Spirits are presented to judges in a blind tasting format. Judging is absolutely anonymous; no mead bottles or cans are visible to the judges at any time until the competition is over. No judge may evaluate a product in which he/she has a stake or ownership. Judging is based on adherence to the guidelines as set by the Beer Judge Certification Program.
Categories may be combined if there are not enough entries to judge. Judges will be advised of the original category and instructed to judge the entry according to its original category.
Spirits are judged on a merit basis by a majority vote. The judges’ decisions are final and awards will not be changed after judging is finished.
All winners will receive a physical medal and a digital seal for use on packaging and promotional materials. All entries receive judges’ notes.
Submission must not contain material that violates or infringes another’s rights, including but not limited to privacy, publicity or intellectual property rights, or that constitutes copyright or trademark infringement
Submission must not disparage sponsor or its competitors, administrator, any other person or party affiliated with the program or any other person or entity
Submission must not contain material that is inappropriate, indecent, obscene, hateful, tortuous, defamatory, slanderous or libelous
Submission must not contain material that promotes bigotry, racism, hatred or harm against any group or individual or promotes discrimination based on race, gender, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age
Submission must not contain material that is unlawful, in violation of or contrary to the laws or regulations in any state where submission is created.
Entrant represents and warrants that its Submission is original and created solely by Entrant and that the exercise of the rights granted by Entrant to Sponsor shall not infringe on the rights of any third party. Entrants will indemnify Sponsor, Released Parties and any licensee of Sponsor against all claims, damages, liabilities, and expenses (including reasonable counsel fees and legal expenses) arising out of any breach or alleged breach of these terms by Entrant. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, Sponsor has the right to post any or all of the Submissions at random on its website as examples; posting any given Submission is in no way indicative that the Submission will be selected as a winner.
Submissions generated by script, macro or other automated means are void. In the event of a dispute regarding the identity of an online entrant, such Entry will be deemed to be made by the authorized account holder of the e-mail address submitted at the time of entry. “Authorized account holder” is deemed as the natural person who is assigned to an e-mail address by an internet access provider, service provider or other online organization that is responsible for assigning e-mail addresses for the domain associated with the submitted e-mail address. Neither Sponsor, Administrator, nor its agencies are responsible for late, stolen, illegible, misdirected, or non-delivered entries; or for lost, interrupted or unavailable satellite, network, server, Internet Service Provider (ISP), website or other connections availability, accessibility or traffic congestion, or miscommunications, or failed computer, network, telephone, satellite, or cable hardware, software or lines, or technical failure, or jumbled, scrambled, delayed, or misdirected transmissions, or computer hardware or software malfunctions, failures or difficulties, or other errors of any kind, whether human, mechanical, electronic or network, or the incorrect or inaccurate capture of Entry or other information or the failure to capture, or loss of, any such information. Neither Sponsor, Administrator, nor its agencies are responsible for any incorrect or inaccurate information, whether caused by website users, or by any equipment or programming associated with or utilized in the Program and assume no responsibility for any error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect or delay in operation or transmission, communications line failure, theft or destruction or unauthorized access to, or tampering with or hacking of website.
Any attempt by an entrant or any other individual to deliberately damage any online service or website, tamper with the voting process, or otherwise undermine the legitimate operation of the Program is a violation of criminal and civil laws and should such an attempt be made, Sponsor reserves the right to seek damages and/or other remedies from any such person to the fullest extent permitted by law. Failure to enforce any term of these Official Rules shall not constitute a waiver of that provision. Correspondence with the Entrants regarding Entries is only obligated to the Winners.
Participation in this Awards Program constitutes entrant’s full and unconditional agreement to these Official Rules and the Sponsor’s and Administrator’s decisions, which are final and binding in all matters related to this Program. Winning a prize is contingent upon fulfilling all requirements set forth herein.