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​SPECIES: BLACK BEAR

1. Purpose:

Limited edition fine art prints are published annually by the Game Commission as part of the Working Together for Wildlife Program. Revenues received from the sale of signed and numbered prints help finance wildlife research and management programs in the Commonwealth.

2. Contractor (Artist) Scope of Work:

A. Create an original, full color, horizontal or vertical painting featuring BLACK BEAR, with a horizontal or vertical image of exactly 15 x 22 ½ or 22 ½ x 15 inches. The painting must have a 3-inch white border or mat and be unsigned.

B. The winning artist must pencil sign up to 750 limited edition fine art prints produced from the original painting. Signing will be done at the Pennsylvania Game Commission headquarters in Harrisburg. The artist will be responsible for lodging, meals, and travel expenses.

3. Contractor (Artist) Selection:

A. Sufficient experience and talent to provide an original painting that will complement the accuracy and quality of paintings selected for previous Working Together for Wildlife fine art prints. Entering artists must be residents of Pennsylvania.

B. The artist must be able to provide an original, full color, painting featuring BLACK BEAR, with a horizontal or vertical image of exactly 15 x 22 ½ or 22 ½ x 15 inches, to the Pennsylvania Game Commission, 2001 Elmerton Avenue, Harrisburg, PA 17110. All entries must be dropped off at headquarters by 4:00 on Monday July 22nd, 2024. The painting must be submitted without framing. The artwork must be the artist's own creation, neither copied nor duplicated from previously published art, paintings, drawings in any medium, photographs, including any previously published work of the artist. The artist is required to obtain adequate insurance coverage for the original painting, since the Game Commission will not do so. Precautions will be taken to protect the painting, but the Game Commission is not responsible for loss by fire, other damage, or theft.

C. The artist must be available to travel to the Game Commission headquarters in Harrisburg to personally sign up to 750 limited edition fine art prints within two weeks after the Game Commission receives prints from the printer.​​

4. Criteria for Selection

A.All proposals (artwork) received from prospective contractors will be reviewed and evaluated by a committee of qualified Game Commission personnel.

B.The following areas of consideration will be used in making the final selection.

1.Contractor Qualifications - This will relate to qualifications A thru C in Section 3.Prospective contractors not meeting these minimum qualifications will not be considered for selection. Prospective contractors must complete and sign the Reproduction Rights Agreement and attach the lower part of the agreement to the back of the artwork (Attachment No. 1). Each entry must be accompanied by a non-refundable $30.00 entrance fee payable to the Pennsylvania Game Commission.

C.Upon selection, the original painting becomes the property of the Pennsylvania GameCommission, and all reproduction rights are surrendered to the Pennsylvania Game Commission.

5. Payment for Work

The artist whose painting is selected for the Working Together for Wildlife fine art print series will receive payment in the amount of $4000, plus 50 artist's proof prints. Payment will be made after the artist has signed all prints. In addition, cash awards will be provided to other high placing entries in the following amounts -- 2nd place $750; 3rd place $500; 4th place $400; 5th place $250. In the event of a tie, the awards for two places will be combined and split evenly.

Example: two prints tie for fourth place – fourth and fifth place prizes will be combined ($650) and then split evenly between the tied artists ($325 each). First, second, third and two fourth place prizes will be awarded. No fifth-place prize will be awarded.​

6. Type of Contract

A formal contract will be executed between the Pennsylvania Game Commission and the artist whose painting is selected.

7. Artwork on Display

Participating artists will have the opportunity to view all the entries after the final selection is made and will be able to pick up their paintings after the viewing period. Please inquire with the Bureau of Information and Education when delivering your entry as to the date and time the paintings will be on display.

8. Administration

This work will be performed under the Pennsylvania Game Commission's Bureau of Information and

Education. Inquiries should be addressed to the Pennsylvania Game Commission, 2001 Elmerton Avenue, Harrisburg, PA 17110-9797.​​

​1. ELIGIBILITY
The Pennsylvania Game Commission's 2024 "Spring Gobbler" Photo Contest (the "Giveaway") is open to legal residents of Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania nonresident license holders. Employees of the Pennsylvania Game Commission and affiliate companies, as well as the immediate family (spouse, parents, siblings, and children), and household members of each such employee, are not eligible. The Sweepstakes is subject to all applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations and is void where prohibited. 

2. AGREEMENT TO OFFICIAL RULES
Participation constitutes entrant's full and unconditional agreement to these Official Rules and Sponsor's and Administrator's decisions, which are final and binding in all matters related to the Giveaway. Winning a prize is contingent upon compliance with these Official Rules and fulfilling all requirements set forth herein. 

3. SPONSOR
This giveaway is sponsored by The Pennsylvania Game Commission, 2001 Elmerton Ave, Harrisburg, PA 17110.

4. GIVEAWAY PERIOD
The start date for the contest is Friday, April 26, 2024. All entries must be sent by email to pgc-contest@pa.gov by Friday, June 7, 2024. Entries submitted before or after the sweepstakes period will be disqualified. Submissions will be accepted for the duration of the Giveaway online only. The Pennsylvania Game Commission's computer is the official timekeeping device for the Sweepstakes. 

5. HOW TO ENTER
The Pennsylvania Game Commission is sponsoring its 2024 "Spring Gobbler" Photo Contest and participants who submit a Turkey hunting-related photo taken during the legal 2024 Spring Gobbler season [ Youth Hunt Day: April 27, 2024; Statewide: May 4 - May 31, 2024 ]. in Pennsylvania, are eligible to win a custom Pennsylvania made turkey call and an assortment of Game Commssion merchandise. Photos do not have to include a harvest; they can include the experience, fellow hunters, landscape and nature, or any elements related to the hunt. Game Commission staff choose a group of entries as finalists to post in an album on the Game Commission's Facebook page; one winner will then be selected by voters on the Game Commission's Facebook page. 

All entries must be sent by email to pgccontest@pa.gov by end of day, Friday, June 7, 2024Submissions should include the first and last name of the photo owner, names of all parties featured in photo, and the county in which the photo was taken.

Once submitted, a photo becomes the property of the Pennsylvania Game Commission, and the Game Commission reserves the rights to use photo without the expressed written permission of those included within the photograph. The Game Commission may use the photograph in publications or other media materials produced, used, or contracted by the Game Commission, including but not limited to brochures, magazines, emails, and on the Game Commission website or social media platforms.

Game Commission employees and immediate family members are not eligible to participate. The submission should be labeled "2024 Spring Gobbler Photo Contest" Use of any automated system to participate is prohibited and will result in disqualification. In the event of a dispute as to any registration, the authorized account holder of the email address used to register will be deemed to be the entrant. 

The "authorized account holder" is the natural person assigned an email address by an Internet access provider, online service provider, or other organization responsible for assigning email addresses for the domain associated with the submitted address. 

6. DRAWING
Game Commission staff choose a group of entries as finalists to post in an album on the Game Commission's Facebook page; one winner will then be selected by voters on the Game Commission's Facebook page. The odds of winning depend on the number of entries received. Sponsor's decisions as to the administration and operation of the Giveaway and the selection of the potential winners are final and binding in all matters related to the Giveaway. 

7. WINNER NOTIFICATION
The sponsor will attempt to notify the winners via email following the conclusion of the contest. If any of the potential winners cannot be contacted within five (5) days after the date of the first attempt to contact him/her, the Sponsor may select an alternate potential winner in his/her place from the remaining non-winning, eligible entries. 

8. WINNER REQUIREMENTS
Receiving a prize is contingent upon compliance with these Official Rules. If a potential winner of the prize cannot be contacted or prize is returned as undeliverable, the potential winner forfeits his/her prize.

In the event a potential winner of any prize is disqualified for any reason, Sponsor will award the applicable prize to an alternate winner from among all remaining eligible entries. Only one (1) alternate drawing will be held, after which the applicable prize will remain unawarded. The Grand Prize will be fulfilled approximately five weeks after the conclusion of the Giveaway. Sponsor reserves the right to fulfill the prizes at a later date if they are not available at time of contest end. 

9. PRIZES
A first-place winner will be determined by "likes" and "loves" on the Game Commission Facebook Page. This individual will receive a hunter prize package including a trail camera, knife, and Game Commission merchandise. 

10. RELEASE
By receipt of any prize, winners agree to release and hold harmless Sponsor and their respective subsidiaries, affiliates, suppliers, distributors, and each of their respective parent companies and each such company's officers, directors, employees, and agents (collectively, the "Released Parties") from and against any claim or cause of action, including, but not limited to, personal injury, death, or damage to or loss of property, arising out of participation in the Sweepstakes or receipt or use or misuse of any prize. 

11. PUBLICITY
Except where prohibited, participation in the Giveaway constitutes each winner's consent to Sponsor's and its agents' use of winner's name, likeness, photograph, voice, opinions and/or hometown and state for promotional purposes in any media, worldwide, without further payment or consideration.

12. GENERAL CONDITIONS
Sponsor reserves the right to cancel, suspend and/or modify the Giveaway, or any part of it, if any fraud, technical failures, or any other factor beyond Sponsor's reasonable control impairs the integrity or proper functioning of the Giveaway, as determined by Sponsor in its sole discretion. Sponsor reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to disqualify any individual it finds to be tampering with the entry process or the operation of the Giveaway or to be acting in violation of the Official Rules of this or any other promotion or in an unsportsmanlike or disruptive manner. The use of vote exchange groups through Facebook or other similar websites is prohibited and will lead to disqualification. Any attempt by any person to deliberately undermine the legitimate operation of the Giveaway may be a violation of criminal and civil law, and should such an attempt be made, Sponsor reserves the right to seek damages from any such person to the fullest extent permitted by law. Sponsor's failure to enforce any term of these Official Rules shall not constitute a waiver of that provision. 

13. LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY
The Released Parties are not responsible for: (1) any incorrect or inaccurate information, whether caused by entrants, printing errors or by any of the equipment or programming associated with or utilized in the Sweepstakes; (2) technical disconnections in phone lines or network hardware or software; (3) unauthorized human intervention in any part of the entry process or the Sweepstakes; (4) technical or human error which may occur in the administration of the Sweepstakes or the processing of entries; (5) late, lost, undeliverable, damaged, or stolen mail; or (6) any injury or damage to persons or property which may be caused, directly or indirectly, in whole or in part, from entrant's participation in the Giveaway or receipt or use or misuse of any prize. If for any reason an entrant's entry is confirmed to have been erroneously deleted, lost, or otherwise destroyed or corrupted, entrant's sole remedy is another entry in the Giveaway, if it is possible. If the Giveaway, or any part of it, is discontinued for any reason, Sponsor, in its sole discretion, may elect to hold a random drawing from among all eligible entries received up to the date of discontinuance for any or all of the prizes offered herein. No more than the stated number of prizes will be awarded. In the event production, technical, seeding, programming, or any other reasons cause more than the stated number of prizes as set forth in these Official Rules to be available and/or claimed, Sponsor reserves the right to award only the stated number of prizes by a random drawing among all legitimate, unawarded, eligible prize claims. 

14. DISPUTES
Except where prohibited, entrant agrees that any and all disputes, claims and causes of action arising out of or connected with this Giveaway or any prize awarded shall be resolved individually, without resort to any form of class action, and exclusively by the appropriate court located in Pennsylvania. All issues and questions concerning the construction, validity, interpretation and enforceability of these Official Rules, entrants' rights and obligations, or the right and obligations of the Sponsor in connection with the Giveaway, shall be governed by, and construed in accordance with, the laws of Pennsylvania, without giving effect to any choice of law or conflict of law rules, which would cause the application of the laws of any jurisdiction other than Pennsylvania.

15. ENTRANT'S PERSONAL INFORMATION
Information collected from entrants is subject to The Pennsylvania Game Commission's Privacy Policy at https://www.pa.gov/privacypolicy/.

16. WINNER LIST
To request the name of the winners send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to The Pennsylvania Game Commission: 2024 Spring Gobbler Photo Contest, 2001 Elmerton Ave, Harrisburg, PA 17110. Winner List requests will only be accepted after the promotion end date (listed above). For the Winner List, you can also send an email.