NO PURCHASE, PAYMENT, OR DONATION IS NECESSARY TO ENTER OR TO WIN. ALL FEDERAL, STATE, LOCAL AND MUNICIPAL LAWS AND REGULATIONS APPLY. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED.

2.Eligibility.Subject to the additional restrictions below, the Baby of the Year Contest is open to residents of Green and Rock Counties in the State of Wisconsin, and Jo Daviess, Stephenson, Winnebago, Boone, McHenry, Carroll, Ogle, DeKalb, Whiteside, LaSalle, and Lee Counties in the state of Illinois, 18 years or older at the time of entry. Employees of RRSNIE, the Rockford Register Star, GateHouse Media, Inc., and each of their respective affiliated companies, and advertising and promotional agencies, and the immediate family members of, and any persons domiciled with, any such employees, are not eligible to enter or to win.

3.How to Enter.Submit a photo of your child with all required information. Photos must be submitted by an adult 18 years ort older. Children must be no older than 3 years old as of December 31, 2008.RRSNIE reserves the right to verify proof of age. Only one photo per entry per child please. One child per photo. Parent or legal guardian's names and phone numbers must be included with all nominations (entries) as well as written on the back of each photo. Entries with incomplete or incorrect information will not be accepted. Photos will not be posted until information is verified and written affidavit is signed and returned to the Rockford Register Star. In the event that the noncustodial parent disagrees with the child's participation, the child will be eliminated from the contest.

The contest will begin at 6:01 a.m. (C.S.T.) on Sunday, July 20, 2008 and end at 12:00 p.m. (noon) (C.S.T.) on Monday, September 29, 2008.

To Submit a photo:

Enter by mail, in person delivery or online. Enter by mailing or delivering a photo of your baby to RRSNIE Baby of the Year, c/o Rockford Register Star, 99 E. State St., Rockford, IL 61104 (office hours are 8am-5pm Monday-Friday).All submission must be received by August 15, 2008. Mailed submissions must be postmarked by August 1, 2008 and received by August 15, 2008.Submit a color or black/white photo, minimum of 3" x 5" and no larger than 5"x7" along with completed entry form as originals or on CD or disk. NO floppy disks please. All photos must be hi-quality files (240 res). Enter by email by going to data.e-rockford.com/babycontest08/register.php. Poor quality photos of either type will not be accepted. Include your child's name along with your name, address, phone number and consent to publish the child's photo and name. All photos become property of RRSNIE and absolutely no photos will be returned. Copyrighted photos must be accompanied by photographer's release. Entry forms can be found in the Rockford Register Star. There is no entry fee. NIE is asking for a $10.00 voluntary donation with each entry. RRSNIE reserves the rights to refuse any photograph it determines to be unacceptable.Baby photos will be displayed on www.rrstar.com.

Voting begins at 6:01 a.m. (C.S.T.) on August 24, 2008 and ends at 12:00 p.m, (C.S.T.) September 29, 2008. Round voting deadlines are as follows: Round 1: noon, Monday, September 1, 2008; Round 2: noon, September 15, 2008; Round 3: noon, September 29, 2008. Final round mailed votes must be received by noon, on September 29, 2008. Online voting will end at 12:00 p.m. (noon) on September 29, 2008.
Voting is open to everyone - online voting is limited to persons 13 years and older. You can vote for your favorite baby photo by submitting a voting ballot along with a suggested donation of $1.00 to NIE ($1.00 = 1 vote).When voting online, the minimum donation is $5.00. Your computer must accept cookies, or any successor or similar technology, which may be used for the purpose of entry tracking. Ad blocking software on your computer needs to be disabled so that it doesn't interfere with processing your entry. You can vote without making a donation be submitting an original ballot. One free vote/form per baby per day.

Original voting ballots will be available in the Rockford Register Star during the contest period, and at the Register Star's front desk. They can be mailed to RRSNIE Baby of the Year, Rockford Register Star, 99 E. State St., Rockford, IL 61104 or may be dropped off at the Rockford Register Star between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. weekdays.

Sponsor will not be responsible for incomplete, lost, late, postage-due, misdirected or illegible entries or for failure to receive entries due to transmission failures or technical failures of any kind, including, without limitation, malfunctioning of any network, hardware or software, whether originating with sender or Sponsor. In the event of a dispute, all online entries will be deemed to have been submitted by the owner of the ISP account from which they were sent. For these purposes, an ISP account holder shall mean the natural person assigned to such ISP account by the Internet access provider, online service provider or other organization responsible for assigning ISP addresses for the domain associated with such ISP account. All entries become property of Sponsor and none will be returned. Any questions regarding the number of entries submitted or the owner of an ISP account shall be determined by Sponsor in its sole discretion, and Sponsor reserves the right to disqualify any entries by persons determined to be tampering with or abusing any aspect of the contest.

4.Winner Selection. Winners will be determined by total votes only. In the event of a tie, Sponsor will randomly pick the winner from the tied entries.

Prizes and Odds: Grand Prize: One (1) Grand Prize Winner will have his/her photo featured on the cover and on one (1) of the months of the 2009 RRSNIE Baby Calendar to be produced by the Rockford Register Star. First Prize:Eleven (11) First Prize Winners will have his/her photo heading a month in the 2009 NIE Baby Calendar. The month will be determined by the Rockford Register Star. Runners Up: Approximately 365 Runners up receiving a minimum of 100 votes will be selected at random to have his/her photo on a daily square of the 2009 NIE Baby Calendar. The square will be determined by the Rockford Register Star. Grand prize and First Prize winners must be available to participate in FREE photo session with assigned photographer the week of October 10 - 24, 2008 in order to produce a professional quality photo to be placed in the calendar or risk not being included in calendar.Photos used in the calendar will be chosen by the Rockford Register Star.
Odds of winning depend on the number of eligible votes received.

6.Winner Notification and Acceptance. Winners will be announced in the Rockford Register Star and online at rrstar.com on Friday, October 3, 2008. Sponsor will call during regular business hours at number provided on entry form and will leave no messages. Failure to reach winner by phone may result in disqualification of winner, forfeiture of his or her interest in all prizes, and selection of a substitute winner from among all remaining eligible entries. To claim a prize, the Grand Prize and First Prize winners must visit the designated photographer the week of October 10 - 24, 2008 for photos to be taken or risk not being included in the calendar. All parents and legal guardians of winners specifically grant the right to the Rockford Register Star to publish the photo of their child in the calendar. A valid photo identification of the parent or legal guardian may be required and a photo release must be executed. Winners may waive their right to receive prizes. Prizes are nonassignable and nontransferable. No substitutions allowed by winner. Prizes and individual components of prize packages are subject to availability and Sponsor reserves the right to substitute prizes of equal or greater value.Winners are solely responsible for reporting and payment of any taxes on prizes. Winners may be required to complete an affidavit of eligibility/liability and publicity release (except where prohibited by law) which must be returned within ten (10) days of date of personal delivery or date of postmark.Failure to sign and return the affidavit or release within ten (10) days, or to comply with any term or condition of these Official Rules, may result in a winner's disqualification, the forfeiture of his or her interest in the prize, and the award of the prize to a substitute winner. Except where prohibited, acceptance of any prize constitutes winner's consent to the publication of his or her name, biographical information and likeness in any media for any commercial or promotional purpose, without limitation the Internet, or further compensation. Prizes not won and claimed by eligible winners in accordance with these Official Rules will not be awarded and will remain the property of Sponsor.

7.Participation. By participating, entrants agree to be bound by these Official Rules and the decisions of Sponsor. Sponsor reserves the right to disqualify persons found tampering with or otherwise abusing any aspect of this contest as solely determined by Sponsor. In the event the contest is compromised by a virus, non-authorized human intervention, tampering or other causes beyond the reasonable control of Sponsor which corrupts or impairs the administration, security, fairness or proper operation of the contest, Sponsor reserves the right in its sole discretion to suspend, modify or terminate the Contest.Should the contest be terminated prior to the stated expiration date, Sponsor reserves the right to award prizes based on the entries received before the termination date.

8.Construction. The invalidity or unenforceability of any provision of these rules shall not affect the validity or enforceability of any other provision. In the event that any such provision is determined to be invalid or otherwise unenforceable, these rules shall be construed in accordance with their terms as if the invalid or unenforceable provision was not contained therein.

9.Sponsor. The Baby of the Year Contest is sponsored by RRSNIE. All proceed will be donated to the NIE program. The decisions of Sponsor regarding the selection of winners and all other aspects of the contest shall be final and binding in all respects. Sponsor will not be responsible for typographical, printing or other inadvertent errors in these Official Rules or in other materials relating to the contest. For a list of winners (available after October 3, 2008) or a copy of these Official Rules, visit is www.rrstar.com/babycontest or send a long, self-addressed, stamped envelope to “Winners List/Official Rules" (as applicable), Baby of the Year, Rockford Register Star, 99 E. State St., Rockford, IL 61104. If you have any questions regarding this contest, please contact Beatrice Ricotta at 815-987-1373 or at bricotta@rrstar.com.