GET Essay Official Rules — Quarterly Contests (Season 1)

NO PURCHASE OR PAYMENT OF ANY KIND IS NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. A PURCHASE, SUBSCRIPTION OR PAID MEMBERSHIP DOES NOT IMPROVE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING. THIS IS A CONTEST OF SKILL. WINNERS ARE SELECTED BY PANELS OF JUDGES, NOT BY CHANCE. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED.

1. Sponsor GET Essay (the "Contest") is sponsored by The GET Network, Inc., [MAILING ADDRESS] ("Sponsor"). Co-sponsors and presenting sponsors, if any, are identified on the Contest page; they do not judge, administer or receive entrant data except as stated in these Rules.

2. Contest periods Season 1 consists of four quarterly Contests. Each Contest begins at 12:00:00 a.m. Eastern Time ("ET") on its opening date and ends at 11:59:59 p.m. ET on its closing date. Sponsor's server clock is the official timekeeping device. Late entries are not accepted.

   Contest	Entries open	Entries close	Finalists announced (on or about)	Winners announced (on or about)
   Q1 · Winter 2027	November 15, 2026	January 15, 2027	January 29, 2027	February 12, 2027
   Q2 · Spring 2027	February 15, 2027	April 15, 2027	April 29, 2027	May 13, 2027
   Q3 · Summer 2027	May 15, 2027	July 15, 2027	July 29, 2027	August 12, 2027
   Q4 · Fall 2027	August 15, 2027	October 15, 2027	October 29, 2027	November 12, 2027

Each Contest is a separate promotion governed by these Rules and the theme announced for it.

3. Eligibility

3.1 Open to legal residents of the fifty (50) United States and the District of Columbia who are at least three (3) years old on the Contest's opening date. [COUNSEL: confirm any states to exclude.]

3.2 Divisions. An entrant's division is determined by age on the Contest's opening date:

3.3 Children under 13. Entrants in the Little Creators and Junior Writers divisions must be entered by a parent or legal guardian ("Parent") through the Parent's GET Essay account after the Parent provides verifiable consent as described in Appendix D7. The Parent is the account holder and is responsible for compliance with these Rules.

3.4 Minors 13–17. Entrants aged 13–17 may create their own account but must have a Parent's consent, confirmed as described in Appendix D8, before their entry is eligible for judging.

3.5 Exclusions. Employees, officers, directors, contractors and judges of Sponsor and its affiliated companies, of any co-sponsor or presenting sponsor, and of any university partner's admissions office, and the immediate family members (spouse, parent, child, sibling and their respective spouses) and household members of each, are not eligible. A tutor may not judge any division in which a current student of theirs has entered.

4. How to enter

4.1 Create a free GET Essay account at geniuseyenews.com/essay (or, for children under 13, a Parent creates the account and child profile).

4.2 During the Contest period, complete the online entry form and submit one (1) entry that meets the requirements of Section 5.

4.3 No purchase necessary. Entry is free. A GET News subscription, Portfolio Portal, GET Essay Plus, GET Family, tutoring, reviews, rush scoring or any other paid product is not required to enter and has no effect on eligibility, screening, judging, voting or prizes.

4.4 Limit: one (1) entry per person per quarterly Contest. Additional entries by the same person, or entries submitted through multiple accounts, will be disqualified. An entrant may edit their entry until the Contest closes; the last version saved at the close is the entry judged.

5. Entry requirements

5.1 Each entry must: (a) respond to the theme announced for that Contest and division; (b) meet the length or format requirement for the entrant's division (titles and captions excluded from word counts except where stated); (c) be in English [COUNSEL: confirm or add Spanish]; (d) be the entrant's own original work, created by the entrant; (e) not have been previously published in a commercial publication or won a prize in another contest; and (f) not contain content that is defamatory, obscene, hateful, harassing, violent or threatening, that infringes any third party's rights, or that discloses another person's private information without consent.

5.2 Original work and artificial intelligence. Entries must be written (or, for Little Creators, made) by the entrant. Entries generated in whole or in substantial part by artificial-intelligence tools, or copied from others without attribution, will be disqualified. Spelling and basic grammar tools are permitted. GET Essay's own rubric scores and tutor feedback explain and do not rewrite entries; using them is permitted. Little Creators captions dictated by the child and typed verbatim by a Parent are permitted.

5.3 Screening. Sponsor may screen entries with automated tools, including plagiarism and AI-writing detection, and may require any finalist (or the finalist's Parent) to verify authorship, including by providing drafts or discussing the work.

6. Judging

6.1 Stage 1 — Eligibility screening. Each entry is checked for eligibility and compliance with these Rules. Disqualifications are confirmed by a staff member.

6.2 Stage 2 — First read. Each eligible entry is scored against the published rubric (Section 6.5) by an automated scoring system. The automated score is used only to select a shortlist and does not determine any winner. The twenty (20) highest-scoring eligible entries in each division (or all eligible entries, if fewer than 20) advance to Stage 3. [COUNSEL: confirm disclosure of automated first-read scoring is adequate.]

6.3 Stage 3 — Panel judging. Shortlisted entries are judged by panels of human judges selected by Sponsor, with identifying information removed:

Each judge independently scores each shortlisted entry in the panel's division(s) using the rubric. An entry's final score is the average of its judges' totals. The five (5) highest final scores in each division are the finalists; the three (3) highest are the winners, in order.

6.4 Ties are broken by the higher average Content and Ideas score; if still tied, by a vote of the panel; if still tied, by the panel chair.

6.5 Rubric (100 points).

6.6 Judges' decisions are final on all matters relating to the Contest. Judges disclose conflicts of interest and recuse themselves from any entry with which they have a conflict.

7. Reader's Choice Award

7.1 During each Contest's voting period (from the finalist announcement until 11:59:59 p.m. ET on the day before the winner announcement), registered GET Essay members aged 13 or older may cast one (1) vote per account for one finalist from the Teen, Young Adult, Adult and Seasoned divisions. Finalists in the Little Creators and Junior Writers divisions are not eligible for Reader's Choice.

7.2 The finalist with the most valid votes wins the Reader's Choice Award. Sponsor may void votes it reasonably believes come from fake, duplicate, purchased or automated accounts. Ties are broken by the higher panel score. A finalist may win both a judged prize and Reader's Choice. [COUNSEL: confirm popularity-vote award is acceptable within a skill contest.]

8. Prizes (per quarterly Contest)

   Division	First place	Second place	Third place
   Little Creators	$250	$150	$100
   Junior Writers	$500	$250	$150
   Teen	$1,000	$500	$250
   Young Adult	$1,000	$500	$250
   Adult	$1,000	$500	$250
   Seasoned	$1,000	$500	$250
   Reader's Choice (one per Contest)	$250	—	—

Total cash prizes per quarterly Contest: $8,650. Approximate retail value ("ARV") of non-cash rewards is stated on the Contest page.

8.1 Additional rewards (no cash value; not transferable): first-place winners receive a one-year GET News subscription; winners and finalists are eligible for publication on GET News (Section 13), a digital certificate and profile badge, social media features, invitations to the annual GET Essay Awards (Appendix D4), and, for first-place winners, an invitation to read their essay on GET TV. Sponsor determines the form and timing of publication and features in its editorial discretion.

8.2 Prizes for minors are awarded to and in the name of the Parent [COUNSEL: or, at the Parent's election, deposited to a 529 college savings plan designated by the Parent].

8.3 Prizes are awarded as stated; no substitution, transfer or cash equivalent except at Sponsor's discretion, which may substitute a prize of equal or greater value. Prize amounts do not depend on the number of entries received.

8.4 Taxes. Winners (or Parents) are solely responsible for all taxes. Each cash prize winner (or Parent) must provide a completed IRS Form W-9 before payment, and Sponsor will issue tax reporting forms as required by law.

9. Winner notification and verification Potential winners (or their Parents) will be notified by email and phone on or about the Friday before the winner announcement, and must return, within five (5) days of notification, a signed Affidavit of Eligibility, Liability Release and (where lawful) Publicity Release, and Form W-9. If a potential winner cannot be reached, fails to return documents on time, is found ineligible or does not comply with these Rules, the prize may be forfeited and awarded to the next- ranked eligible finalist. Prizes are delivered within thirty (30) days after verification.

10. Publicity Except where prohibited, acceptance of a prize constitutes permission for Sponsor to use the winner's name, city, state, division, school (if provided), photograph or avatar, and entry for promotional purposes without further compensation. For entrants under 13, public credit is limited to first name, last initial, age and city, and an avatar or the artwork in place of a photograph.

11. Privacy Personal information is collected and used as described in the Privacy and Data Use Disclosure (Appendix D6) and the GET News Privacy Policy at [URL]. Sponsor does not sell personal information.

12. Conduct and disqualification Sponsor may disqualify any person who tampers with the entry, judging or voting process; uses multiple accounts, bots or purchased votes; violates these Rules or the Community Guidelines; or acts in an unsportsmanlike or disruptive manner.

13. License to entries Entrants (or Parents) retain copyright in their entries. By entering, the entrant (and Parent, for minors) grants Sponsor the license described in Appendix D9.

14. General conditions Sponsor may cancel, suspend or modify a Contest, or select winners from eligible entries received before the event, if fraud, technical failure or any other cause beyond Sponsor's reasonable control impairs the Contest's integrity. Sponsor is not responsible for lost, late, incomplete, corrupted or misdirected entries, or for technical failures of any kind.

15. Release and limitation of liability By entering, entrants (and Parents) release and hold harmless Sponsor, co- sponsors, university partners and their respective affiliates, officers, employees and agents from any claims arising from participation in the Contest or the acceptance, use or misuse of any prize. [COUNSEL: complete.]

16. Disputes and governing law These Rules are governed by the laws of the State of [STATE], without regard to conflict-of-law principles. [COUNSEL: dispute resolution clause — courts of [COUNTY], [STATE] or arbitration.]

17. Winners list and Rules For a list of winners, visit geniuseyenews.com/essay/winners after the winner announcement date, or send a request to Sponsor's address within ninety (90) days after that date. These Rules are versioned; the version in effect on a Contest's opening date governs that Contest.