“A friendly neighborhood competition to find the prettiest front gardens in Scranton.”

 

Here you will find:

  1. Information about the competition
  2. Categories
  3. How to participate
  4. Tips to help you take the best photographs
  5. How to register your vote
  6. Winners announced
  7. Presentation of awards
  8. Rules of the competition and list of judges

 

Information about the 2021 competition.

During this time of stay-at-home advisories and social distancing, people are turning to nature and gardening for inspiration and healing. Many people are starting their own gardens filled with vegetables and herbs, while others are spending more time outdoors tending to flowers. During these challenging times, we want to celebrate these spaces for healing and transformation. Especially front gardens that cheer all who pass and enjoy them.

Scranton in Bloom, in partnership with our sponsors, invites residents of the city to nominate a front garden located in the City of Scranton. We encourage individuals and families, beginners, and seasoned gardeners, to enter for a chance to win our sponsored prizes and the accolade of having Scranton’s best front garden.

 

Categories:

People’s Choice. Any Scranton resident aged 21 or above can vote for any of the nominated gardens, excluding their own.

Judge’s choice. Each of the 7 highly qualified, local judges, will choose their favorites from the list of nominations based on the following criteria:

  • 40% aesthetic quality
  • 30% creativity of design
  • 30% appeal

From that shortlist, each judge will vote for their winner. Judge’s decision is final.

 

How to participate:

  • During the nomination period May 1 – June 11, residents of the City of Scranton can nominate a garden (or gardens) in the City of Scranton.
  • You can nominate either your own or someone else’s.
  • Nominate the property/properties you would like to see in the competition by sending the property’s address to: scrantoninbloom@gmail.com
  • In the email, include your own name and address.
  • UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCE SHOULD YOU TRESPASS ON THE PROPERTY. UNLESS THEY ARE ALREADY FRIENDS, OR FAMILY, YOU SHOULD NOT TRY TO CONTACT THE OCCUPANT OF THE HOME.
  • Scranton in Bloom will then write to the nominated resident to invite them to participate in the competition.
  • If you want to participate, you must email scrantoninbloom@gmail.com
  • The email must, 1) state your name and address, 2) confirm you have read and agree to abide by competition rules (see below), and 3) include a minimum of 3 (but no more than 5) photographs (see below for tips on taking the best photographs). Note that photographs can be updated (new photographs submitted) at an point during the competition.
  • Participants will be allocated a registration number, *signage distributed by mail, and 3 photographs will be displayed here, on this website (see the page 2021 Nominated Homes).

 

* Small (A4 size) laminated sheet (and support) showing the registration number of the entrant, and details of how and when to vote. The display of the sign is not mandatory.

 

Tips to help you take the best photographs.

We want the 3 best photos you can take, so go snap happy and take more than you need. Start by picking and submitting up to 5, we’ll choose the best for you. And make sure you submit new photographs if your garden changes and improves. Remember, most people will be voting by looking at the photos, and the judges will be making their short list based on them. 

 

  1. Refer to the ‘Photos’ section of the Official Contest Rules.
  2. Include only YOUR garden.
  3. Walk around and use different angles.
  4. Take photos at different times of day.
  5. Lighting can affect the detail and quality of your photos, so take pictures with and without the flash.
  6. Do your flowers look fresher, the colors brighter, when they’re misted with water? Try it.
  7. Take advantage of different settings on your camera or phone and experiment.
  8. Enlist a friend with a better phone than yours.
  9. Don’t waste photographs on closeups of the flowers, it may be the best begonia you’ve ever grown, but we need to see how it sits amongst the surrounding plants.
  10. Don’t add props, or decorations that won’t be there permanently.
  11. Look at the photos to see which you think are the best then get a second, or third, opinion.
  12. If your garden changes for the better, take new photos, there's no limit as to how many you can submit.

 

How to register your vote:

  • During the voting period, June 21 – June 25,
  • One vote per person, must be a Scranton resident, minimum age 21.
  • Not eligible to vote for your own garden.
  • Voting by email to scrantoninbloom@gmail.com
  • Must give own name, address, age, and clearly indicate the number, and address of garden you are voting for.
  • Judges are eligible to vote for 'People's Choice'

 

Winners announced:

Saturday June 26, on this website, on the Facebook page Scranton in Bloom, and The Times Tribune.

 

Presentation of awards:

Sunday June 27, The Mayor of Scranton, Paige Cognetti will present an engraved plaque to the winner of each category. Bob Gattens, Chairman of Scranton Municipal Recreation Authority, is generously personally sponsoring the event with $50 garden center gift certificates for each winner.

 

 

 

_______________________________________________________________________

 

Scranton in Bloom Official Contest Rules

April 30, 2021

Organizer: Carol Deeley

Eligibility: This Contest is open to residents of The City of Scranton, Pennsylvania, 21 years of age or older, with photo uploading capability. By participating in the Contest you agree that you meet those minimum qualifications and will be bound by these Official Rules and the decisions of Carol Deeley the Organizer (“Organizer”), which are binding and final in all matters relating to this Contest.  Nominated gardens (“Nomination”) need not be the original work of the resident.

 

Use of Nomination: By agreeing to these rules, those Nominated (“Nominees”) hereby grant permission for the Nomination, including the address of the Nomination, but excluding the name of the homeowner, to be posted on The City of Scranton website, www.scrantonpa.gov, and on the Organizer’s Facebook Page, Scranton in Bloom. Nominees agree that Released Parties (as defined below) are not responsible for any unauthorized use of Nomination by third parties. Released Parties do not guarantee the posting of any Nomination and reserve the right to remove any posted Nomination for any reason and at any time.

 

Releases:  By participating in this Contest, Nominees agree to release Organizer and any other organizations affiliated with the sponsorship, fulfillment, administration, prize support, advertisement or promotion of the Contest and each of their respective parents, agents, affiliates, subsidiaries, advertising and promotion agencies, and prize suppliers, and each of their respective officers, directors, agents, representatives and employees, as well as each of their respective successors, representatives and assigns (collectively, the “Released Parties”) from any and all actions, claims, injury, loss or damage arising in any manner, in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, from participation in this Contest and/or acceptance or use of any prize. By submitting a Nomination, and to the extent allowed by law, you, as Nominee, grant the Released Parties a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive, sub licensable, unconditional and transferable license to edit, modify, cut, rearrange, add to, delete from, reproduce, encode, store, modify, copy, transmit, publish, post, broadcast, display, adapt, exhibit and/or otherwise use or reuse your Nomination, name, photo, including, but not limited to, all materials submitted in connection with the Contest in any and all media, throughout the world, and in any manner, for trade, advertising, promotional, commercial, or any other purposes without further review, notice, approval, consideration, or compensation to entrant or any third party. By agreeing to these rules, you agree that your Nomination conforms to these Official Rules and that the Organizer, in their sole discretion, may disqualify your Nomination for any reason, including if it determines, in their sole discretion, that your Nomination fails to conform to these Official Rules in any way or otherwise contains unacceptable content as determined by Organizer, in their sole discretion. This Contest is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with the Facebook. By entering, you understand that you are confidentially providing your information to the organizer and not Facebook.

 

Contest Period: The Contest begins at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Time (“ET") on 5/1/2021 and ends at 11:59 p.m. ET on 6/27/2021.

 

Sponsors: Bob Gattens, Chairman Scranton Municipal Recreation Authority. Jane Risse, Director of The Greenhouse Project, Nay Aug Park, Scranton. Beautiful Blocks program, NWNEPA

 

Nominations and Period:  From 12:01 a.m. ET on 5/1/2021 to 11:59 p.m. ET on 6/21/2021. By submitting the required information by email: scrantoninbloom@gmail.com. No other method of entry into this Contest will be permitted. A resident may nominate their own garden. There is no limit on how many nominations a resident may make. Required information, 1) resident’s name and address 2) address of nominated garden.

 

Acceptance of Nomination: By reading and agreeing the Official Contest Rules. By submitting a minimum of 3 photographs, and a maximum of 5 photographs to scrantoninbloom@gmail.com Display of supplied signage is not mandatory.

 

Photos: Will not be accepted if they contain images of individuals, either adult or child.

And may not contain, as determined by the organizer, in their sole discretion, any content that: 

  • is sexual in nature;
  • is derogatory towards any individual or towards any ethnic, racial, gender, religious or age group;
  • endorses any form of hate or any hate group;
  • is obscene or offensive;
  • promotes alcohol, illegal drugs, tobacco, firearms/weapons (or the use of any of the foregoing);
  • promotes any activities that are or reasonably appear unsafe or dangerous;
  • promotes a particular political agenda or message;
  • contains any personal identification, such as names, license plate numbers, street addresses, except for identity of the entrant, if desired;
  • contains copyrighted materials owned by others, including but not limited to, photographs, sculptures, paintings, or other works of art or images published on or in websites, television, movies or other media; and/or
  • violates any law or communicates a message or image inconsistent with positive purposes and good will to which Organizer ascribes the Contest.

 

Judging and Finalist Selections: All eligible Nominations will be judged in two (2) categories: People’s Choice and Judge’s Choice, as defined below.

 

People’s Choice: All photos will be allocated a registration number and posted on www.scrantonpa.org. Public voting is from 12:01 a.m. ET 6/21/2021 to 11:59 p.m. ET 6/25/2021 (the “Voting Period”).  The public may vote by email at scrantoninbloom@gmail.com, using the registration number, address, and by stating their name, address, and age. Voters must be at least 21 years of age and a resident in the City of Scranton. There will be a limit of one (1) vote per person (with a valid Scranton address). A person cannot vote for their own garden, regardless of how it was nominated. The one (1) finalist entry receiving the highest votes will be deemed the winner of People’s Choice.

 

Judges Voting: A panel of seven (7) judges will each select a minimum of two (2) finalists based on the following criteria: 40% aesthetic quality of front yard design, 30% creativity of front yard design, and 30% personality of front yard design. Organizer reserves the right to advance fewer than ten (10) Nominations to the voting phase if, in their sole discretion, they do not receive a sufficient number of eligible and qualified Nominations. The judges will then vote on the finalists based same criteria (as above) and their decision submitted to the Organizer by 5:00p.m. ET 6/25/2021. The one (1) finalist entry receiving the highest votes will be deemed the winner of Judge’s Choice. Judge’s decision is final.

 

Winners Notification: Winners will be notified via email and announced on the Scranton in Bloom Facebook Page by 12:00 Noon ET 6/26/2021, and thereafter on the City of Scranton website.

 

Awards: An engraved, commemorative metal plaque will be awarded to each winner, along with any other sponsored and donated prizes. Prizes are awarded “as is” with no warranty or guarantee express or implied by Organizer or the prize donor. The awarding of any prize is contingent upon the contestant’s full compliance with these Official Rules. Award will be presented at the location of the Nomination, no later than 5:00 p.m. ET 6/27/2021.

 

Arbitration: Except where prohibited by law, as a condition of participating in this Contest, participant agrees that any and all disputes, claims, and causes of action arising out of or connected with this Contest, or any prizes awarded, shall be resolved individually, without resort to any form of class action. Under no circumstances will participant be permitted to obtain awards for, and participant hereby waives all rights to claim punitive, incidental or consequential damages including attorney’s fees or any other damages.

 

Miscellaneous: Released Parties are not responsible for lost, late, incomplete, damaged, inaccurate, stolen, undelivered, garbled or misdirected entries or registrations; or for lost, interrupted or unavailable network, server, Internet Service Provider (ISP), website, or other connections, availability or accessibility or miscommunications or failed computer, satellite, telephone or cable transmissions, lines, or technical failure or jumbled, scrambled, delayed or misdirected transmissions or computer hardware or software malfunctions, failures or difficulties, or other errors or difficulties of any kind whether human, mechanical, electronic, computer, network, typographical, printing or otherwise relating to or in connection with the Contest, including, without limitation, errors or difficulties which may occur in connection with the administration of the Contest, the processing of entries, the tabulation of votes, the announcement of the prizes, or in any Contest-related materials. Released Parties are also not responsible for any incorrect or inaccurate information, whether caused by site users, tampering, hacking or by any equipment or programming associated with or utilized in the Contest. Released Parties are not responsible for injury or damage to participants’ or to any other person’s computer related to or resulting from participating in this Contest or downloading materials from or use of the website.  Organizer reserves the right, in its sole discretion to disqualify any person tampering with the entry process, the operation of the web site or otherwise in violation of these Official Rules. Organizer further reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to cancel, terminate or modify this Contest if the Contest is compromised by virus, technical corruption, non-authorized human intervention, or any other causes which, in the sole discretion of the Organizer, corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness, proper play or integrity of the Contest. Organizer reserves the right in its sole discretion to disqualify any individual it believes has tampered with the entry process. In the event of cancellation or termination, Organizer reserves the right to select the winners using the judging and voting processes from among all eligible, non-suspect entries received prior to date of cancellation or termination. In the event of a dispute regarding online entry, entry will be deemed made by the authorized account holder of the e-mail account associated with the entry and he/she must comply with these Official Rules. The authorized account holder is the natural person who is assigned the e-mail address by the Internet Service Provider (ISP), on-line service provider, or other organization responsible for assigning email addresses.

 

CAUTION:  ANY ATTEMPT TO UNDERMINE THIS CONTEST OR TO DAMAGE THE CITY OF SCRANTON’S WEBSITE MAY CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF CRIMINAL AND CIVIL LAWS. SHOULD SUCH A VIOLATION OCCUR, ORGANIZER WILL DISQUALIFY THE INDIVIDUAL/S INVOLVED AND WILL RESERVE THE RIGHT TO SEEK DAMAGES (INCLUDING ATTORNEYS’ FEES) AND OTHER REMEDIES FROM ANY/ALL INDIVDIUALS OR ENTITES INVOLVED TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW.

 

*Judges:

Laura Haarmeyer Master Gardener, Laurel Garden Club

Carol McMullen, Master Gardener, Penn State Ext. Master Gardeners of Lackawanna County

Jane Risse, Master Gardener, Director The Greenhouse Project

Robert Shumaker, Board Member, Nay Aug Park Scranton Municipal Recreation Authority

Mary Jo Sheridan, Treasurer, City of Scranton

Eileen Cipriani, Master Gardener, Community Development Director, City of Scranton

Gerard Hetman, Community Development Specialist, NeighborWorks Northeastern PA

 

*Judges are not eligible to nominate a garden, and their own gardens are excluded from the competition.