner”). Any US resident age eighteen or over can vote, except employees, agents, or representatives of the APS, or any member of their immediate family. One Vote per person or email address. Voting will be by web form that will be linked to this page beginning on July 1, 2008. Voting will end at 11:59 p.m. EDT on Sunday, August 31, 2008.

The Judge(s) will tabulate the Votes and the winner will be announced in the October, 2008 issue of APS News. All decisions of the Judge(s) are final and binding.

The Qualified Winner of the Cartoon Caption Contest will receive a print of the cartoon, with the caption, signed by the artist who drew the cartoon (the “Prize”). There will be additional prizes, including a copy of the book "Physics in the 20th Century", and an APS tee shirt. If the winner cannot be contacted or does not respond within one week, an alternate winner may be selected, at the sole discretion of the Judge(s). The approximate retail value of the Prize, including the additional prizes, is $150. Income and other taxes, if any, are the sole responsibility of the winner.

Subject to all federal, state, and local laws and regulations. Void outside the 50 United States and the District of Columbia, and where prohibited.

The Prize is not transferable. No substitutions for the Prize except by the APS, in which case a prize of equal or greater value will be substituted.

All entries become the property of the APS and will not be acknowledged or returned.

Except where prohibited: (i) acceptance of the Prize constitutes consent to use winner’s name, likeness, and winning entry for editorial, advertising, and publicity purposes, without further compensation; (ii) winner may be required to sign an affidavit of eligibility and copyright transfer/liability/publicity/permission release. Affidavits and releases must be returned within fifteen (15) days of attempted notification or an alternate winner may be chosen.