Thank you for considering the Share Your Heart® Essay and Poem Contest to help us show, through stories and poems, the many ways we share our hearts with others.

The following are the Share Your Heart Essay and Poem Contest Rules:

1. All entries must be written by someone who has been affected by heart disease whether it be a patient, caregiver, family member, friend, or healthcare professional.

2. EACH PERSON MAY SUBMIT ONE ESSAY OR POEM ONLY.

3. All entries must be written ONLY by the person submitting the essay or poem and must be original work without help from any other person except proofreading for grammar and spelling.

4. All copyright laws must be followed. NO material may be copied or paraphrased from another source. Essays and poems must not be plagiarized in any way. If the person writing the essay would like to use a quote, that quote must be cited with the source recognized in the essay.

5. All essays and poems must be 500 words or less. If the essay or poem is over 500 words, the writer will be given an opportunity to correct it if there are still 72 hours left in the contest.

6. If a contestant is 17 years or younger, the person entering the contestant's essay or poem in the contest must be their legal guardian or have the legal guardian's express permission to enter the contestant.

7. By entering an essay or poem in the contest, you agree to allow The Mended Hearts, Inc. to use the essay or poem in awareness campaigns, Heartbeat magazine, on our website, and other promotions.

8. Essays and poems must be tasteful and appropriate for all ages.

9. All essays and poems must be submitted no later than August 10th, 2024 at 11:59 p.m. EST. Winners will be announced on September 5th, 2024.

10. Essays and poems will be judged by an independent panel of judges.

11. There will be one winner for each age category. There are prizes for each winner.

12. Winners will be notified by email or phone. Please be sure that the email you provide is the one you check often. Winners will be notified on the Mended Hearts®, Young Mended Hearts® and Mended Little Hearts® social media pages on September 5, 2024 at 8 p.m. ET. See the official terms and conditions disclaimer for more details.

13. Winners who reside outside of the continental United States may receive a modified gift package of equal value.

14. If these rules are not followed, any essay or poem submitted that breaks the rules will be automatically disqualified from winning the contest.

The Mended Hearts Inc., Facebook, any participating sponsors, and any of their respective parent companies, subsidiaries, affiliates, directors, officers, professional advisors, employees, and agencies (collectively, the "Released Parties") will not be responsible for any printing or typographical errors in any materials associated with the Contest.

Contest Period: The Contest starts July 10, 2024 and runs through August 10, 2024 at 11:59PM EST (the "Contest Period"). All entries must be received during the Contest Period to be eligible to win a prize. The winners will be announced on September 5, 2024 at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time via Facebook. Winners who reside outside of the continental United States may receive a modified gift package of equal value.

Submissions. The Mended Hearts, Inc. may display all Submissions on their Social Media pages and its website, including, but not limited to, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. By uploading your Submission, you agree that your Submission conforms to the Submission Guidelines and Content Restrictions listed below (collectively, the “Guidelines and Restrictions”) and that The Mended Hearts, Inc. in its sole discretion, may remove your Submission and disqualify you from the Contest if it believes, in its sole discretion, that your Submission fails to conform to the Guidelines and Restrictions listed in the Rules. By uploading your Submission, in addition to rights granted below, you: (a) grant to The Mended Hearts, Inc. all rights necessary to display your Submission on Mended Hearts, Young Mended Hearts and Mended Little Hearts Facebook pages, Twitter pages, Instagram, website and other The Mended Hearts, Inc.’s venues; (b) hereby waive any so-called moral (e.g., creative rights) in your Submission; (c) represent and warrant that you have the right to grant the rights granted in these Official Rules; and (d) represent and warrant that your Submission and its use as contemplated in these Official Rules does not and will not violate, misappropriate, or infringe upon any law or regulation or the rights of any third party, including any copyright, trademark, or any rights of publicity or privacy, or any other intellectual property or proprietary rights.

Content Restrictions. The Submission must not contain material that violates, misappropriates, or infringes upon any law or regulation or the rights of any third party, including any copyright, trademark, or any rights of publicity or privacy, or any other intellectual property or proprietary rights; The Submission must not disparage any person or entity; The Submission must not contain material that is inappropriate, indecent, obscene, hateful, tortious, and/or defamatory; The 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; and The Submission must not contain material that is unlawful, in violation of or contrary to the laws or regulations in any jurisdiction where Submission is created.

By uploading a Submission, entrant grants to The Mended Hearts, Inc. (and The Mended Hearts Inc. licensees and assigns) a royalty-free, irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive license to use, reproduce, modify, publish, create derivative works from, and display such Submissions in whole or in part, and otherwise exploit the Submission in all media now known or hereafter devised throughout the universe, in any way The Mended Hearts, Inc. sees fit including, but not limited to, entertainment, instruction/education, and promotional, advertising and/or marketing purposes. In connection with all rights granted herein, The Mended Hearts, Inc. (and The Mended Hearts, Inc. licensees and assigns) shall also have the irrevocable right to incorporate Submissions, in whole or in part, into other works, in any form, media or technology now known or hereafter developed. The Mended Hearts, Inc. will also be able to use submitter’s full first name and the first initial of last name in relation to submissions with any form of publication. If necessary, entrant will sign any necessary documentation that may be required for The Mended Hearts, Inc. or its designees to make use of the non-exclusive rights entrant is granting to use the Submission.

General Release: By entering the Contest, you release The Mended Hearts, Inc., and their agents from any liability whatsoever, and waive any and all causes of action, for any claims, costs, injuries, losses, or damages of any kind arising out of or in connection with the Contest or delivery, mis-delivery, acceptance, possession, or use for inability to use any Prize (including, without limitation, claims, costs, injuries, losses and damages related to personal injuries, death, damage to or destruction of property, rights of publicity or privacy, defamation or portrayal in a false light, whether intentional or unintentional), whether under a theory of contract, tort (including negligence), warranty or other theory.