Welcome to the State of the American Address® contest (“SOTAA,” the “Contest”), operated by National Speakers League, Inc. (“NSL,” “Company,” “we,” “our,” or “us”) as part of the Social Compact USA program. These Terms of Service (“Terms”) govern your access to and use of www.sotaa250.com (the “Site”) and the related content, accounts, contestant submissions, voting, communications, web forms, and tools we make available, including our email communications, our AI assistant (the “AI Assistant”), and the Junior Division for younger participants (collectively, the “Services”).
PLEASE READ THESE TERMS CAREFULLY. THEY AFFECT YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS, INCLUDING LIMITING OUR LIABILITY, REQUIRING THAT DISPUTES BE RESOLVED ON AN INDIVIDUAL, NON-CLASS BASIS, AND WAIVING THE RIGHT TO A JURY TRIAL. SEE SECTIONS 16–19.
BY ACCESSING OR USING THE SERVICES, CREATING AN ACCOUNT, SUBMITTING AN ENTRY, OR CASTING A VOTE, YOU (I) ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU HAVE READ AND UNDERSTAND THESE TERMS; (II) AGREE TO BE LEGALLY BOUND BY THEM; (III) CONSENT TO OUR COLLECTION, USE, AND DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION AS DESCRIBED IN OUR PRIVACY POLICY; AND (IV) REPRESENT THAT YOU ARE AT LEAST 18 YEARS OF AGE, OR THAT A PARENT OR LEGAL GUARDIAN HAS REVIEWED AND AGREED TO THESE TERMS ON YOUR BEHALF AS DESCRIBED IN SECTION 3. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE, DO NOT ACCESS OR USE THE SERVICES.
1. Changes to These Terms
We may modify these Terms at any time. When we do, we will post the revised Terms on this page and update the “Effective Date” above. For material changes, we will use commercially reasonable efforts to provide additional notice (for example, a notice on the Site or by email). Your continued access to or use of the Services after the revised Terms take effect constitutes your acceptance of them. If you do not agree to the revised Terms, you must stop using the Services.
2. The Services; Accounts
The Services allow you to learn about the Contest, create an account, submit a speech or video entry (“Submission”), build a public participant profile, vote on eligible Submissions, follow contest proceedings and rulings, and contact us.
Accounts. Some features require an account. You agree to provide accurate, current, and complete information, to keep it up to date, and to keep your login credentials confidential. You are responsible for all activity under your account. You may register only one account for yourself and may not share, sell, or transfer it. Notify us promptly of any unauthorized use. We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms or the contest rules.
We may add, change, suspend, or discontinue any part of the Services at any time, with or without notice, and we are not liable to you for doing so.
Club organizers. If you register a club through the Services, you represent and warrant that you are authorized to represent the group you are registering, and that you are not impersonating, or falsely claiming affiliation with, any organization you are not part of. We may suspend or remove a club registration that violates this representation.
3. Eligibility; Minors; Junior Division; Parental Consent
General eligibility. The Contest is open to natural persons who meet the eligibility requirements stated in the official contest rules. Additional or different eligibility, division, and age requirements may be set out in the rules for a particular season, division, or region, and those rules control for that division.
Participants 18 and over. If you are 18 or older, you may create an account and participate directly, subject to these Terms and the contest rules.
Participants under 18 (including the Junior Division). The Junior Division and other youth participation are intended for minors, and we know minors will take part. If you are under 18, you may create an account, submit an entry, or vote only with the verifiable involvement and consent of a parent or legal guardian who agrees to these Terms and the applicable contest rules on your behalf. By allowing a minor to participate, the parent or legal guardian: (i) agrees to these Terms and the contest rules; (ii) consents to our collection and use of the minor’s information as described in our Privacy Policy; (iii) consents to the recording, submission, public display, and permitted promotional use of the minor’s Submission, name or chosen display name, and likeness in connection with the Contest; and (iv) represents that they are the minor’s parent or legal guardian and are authorized to provide these consents.
Children under 13. Consistent with the federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), where the Services collect personal information from a child under 13 in connection with the Junior Division, we do so only with verifiable parental consent and collect only the information reasonably needed to operate the Contest. A parent or legal guardian may review the child’s information, request its deletion, and withdraw consent (which may end the child’s participation) by contacting us at privacy@sotaa250.com. Our handling of minors’ information is further described in our Privacy Policy.
No sensitive information. Please do not submit, and do not allow a minor to submit, sensitive personal information (such as Social Security numbers, government-identification numbers, financial-account information, health information, or biometric data) through the Services; we do not request it and the Services are not designed to receive it.
4. Submissions; License You Grant
You own your Submission. As between you and NSL, you (or the applicable rights holders) retain ownership of the original speech, performance, video, and other content in your Submission.
License to NSL. By making a Submission, you grant NSL a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicensable, and transferable license to host, store, reproduce, encode, adapt (for format and length), publicly display, publicly perform, distribute, broadcast, and otherwise use your Submission and the name or display name, voice, image, and likeness it contains, in any media now known or later developed, for the purposes of operating, judging, displaying, and promoting the Contest, the Services, and NSL’s civic programs. Where a Submission is made by or for a minor, the parent or legal guardian grants this license on the minor’s behalf. This license continues for these purposes even after the Contest ends, subject to our removal practices below.
Your representations. For each Submission, you represent and warrant that: (i) you have all rights necessary to submit it and to grant the license above; (ii) the Submission is your original work or you have obtained all necessary rights, clearances, and releases (including from any identifiable people appearing in it and their parents or guardians if they are minors); (iii) the Submission does not infringe or violate any third party’s intellectual-property, privacy, publicity, or other rights; and (iv) the Submission complies with the content standards in Section 6.
Moderation and removal. We may review, decline, remove, or disqualify any Submission at any time, in our sole discretion, including through our moderation and board-review processes, without notice. We are not obligated to store, display, or return any Submission and may remove content to comply with law, enforce these Terms or the contest rules, or protect the Services or any person.
5. Voting and Contest Integrity
Voting is governed by the official contest rules, which may specify who may vote, how many votes are permitted, and the voting periods. You agree to vote only as permitted and not to manipulate, rig, or interfere with voting or contest results, including by: using bots, scripts, or automated means; creating or using multiple or fake accounts; buying, selling, or trading votes; or exploiting any bug or loophole. We may investigate suspected fraud or manipulation and may, in our sole discretion, void votes, disqualify participants, remove Submissions, or take other action to protect the integrity of the Contest. Winner determinations and other contest decisions made by NSL and its designated review bodies are final.
6. Content Standards; Acceptable Use
Subject to your compliance with these Terms, NSL grants you a limited, personal, non-exclusive, revocable, non-transferable, and non-sublicensable license to access and use the Services for their intended purposes. You agree that you will not, and will not permit any third party to:
- Submit, post, or transmit content that is unlawful, defamatory, obscene, pornographic, sexually explicit (especially involving minors), hateful, harassing, threatening, abusive, discriminatory, or that incites violence or unlawful acts;
- Impersonate any person or entity, or misrepresent your age, identity, or affiliation;
- Infringe or violate the intellectual-property, privacy, publicity, or other rights of any person, or submit content you do not have the rights to submit;
- Use any robot, spider, scraper, or other automated means to access, harvest, or copy content or data, except good-faith search-engine indexing in accordance with our robots.txt file;
- Use the Services, their content, or the AI Assistant to develop, train, or improve any machine-learning model or competing product or service;
- Introduce any virus, malware, or harmful code, or take any action that imposes an unreasonable load on, interferes with, or disrupts the Services or their infrastructure;
- Attempt to gain unauthorized access to, or circumvent any security or access-control feature of, the Services or any non-public, administrative, or other user’s account or area;
- Reverse engineer, decompile, or disassemble any portion of the Services, except to the extent that restriction is prohibited by applicable law;
- Remove, obscure, or alter any copyright, trademark, or other proprietary notice; or
- Use any communication feature to transmit spam, advertising, solicitations, or unsolicited messages, or to collect information about other users (including minors).
We may investigate and take appropriate action against any suspected violation, including removing content, disqualifying participants, restricting or terminating access, and reporting conduct to law-enforcement authorities.
7. Publicity; Name, Image, and Likeness
Except where prohibited by law, by participating you agree that NSL may use your name or chosen display name, city and state, participant profile, voice, image, likeness, and Submission for news, informational, and promotional purposes relating to the Contest and NSL’s civic programs, without additional notice, compensation, or approval. For minors, the parent or legal guardian provides this agreement on the minor’s behalf. Winners may be required to sign additional eligibility, publicity, or liability releases as a condition of receiving any recognition or prize.
8. Email and Other Communications
We may send you transactional and relationship messages relating to your account, Submissions, and contest participation (for example, verification, results, and administrative notices). If you opt in to our newsletter or updates, you consent to receive those communications; you may unsubscribe from marketing messages at any time using the unsubscribe link or by contacting us, and we will honor opt-out requests within the period required by applicable law. We may still send non-marketing, transactional messages.
9. The AI Assistant
AI disclosure. The AI Assistant is an automated conversational tool powered by artificial intelligence, including third-party AI providers (such as Anthropic and Voyage AI). When you use the AI Assistant, you are interacting with artificial intelligence, not a human representative of NSL.
Informational only. The AI Assistant is provided for general informational purposes only. Its responses are machine-generated, may be inaccurate, incomplete, or out of date, and are not reviewed by NSL before delivery. It does not provide legal, financial, medical, or other professional advice, and your use of it does not create any professional or advisory relationship. Do not rely on its output as a substitute for advice from a qualified professional or for the official contest rules.
Your inputs. Text you enter into the AI Assistant is transmitted to our AI service providers to generate a response and to retrieve relevant information. Do not enter confidential, sensitive, or personal information that you would not want processed in this way, and do not enter another person’s personal information. As described in our Privacy Policy, AI Assistant conversations are session-based, are not used to build advertising profiles, and are not used to train the providers’ AI models.
Prohibited uses; no reliance. You agree not to use the AI Assistant to generate or solicit unlawful, harmful, or infringing content, to extract or reverse-engineer underlying models or data, or to circumvent these Terms (for example, through prompt-injection attacks). To the fullest extent permitted by law, NSL is not responsible or liable for any action taken, or not taken, in reliance on AI Assistant output.
10. Intellectual Property
The Services and their contents, including text, graphics, logos, images, design, and software, and the selection and arrangement thereof (excluding user Submissions), are owned by NSL or its licensors and are protected by United States and international intellectual-property laws. “State of the American Address,” “Social Compact USA,” and related names, logos, and marks are trademarks of NSL or its affiliates. You may not use these marks without our prior written permission. Except for the limited license granted in Section 6, all rights are reserved.
11. Feedback
Apart from personal information (governed by our Privacy Policy) and Submissions (governed by Section 4), any comments, suggestions, ideas, or other feedback you submit about the Services (“Feedback”) are non-confidential. You grant NSL a worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, sublicensable, and non-exclusive license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, and incorporate the Feedback for any purpose, without compensation or attribution.
12. Third-Party Services, Processors, and Links
We rely on third-party service providers (“processors”) to operate the Services, including for website and database hosting, authentication, video storage and encoding, email delivery, product analytics, and AI processing, as further described in our Privacy Policy. The Site may also contain links or share buttons to third-party platforms (for example, X, Facebook, and LinkedIn). We do not control and are not responsible for the content, policies, or practices of any third-party service, and your use of them is governed by their own terms and privacy policies and is at your own risk.
13. Privacy
Your use of the Services is also governed by our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated into these Terms by reference. Please review it to understand how we collect, use, and disclose information, including information about minors. The Privacy Policy is available at www.sotaa250.com/privacy.
14. Copyright Complaints (DMCA)
We respect the intellectual-property rights of others. If you believe that material available through the Services infringes your copyright, please send a written notice to our designated agent at privacy@sotaa250.com (subject line: “DMCA Copyright Infringement Notice”) that includes: (i) a description of the copyrighted work; (ii) a description and location (URL) of the allegedly infringing material; (iii) your name, address, telephone number, and email address; (iv) a statement that you have a good-faith belief that the use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; (v) a statement, under penalty of perjury, that the information is accurate and that you are the owner or authorized to act on the owner’s behalf; and (vi) your physical or electronic signature. We may remove allegedly infringing material and terminate access for repeat infringers.
15. Disclaimers
THE SERVICES, INCLUDING ALL CONTENT, SUBMISSIONS, VOTING FEATURES, THE AI ASSISTANT, AND THE SITE, ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE,” WITH ALL FAULTS AND WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, NSL DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. NSL DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICES WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, SECURE, ACCURATE, OR ERROR-FREE, THAT DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED, OR THAT THE SERVICES OR THEIR SERVERS ARE FREE OF HARMFUL COMPONENTS. NSL MAKES NO WARRANTY REGARDING THE ACCURACY, RELIABILITY, OR COMPLETENESS OF ANY CONTENT, SUBMISSION, VOTE TALLY, AI-ASSISTANT OUTPUT, OR THIRD-PARTY MATERIAL. SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OF CERTAIN WARRANTIES, SO SOME OF THESE EXCLUSIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.
16. Limitation of Liability
TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, IN NO EVENT WILL NSL OR ITS OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, AGENTS, OR LICENSORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS, DATA, GOODWILL, OR BUSINESS, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO YOUR USE OF, OR INABILITY TO USE, THE SERVICES, WHETHER BASED IN CONTRACT, TORT, STATUTE, OR ANY OTHER THEORY, AND EVEN IF NSL HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, NSL’S TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THE SERVICES WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF (A) THE TOTAL AMOUNTS, IF ANY, YOU PAID TO NSL FOR THE SERVICES IN THE SIX (6) MONTHS BEFORE THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM, OR (B) ONE HUNDRED U.S. DOLLARS (US$100). SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW CERTAIN LIMITATIONS, SO SOME OF THE ABOVE MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.
17. Indemnification
You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless NSL and its officers, directors, employees, and agents from and against any claims, damages, losses, liabilities, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) arising out of or relating to: (i) your use of the Services; (ii) your Submission or any content you provide; (iii) your breach of these Terms or the contest rules; or (iv) your violation of any law or the rights of any third party. We may assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter subject to indemnification, in which case you agree to cooperate with our defense.
18. Dispute Resolution; Governing Law; Waivers
Governing law. These Terms and any dispute arising out of or relating to them or the Services are governed by the laws of the State of Georgia, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules.
Informal resolution. Before initiating any legal action, you and NSL agree to first try to resolve the dispute informally by sending a written notice describing the dispute and the relief sought to the other party (to NSL at privacy@sotaa250.com). If the dispute is not resolved within thirty (30) days after the notice is received, either party may pursue available legal remedies, subject to the provisions below.
Venue. Subject to the informal-resolution requirement above, you and NSL agree that any action will be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in DeKalb County, Georgia, and each party consents to the personal jurisdiction of those courts.
CLASS-ACTION WAIVER. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, YOU AND NSL AGREE THAT EACH MAY BRING CLAIMS AGAINST THE OTHER ONLY IN AN INDIVIDUAL CAPACITY, AND NOT AS A PLAINTIFF OR CLASS MEMBER IN ANY PURPORTED CLASS, COLLECTIVE, CONSOLIDATED, OR REPRESENTATIVE PROCEEDING.
JURY-TRIAL WAIVER. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, EACH PARTY KNOWINGLY AND VOLUNTARILY WAIVES ANY RIGHT TO A TRIAL BY JURY IN ANY PROCEEDING ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS OR THE SERVICES.
19. Suspension and Termination
We may suspend, restrict, or terminate your access to all or part of the Services (including your account and Submissions) at any time, for any reason, in our sole discretion, and without notice or liability. Upon termination, the licenses granted to you under these Terms end and you must stop using the Services; provided, that the license you grant in Section 4 and the sections that by their nature should survive (including Sections 4, 7, 10, 11, and 15 through 20) will survive.
20. General Provisions
Entire agreement. These Terms, the Privacy Policy, and any official contest rules are the entire agreement between you and NSL regarding the Services and supersede all prior understandings on that subject. If these Terms conflict with the official contest rules for a specific matter (such as eligibility or voting), the contest rules control for that matter.
Severability. If any provision is held invalid or unenforceable, that provision will be limited or severed to the minimum extent necessary, and the remaining provisions will remain in full force and effect.
Assignment. We may assign these Terms, in whole or in part, at any time without notice. You may not assign or transfer these Terms without our prior written consent.
No waiver. Our failure to enforce any provision is not a waiver of our right to do so later.
Force majeure. NSL is not liable for any failure or delay caused by events beyond its reasonable control.
Electronic communications. You consent to receive communications from us electronically, and you agree that your electronic actions on the Services (such as clicking “submit,” “vote,” or “I agree”) constitute your electronic signature and are legally binding, consistent with the federal E-SIGN Act and Georgia’s Uniform Electronic Transactions Act.
Headings. Section headings are for convenience only and do not affect interpretation.
21. Prizes
Prize structure. The Contest awards a Grand Prize of US $5,000 to the national winner, who also receives the title of Virtual President USA, and five Regional Vice President prizes of US $1,000 each — one per region — totaling US $10,000 in cash prizes.
Free entry. Entry is free. No purchase or payment of any kind is required to enter the Contest or to win, and no purchase or payment will improve your chances of winning.
Payment. Prizes are paid in U.S. dollars. Prizes are awarded only to the verified individual who submitted the winning entry, are non-transferable, and no substitution or cash equivalent is offered beyond the options stated in this Section.
Timing and conditions. Winners are announced after the public vote closes for the season and are notified using the contact details on their account. Before a prize is paid, a winner must confirm eligibility under Section 3 and complete any documentation we reasonably require, which may include identity verification and a tax form. We may award a prize to the next eligible entrant if a winner cannot be reached within a reasonable period, declines the prize, or is found to be ineligible or in breach of these Terms. Winner determinations are final as provided in Section 5.
Taxes. Prizes are taxable. Each winner is solely responsible for all federal, state, and local taxes arising from a prize, and we will report prize payments and issue IRS Form 1099 where required by law.
22. Contact Us
If you have questions about these Terms, please contact us at:
National Speakers League, Inc.
Email: support@sotaa250.com