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Do You Have What it Takes to Sing the National Anthem?

Do You Have What it Takes_final

AARP Kentucky is holding an online singing competition to find a Kentuckian to sing the National Anthem during the June 15th Louisville Bats baseball game. Could it be you?  Simply upload a video of yourself singing the National Anthem in it's entirety.  The contest starts Sunday, April 12th and ends on the 25th. Entries will be judged based on Voice; Projection; and Arrangement.

The Grand Prize Winner will be selected to sing the National Anthem on June 15 at the Louisville Bats baseball game, and will receive four tickets to the game.  The two runner-ups will each receive two tickets to the June 15th game.

So, get out your video equipment, start singing and upload your work.  The winner could be you!

Official Rules

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

Can I Participate? Subject to the additional restrictions below, the Do You Have What it Takes to Sing the National Anthem Contest (the “Contest” or “NA Contest”) is open only to legal residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico who are 50 years of age or older and have lawful access to the Internet and a valid e-mail address as of the date of entry. To be eligible to win, entrant’s submission(s) must be entrant’s original work and may not contain material that is sexually explicit, disparaging, libelous, indecent, obscene, or otherwise inappropriate, as determined by the Sponsor in its sole discretion.

The following persons are not eligible to enter or to win: (i) persons under the age of 50; (ii) persons who are not legal residents of the state of Kentucky; and (iii) employees of AARP (“Sponsor”) and its advertising and promotional agencies, and the immediate family members of, and any persons living in the same household as, any such employee. The term “immediate family members” is defined as spouses, parents, grandparents, siblings, children, and grandchildren.

Entering the Contest constitutes the Contest entrant’s full and unconditional agreement to and acceptance of these Official Rules.

Contest Description: AARP Kentucky will host an online singing competition to find a Kentucky resident vocalist to sing the National Anthem during the June 15 th Louisville Bats baseball game.  The contest is designed to both showcase AARP’s hunger initiatives while infusing fun into AARP members’ engagement experiences.

Contest Period: The contest period will begin on April 12, 2015, and end at 11:59:59 PM Eastern Time on April 25, 2015 (the “Contest Period”).  AARP’s timekeeping mechanism will be the sole source of timekeeping.

How To Enter:  Entry occurs in two steps.  Any entry not fulfilling both requirements will be automatically disqualified in AARP’s sole discretion.


  1. Video Submission.  Contestants must submit a video of themselves singing the entire National Anthem.  Submissions must be received via social media by the Kentucky State Office during the Contest Period.  Video file sizes must be under 300MB, and be in one the following forms: (i) .avi; (ii) .mov; (iii) .wmv; (iv) .mp4; (v) .mpeg; (vi) .flv; (vii) .3gp; or (viii) .3g2.  All video files not falling into these categories and/or over 300MB in size will be automatically disqualified. Contestants can also select a video they already have produced and published.
  2. Provision of Completed Media Release.  Before the end of the Contest Period, all entrants must submit a completed Media Release Form and upload or email to aarpky@aarp.org.  Release forms can be found at www.aarp.org/ky.

Winner Selection: (5 winners including grand prize winner)  All qualifying entries will be judged by up to five judges (under the supervision of Sponsor). On or about May 1, 2015, three (3) finalists will be selected based on the following criteria (“Criteria”): Voice (40%); Projection (30%); and Arrangement (30%).  The three (3) entries with the highest overall score shall be selected as the finalists.  From among these three finalists, judges will select a Grand Prize Winner based on the same Criteria.  In the event of any tie for finalist qualification or for Grand Prize Winner, the submission with the highest score in the “Voice” criterion, as determined by the judges in their sole discretion, will be deemed the winner.

If for some reason, the panel is unable to determine a Grand Prize Winner from the three finalists, all three finalists will receive finalist prizes, as described below.

Sponsor reserves the right to select as few as one (1) finalist and one (1) grand prize winner if Sponsor, in its sole discretion, determines it does not receive a sufficient number of eligible and qualified submissions.

Notice: The potential winners will be notified by telephone and/or e-mail on or about May 2, 2015. The potential winners will be required to complete an affidavit of eligibility and a liability and publicity release (except where prohibited by law).  All materials must be executed and returned to Sponsor by May 7, 2015. Failure to timely sign and return the affidavit or release, or to comply with any term or condition of these Official Rules, may result in the winner’s disqualification, the forfeiture of his or her interest in the prize, and the next highest scored entrant will be notified and the same process will be followed.

Prizes: The Grand Prize Winner will be selected to sing the National Anthem on June 15, 2015 at the Louisville Bats baseball game, as well as receiving four (4) game tickets.  The two finalists not selected as the Grand Prize Winner will each receive two (2) tickets (for a total of four (4) finalist tickets) to the June 15, 2015 Louisville Bats baseball game.  All winners may waive the right to receive the  prize. Prize is non-assignable and nontransferable. No substitution or transfer of prize is permitted, except that Sponsor reserves the right to substitute prize with another prize of equal or greater value if advertised prize is not available. Taxes on prizes and all expenses related to acceptance and use of the prizes not specified are the sole responsibility of winners.

 Additional Conditions:  Entrants will retain all rights to their submitted video -- including copyright ownership if applicable -- other than those rights licensed in these Official Rules.  By submitting an entry video, entrants warrant and represent that their video is their own original work created by them, is true and verifiable, has not been previously published, has not won a previous prize or award, that they own or otherwise control all of the rights to their video and that their video does not violate any law, regulation or any right of any third-party, including but not limited to rights of copyright, publicity and privacy. Submitting an entry that is copyrighted by another individual will make an entrant responsible for any legal action the legal copyright holder might take against that entrant.

Entrants grant the Sponsor a nonexclusive, irrevocable, and perpetual, royalty-free, worldwide right, in all media (now known or later developed) to assign, use, license, publish, edit, adapt, modify, alter, reproduce, distribute, display, copyright, create derivative works or otherwise exploit the videos for commercial or non-commercial use, and without compensation to the entrant. Furthermore, by entering into the Contest, the entrants grant Sponsor the right to use the entrant’s name, city, state and country of residence in promotions and other publications.

Videos may not defame or invade the rights of publicity or privacy of any person, living or deceased, or otherwise infringe upon a person's personal or proprietary rights. Videos that are deemed by the judges in their sole discretion to be immoral, obscene or not in keeping with Sponsor's image will be void. Sponsor reserves the right in its sole discretion to disqualify any entry at any time for any reason.  Specifically, Sponsor reserves the right in its sole discretion to disqualify any entry which, in the Sponsor’s reasonable opinion, endangers the safety or well being of any person or in the event it is determined that the entrants has not complied with these Official Rules.

All incomplete, damaged, lost, late, misdirected, incomplete or postage-due mail or entries or illegible entries and all entries submitted by software-generated or other automated processes will be void. Entries submitted by third parties are prohibited. All entries become property of Sponsor and none will be returned or individually acknowledged. Sponsor will not be responsible for failure to receive or record entries due to human processing errors or transmission or technical failures of any kind, including, without limitation, the malfunctioning of any website, computer dating system, network, hardware, or software. All decisions of Sponsor regarding the eligibility of participants and the validity of entries shall be final and binding. In the event of a dispute regarding online entries, the applicable online entry will be deemed to have been submitted by the owner of the e-mail account associated with the e-mail address identified on the online entry form. For these purposes, an e-mail account owner shall mean the natural person assigned to such account by the Internet access provider, online service provider, or other organization responsible for assigning e-mail addresses for the domain associated with such account. Sponsor is also not responsible for any injury or damage to any entrant’s or any other person’s computer related to or resulting from downloading any materials in the Contest. CAUTION: ANY ATTEMPT BY AN ENTRANT TO DELIBERATELY DAMAGE ANY WEBSITE OR UNDERMINE THE LEGITIMATE OPERATIONS OF THE CONTEST IS A VIOLATION OF CRIMINAL AND CIVIL LAWS, AND SHOULD SUCH AN ATTEMPT BE MADE, THE SPONSOR RESERVES THE RIGHT TO SEEK DAMAGES FROM ANY SUCH ENTRANT TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW.  By entering the Contest, Entrants acknowledge and agree that Sponsor makes no representations or warranties, express or implied, regarding the prize and will not be responsible for any claims, losses, or injuries arising out of the winner’s acceptance or use of the prize.

Who Is the Sponsor? The Contest is sponsored by AARP. All decisions of Sponsor and the Contest judges selected by AARP regarding the Contest and the interpretation of these Official Rules will be final and binding on all entrants in all respects. Sponsor will not be responsible for typographical, printing, or other inadvertent errors in these Official Rules or in other materials or announcements relating to the Contest. AARP reserves the right in its sole discretion to suspend, modify, or terminate the Contest if the fairness, security, or proper operation of the promotion is compromised by a virus, errors, unauthorized human intervention, tampering, or any cause beyond the reasonable control of AARP. Should the Contest be terminated prior to the stated expiration date, AARP reserves the right to award the prize from among the eligible entries received before the termination date. AARP also reserves the right to disqualify any persons determined to be tampering with the entry process or abusing any other aspect of the Contest.

For a copy of these Official Rules or winner’s name, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope by the end of the Contest Period to: Do You Have What it Takes to Sing the National Anthem Contest, 10401 Linn Station Road, Ste 121, Louisville, KY  40223. (VT residents may omit postage for rules).

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