Trust for Public Land (“TPL”) and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (“DEP”) are sponsoring a design contest and public vote on National Trails Day (June 3, 2023) to create a logo for the Florida Gulf Coast Trail. The winning design will become the iconic visual symbol for the trail that will be seen on all things trail related—like signage up and down the trail’s length. The winning entrant will receive a $5,000 prize.

The Florida Gulf Coast Trail will be a 336-mile long destination trail crossing seven southwest Florida coastal counties. We want to give the people of Florida a voice in the future of this trail. That’s why we’ll launch a logo design contest on National Trails Day (June 3, 2023) and then a public vote on the top designs in October 2023 during Florida Greenways and Trails month.

1. Who is eligible: The contest is open only to legal US residents and residents of U.S. territories. Entrants who are under the age of 18 years as of June 3, 2023, must submit a consent form signed by a guardian or parent. Employees of TPL and Florida DEP, and their subsidiaries and affiliates, or of other entities associated with the promotion of the contest, as well as the immediate family (spouse, parents, siblings, and children) and household members of each such employee, are not eligible. All federal, state, municipal, and local laws and regulations apply. By entering, participants agree to be bound by the contest rules and violating any rule may eliminate a participant’s eligibility at the sole discretion of TPL and DEP.

2. Submission Guidelines and How to Enter

1. 1. Submissions are accepted from June 3, 2023 through July 22, 2023, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST). Late submissions will not be considered.
   2. All submissions must be sent/uploaded electronically to TPL at https://www.tpl.org/florida-gulf-coast-trail-logo-contest.
   3. Submissions must include the full name of the person who designed the logo, email address, postal address, and telephone number.
   4. If the entrant is under the age of 18 years, the entrant also submit a consent form signed by a guardian or parent.
   5. Only one submission per person.
   6. There is no fee to enter the contest.

3. Logo Design Guidelines and Parameters:

1. 1. All entrants affirm their submissions are their own original work, are not derivative in nature and have not been copied from others or from previous designs, including their own, have not been generated using artificial intelligence, and do not violate the intellectual property rights of any other person or entity.
   2. Entries must be submitted as JPEG files. For quality reproduction purposes, the winning entry must later be submitted in scalable vector graphic format (EPS) or Adobe Illustrator file (.ai).
   3. Color must be CMYK, though the logo may also be reproduced in black and white. Contestants are advised to avoid gradients and half-tones.
   4. The logo must be easy to use, handle, resize, and manipulate for all reproduction purposes. It should be visually appealing on both small (as small as 2 cm height or width) and large scales.

4. Determination of Winner: 

1. 1. Between July 22 and September 30, 2023, a panel comprised of TPL, DEP, and our community partners will select three to five (3 to 5) top submissions to be advanced to a public vote. Their decision will be final without rights to appeal and no further correspondence shall be entertained.
   2. Submissions will be judged on their visual appeal, quality of design, relevance to the trail, and ease of reproduction for the purposes stated above.
   3. Between October 1 and November 10, 2023, a public vote on the three to five logo design submissions will be launched during Florida Greenways and Trails month and hosted on TPL’s website. Promotion of the public vote will happen on TPL, DEP, and community partners’ social media, email and other media channels.
   4. The public votes will be counted by November 29, 2023, and the logo design with the most votes will be the winning submission.
   5. The winning entrant will be notified by email no later than November 29, 2023 and the winning entrant shall receive a $5,000 cash prize. The winning entrant is solely responsible for complying with any applicable federal, state and local laws and regulations applicable to the cash prize, and TPL will issue an IRS Form 1099 to the winning entrant.
   6. At the sole discretion of TPL and DEP, disqualification, forfeiture and the selection of an alternate winner may result from any of the following: (a) the winning entrant’s failure to timely respond within 7 business days to the notification that their logo was selected as the winning design; (b) violation or non-compliance with these rules. In such event, TPL and DEP will award the prize to the entrant whose logo design received the second highest number of public votes.
   7. If the winning entrant is determined to have violated any rules, they will be required to forfeit or return the cash prize, even if the determination is made after the prize has been awarded.

5. Use and Ownership of Submissions

1. 1. All entrants authorize TPL, DEP and community partners to display and share their submissions publicly on websites, social media, media outlets, etc.
   2. The winning submission shall become the sole property of TPL and will be owned by TPL. TPL intends to assigns ownership of the design logo to an entity affiliated with the trail (“TPL”s assignee”). The winning entrant agrees to and does hereby irrevocably assign, grant and convey to TPL all right, title and interest that exist today and may exist in the future in and to all copyright and intellectual property rights in the logo design, and to any secondary or derivative works based thereon, and the winning entrant understands and accepts that the logo will be assigned to another entity by TPL. TPL and TPL’s assignee have all rights to all forms of use of the design and logo in any tangible medium of expression, now known or later developed, including without limitation print and electronic.

6. Release and Hold Harmless: By participating in the logo design contest, entrants agree to release, discharge, and hold harmless TPL and DEP, and their affiliates, subsidiaries, advertising and promotion agencies, and other individuals engaged in the promotion of this contest, from any liability, claims, losses, and damages arising out of or relating to their participation in this contest, or the acceptance, use, misuse, or possession of any prize received in this contest.

7. Sponsor Reservation of Rights:

1. 1. TPL and DEP reserve the right, in their sole discretion, to modify or terminate this contest in the event of any act, occurrence, or reason that it believes would corrupt the integrity, administration, or fairness of the contest.
   2. TPL, DEP and TPL’s assignee shall have the right to modify or edit the winning submission for any use deemed appropriate by them, including sizing, font or color modifications.
   3. TPL, DEP and TPL’s assignee also reserve the right to decline selection of a winning design logo, and to choose not to use the winning submission.

8. Publicity Release:Except where prohibited, by accepting the cash prize, the winning entrant grants permission for TPL, DEP, and TPL’s assignee, and their agents to use their name, voice and/or likeness, for advertising, merchandising, promotion and/or publicity purposes in any and all media now known or hereinafter invented without territorial or time limitations and without additional compensation.

Disclaimer.

1. 1. TPL and DEP are not responsible for lost, late, misdirected, incomplete, illegible, or otherwise unusable submissions, including submissions that are lost or unusable due to computer, internet, or electronic problems.
   2. TPL and DEP are not liable, for the purpose of winner and prize notification and delivery, in the event the winning entrant has provided incorrect, outdated, or otherwise invalid contact information.