Privacy: Nominees may be contacted to provide additional information and have their information verified. CNN reserves the right to request and require additional information from nominees in order to have their nomination considered.
Judging for the CNN Heroes Award: CNN will choose each CNN Hero from all Eligible Nominees and eligible individuals chosen to be profiled by CNN as CNN Heroes (“Hero” or “Heroes”). Heroes deemed solely by CNN to meet the requirements set forth herein may be presented online and on-air for public viewing and some may be subject to voting for the CNN Hero Award. It is in CNN’s sole discretion to determine which Heroes advance to the voting phase.
• A CNN Review Panel (the “Panel”) will select ten (10) potential finalists (the “Finalists”) and an alternate from the group of Heroes.
Please note that even if a Finalist may appear to be a leader or Winner online during the online voting, that Finalist has not yet been declared the Winner. CNN shall declare all official Winners. All Finalists are subject to verification by CNN and must meet all eligibility requirements including the execution and return of all necessary releases, or they may be disqualified. The decisions of the Panel will be final and binding. If more than one nomination is received for a particular Eligible Nominee, CNN, in its sole discretion may consider any of the nominations for that individual in its judging. Whether a nominator is identified and which nominator is identified, if there are multiple nominations for one individual, is in the sole discretion of CNN. CNN is not bound by any voting or judging mechanism set forth herein as it maintains sole discretion to name Finalists and Winners and provide awards.
Notification and Publication: Some nominees may be notified by phone, email, or postal service and may be required to submit additional information. At the sole discretion of CNN, Finalists may be asked to attend the awards ceremony (“Awards Ceremony”). If asked to attend the Awards Ceremony, Finalists will be responsible for obtaining all proper documentation (e.g., Visa, Passport) prior to travel. Whether or not compensation will be provided for any portion of such travel will be in CNN’s sole discretion. A Finalist may be disqualified at CNN’s discretion if he/she chooses not to or is unable to attend the Awards Ceremony.
Finalists and any Hero to be featured online or on-air may be required to sign an affidavit verifying their eligibility in this Awards Program including, but not limited to, liability releases, tax acknowledgment forms and, except where prohibited by law, use of name and likeness releases (“Release Documents”) and return such documents within seven (7) days of issuance of notification. Execution of the Release Documents will grant Sponsors the right, unless prohibited by law, to use the individuals’ names, voices, likenesses, and any of the material provided by them or about them without compensation, for the purpose of advertising and publicizing the services of the Sponsors, all matters related to the Awards Program and the Awards Ceremony in any medium, throughout the world in perpetuity. Notification and/or the featuring of a Hero in no way conveys that a particular Hero has or will be selected as a Winner. If at any point a Hero becomes ineligible, chooses not to participate in the Awards Program or is disqualified for any reason, CNN reserves the right to select an alternate Hero.
Awards:
• 10 Finalists: Each Finalist will receive Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000)
• 1 Winner: The Winner will receive One Hundred Thousand Dollars ($100,000.00)
Taxes: Finalists and Winner are responsible for the reporting and payment of all taxes as well as any other costs and expenses associated with acceptance and use of an award not specified herein as being awarded. A Finalist or Winner who is a United States citizen or resident must properly complete Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Form W-9 and provide to CNN prior to receiving an award. Payment to a Finalist or Winner who is not a US citizen or resident may be subject to a US withholding tax, which may be as much as 30% of the award. Additional documents may also be required prior to the provision of any award, including but not limited to IRS Form W-8BEN in the case of any Finalist or Winner who is not a US citizen or resident. Please consult your tax advisor regarding the taxation of your award since special rules may apply.
General: If, for any reason, the Awards Program is not capable of running as planned, including infection by computer virus, bugs, tampering, unauthorized intervention, fraud, technical failures or any other causes beyond the control of the Sponsors which corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness, integrity or proper conduct of the Awards Program, CNN reserves the right in its sole discretion to disqualify any individual who tampers with the entry process and to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the Awards Program. Sponsors assume no responsibility for any error, omissions, interruption, deletion, defect or delay in operation with transmission, communications, line failure, theft or destruction or unauthorized access to or allegation of submissions. Sponsors are not responsible for any problem or technical malfunction of any telephone network or lines, computer online systems, servers, equipment or software, failure of any email or entry to be received on account of technical problems or traffic congestion on the Internet or at any website, phone lines, or any combination thereof, including any injury or damage to a participant’s computer related to or resulting from participation in this Contest. CAUTION: ANY ATTEMPT BY A PARTICIPANT TO DELIBERATELY DAMAGE ANY WEBSITE OR UNDERMINE THE LEGITIMATE OPERATION OF THE AWARDS PROGRAM IS A VIOLATION OF CRIMINAL AND CIVIL LAWS AND SHOULD SUCH AN ATTEMPT BE MADE, SPONSORS RESERVES THE RIGHT TO SEEK DAMAGES TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW.
Sponsors are not responsible for any late, lost, garbled, misdirected, incomplete, or damaged entries; any disruptions, injuries, losses or damages caused by events beyond the control of Sponsors; or any printing or typographical errors in any materials associated with the Awards Program. The Awards Program Entities are not in any way responsible or liable for the use of the funds donated or for any damage, loss or injury (including death) resulting from participation in the Awards Program and/or acceptance and use of any awards won.
Voided Countries:
Bhutan
Brunei Darussalam
China
Laos
Macau
Maldives
Mongolia
South Pacific Islands
Federated States of Micronesia
Pacific Islands Trust
Palau
Papua New Guinea
Sri Lanka
Tibet
And all countries currently under sanction by the OFAC. Please note that the list of sanctioned countries can change at any time, however, a current list can always be located at http://www.treas.gov/offices/enforcement/ofac/programs/
As of 09/20/2017, the list of OFAC sanctioned countries is:
Balkans
Belarus
Burundi
Central African Republic
Cuba
DR of the Congo
Iran
Iraq
Lebanon
Libya
North Korea
Somalia
Sudan
Syria
Ukraine
Venezuela
Yemen
Zimbabwe







