5,000 reasons to build a New Jersey Facebook app

One of our top goals at The Star-Ledger is to build and connect with local communities of interest across a wide variety of platforms — whether it’s NJ.com, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or Blip.tv (and so on…).

Now we’re reaching out to developers to help us — by offering $5,000 for the best New Jersey-themed Facebook app launched between today and August 29.

We’re making all of our feeds from NJ.com available for use — and you can find most of them here — but this is not a requirement. We’ll judge the apps on overall quality and how useful they are to residents of New Jersey.

That’s really the whole point: to encourage the creation of stuff that makes the lives of New Jerseyans better.

Joining me in judging the entries is a group of three Jersey all-stars, and we’re incredibly fortunate to have them involved:

Gary Vaynerchuk, the engaging host of WineLibrary.TV

Debbie Galant, founder of the hyperlocal site Baristanet.com

Jake Jarvis, a New Jersey high school sophomore and wunderkind developer of Facebook apps like Courses and Audio

The official rules for the contest are below, courtesy of our ever-vigilant attorneys, but the basics are simple:

1. Build an app and launch it.

2. Send us an e-mail at facebook@starledger.com with a link to the app along with your full name, age, mailing address, e-mail address and telephone number.

We’d also encourage you to share a link to your app with a Facebook group we’ve set up for this enterprise, and to check in there regularly to see what others are up to.

The judges will gather during the first week of September to pick a winner. With any luck, the sheer number and quality of entries will make our job incredibly difficult.

I’ll blog about this as it plays out, but for now…

Let the coding begin!

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And now all the legalese…

The Star-Ledger/NJ.com Facebook Application Development Challenge

Enter for a chance
to WIN $5,000

Take The Star-Ledger/NJ.com Facebook Application Development Challenge and enter to win $5,000 in cash for the best New Jersey-themed Facebook application.

How it works:
Your application must be launched and available to all members of Facebook, and you must send an e-mail to facebook@starledger.com announcing its launch, by 12 noon EDT on Friday, August 29, 2008.

How it will be judged:
Your Facebook application will be judged based on two criteria, which will receive equal weight: 1. Usefulness to residents of New Jersey, and 2. Overall quality.

You should feel free to use any RSS feeds offered at NJ.com — you can find many of them at http://www.nj.com/rss/ — but this is not required, To view the official Facebook guide for application developers, visit http://developers.facebook.com/step_by_step.php

OFFICIAL CONTEST RULES

NO PURCHASE OR PAYMENT OF ANY KIND IS NECESSARY TO ENTER OR
WIN THIS CONTEST.

A purchase will not improve chances of winning.
CONSUMER DISCLOSURE: You have not yet won.

OPEN ONLY TO LEGAL RESIDENTS OF THE 50 UNITED STATES AND DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA WHO ARE AT LEAST 13 YEARS OLD AS OF THE DATE OF ENTRY

By entering this Promotion, entrants accept and agree to be bound by these Official Rules. Any violation of these rules may result in disqualification. All decisions of the judges regarding this Promotion are final and binding in all respects.

1. PROMOTION PERIOD. Promotion begins 12:01 a.m. EST, Thursday, April 10, 2008 and ends 12:00 p.m. EST Friday, August 29, 2008 when all entries must be received (“Promotion Period”).

2. ELIGIBILITY. This contest (the “Promotion”) is only open to legal residents of the 50 United States and District of Columbia who are at least 13 years old as of the date of entry, except officers, directors, members and employees of the Sponsor, the judging organization (if applicable), or any other party associated with the development or administration of this Promotion, and the immediate family (i.e., parents, children, siblings, spouse), and persons residing in the same household, as such individuals. This Promotion is void outside the 50 United States and the District of Columbia, and where prohibited.

3. HOW TO ENTER. Entrants must design and launch a Facebook application during the “Promotion” period and notify us of its Facebook availability via an e-mail to facebook@starledger.com by 12:00 p.m. EDT on Friday, Augist 29, 2008. You must include a link to the application along with your full name, age, mailing address, e-mail address and telephone number. (“Submission”) Entrants represent and warrant that their Submission is the original work of such entrant, it has not been copied from others, and it does not violate the rights of any other person or entity. All entrant information, including e-mail addresses, is subject to the respective Privacy Policy of the applicable Sponsor.

4. WINNER SELECTION AND NOTIFICATION. All entries will be judged on or about September 2, 2008 (the “Judging Date”) by a panel of judges comprised of John Hassell of The Star-Ledger; Gary Vaynerchuk, host of winelibrarytv.com; Debbie Galant, founder of Baristanet.com; and Jak e Jarvis, a New Jersey web developer. The judges will score entries based on the following criteria: Usefulness to residents of New Jersey (50%), and 2. Overall quality (50%). The entry with highest overall score will be declared the potential winner (in the event of a tie, the entry with the higher score in the Usefulness to residents of New Jersey criteria will prevail). Any potential winner will be notified by mail, e-mail and/or telephone. If a potential winner cannot be contacted, does not respond within two (2) days from the date the Sponsor first tries to notify him/her, and/or the prize or prize notification is returned as undeliverable, such potential winner forfeits all rights to win the Promotion or receive the prize, and an alternate potential winner may be selected. Upon contacting a potential winner and determining that he/she has met all eligibility requirements of the Promotion, including without limitation the execution of required waivers, publicity and liability releases and disclaimers, such individual will be declared the “winner” of the Promotion.

5. PRIZE DESCRIPTION. There will be one (1) winner. The prize is $5,000.

6. TAXES. All federal, state and/or local income and other taxes, if any, are the winner’s sole responsibility.

7. OWNERSHIP AND LICENSE. All entry materials become the property of the Sponsor and will not be acknowledged or returned. The copyright in any Submission shall remain the property of the entrant, but entry into this Promotion constitutes entrant’s irrevocable and perpetual permission and consent, without further compensation or attribution, to use such Submission for editorial, advertising and publicity purposes by the Sponsor and/or others authorized by the Sponsor, in any and all media now in existence or hereinafter created, throughout the world, for the duration of the copyright in the Submission. Sponsor and/or others authorized by the Sponsor shall have the right to edit, adapt, and modify the Submission.

8. NO PRIZE TRANSFER. No prize or any portion thereof is transferable.

9. CONSENT AND RELEASE. By entering the Promotion, each entrant releases and discharges the Sponsor, judging organization (if applicable), and any other party associated with the development or administration of this Promotion, their parent, subsidiary, and affiliated entities, and each of their respective officers, directors, members, shareholders, employees, independent contractors, agents, representatives, successors and assigns (collectively, “Sponsor Entities”), from any and all liability whatsoever in connection with this Promotion, including without limitation legal claims, costs, injuries, losses or damages, demands or actions of any kind (including without limitation personal injuries, death, damage to, loss or destruction or property, rights of publicity or privacy, defamation, or portrayal in a false light) (collectively, “Claims”). Except where prohibited: (i) acceptance of a prize constitutes the consent of any winner, without further compensation, to use the name and likeness of such winner and his/her Submission for editorial, advertising and publicity purposes by the Sponsor and/or others authorized by the Sponsor; (ii) acceptance of a prize constitutes a release by any winner of the Sponsor Entities of any and all Claims in connection with the administration of this Promotion and the use, misuse, or possession of his/her Submission or any prize; (iii) any potential winner may be required to sign an affidavit of eligibility (including social security number) and a liability/publicity/copyright release; and (iv) if prize involves travel or activities, any potential winner and travel companion (if applicable) may be required to execute releases of the Sponsor from any and all liability with respect to participation in such travel/activities and/or use of the prize. Affidavits and releases must be returned within ten (10) days from the date that Sponsor first tries to notify the potential winner. If winner is deemed to be a minor under the jurisdiction of his/her residence, the prize will be awarded in the name of his/her parent or legal guardian who must execute the necessary affidavit and release and, if applicable, must accompany winner on the trip (no additional travel expenses will be awarded should a parent or legal guardian be required to accompany the winner on the trip).

10. DISCLAIMERS. (i) Entries that are lost, late, misdirected, incorrect, garbled, or incompletely received, for any reason, including by reason of hardware, software, browser, or network failure, malfunction, congestion, or incompatibility at Sponsor’s servers or elsewhere, will not be eligible. In the event of a dispute, entries will be deemed submitted by the authorized account holder of the e-mail address submitted at the time of entry. “Authorized account holder” is defined as 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) that is responsible for assigning e-mail addresses for the domain associated with the submitted e-mail address. (ii) Sponsor, in its sole discretion, reserves the right to disqualify any person tampering with the entry process or the operation of the web site. Use of bots or other automated process to enter is prohibited and may result in disqualification at the sole discretion of Sponsor. (iii) Sponsor further reserves the right to cancel, terminate or modify the Promotion if it is not capable of completion as planned, including by reason of infection by computer virus, bugs, tampering, unauthorized intervention, force majeure or technical failures of any sort. (iv) Sponsor Entities are not responsible for errors in the administration or fulfillment of this Promotion, including without limitation mechanical, human, printing, distribution or production errors, and may modify or cancel this Promotion based upon such error at its sole discretion without liability. (v) SPONSOR ENTITIES MAKE NO WARRANTIES, REPRESENTATIONS OR GUARANTEES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN FACT OR IN LAW, AS REGARDS THIS PROMOTION OR THE MERCHANTABILITY, QUALITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE REGARDING ANY PRIZE OR ANY COMPONENT OF ANY PRIZE. (vi) CAUTION: ANY ATTEMPT BY AN ENTRANT TO DELIBERATELY DAMAGE THE WEBSITE OR UNDERMINE THE LEGITIMATE OPERATION OF THIS PROMOTION MAY BE A VIOLATION OF CRIMINAL AND/OR CIVIL LAWS, AND SHOULD SUCH AN ATTEMPT BE MADE, SPONSOR RESERVES THE RIGHT TO SEEK REMEDIES AND DAMAGES (INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION ATTORNEYS’ FEES) FROM ANY SUCH ENTRANT TO THE FULLEST EXTENT OF THE LAW, INCLUDING CRIMINAL PROSECUTION.

11. APPLICABLE LAWS AND JURISDICTION. This Promotion is subject to all applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations. Issues concerning the construction, validity, interpretation and enforceability of these Official Rules shall be governed by the laws of the State of New Jersey. All disputes arising out of or connected with this Promotion will be resolved individually, and without resort to class action, exclusively by a state or federal court located in Newark, New Jersey. Should there be a conflict between the laws of the State of New Jersey and any other laws, the conflict will be resolved in favor of the laws of the State of New Jersey. All judgments or awards shall be limited to actual out-of-pocket damages (excluding attorneys’ fees) associated with participation in this Promotion and shall not include any indirect, punitive, incidental and/or consequential damages.

12. WINNER LIST. For a list containing the name of the winner, send a self-addressed stamped envelope, within six (6) months of the Judging Date, to: Winner List, “The Star-Ledger/NJ.com Facebook Application Development Challenge,” 1 Star-Ledger Plaza, Newark, NJ 07102.

13. SPONSORSHIP. This Promotion is sponsored by The Star-Ledger, 1 Star-Ledger Plaza, Newark, NJ 07102.