******Please note that nominating a teacher requires two steps, you can choose which is better suited for your ability and the teacher you are nominating.  No matter what method you choose, you must leave link information here on this post with a link to any blog posts, tweets, facebook wall posts, etc.**************

Yes I’ve broken my newly issued Contest Design more than once lately.  And this one, this one is completely off track from that design.  This is my announcement as a Max Mom.  Yes, Office Max’s campaign to Erase Teacher Funded Classroom’s along with Adopt-a-Classroom have chosen approximately 30 bloggers to represent Office Max and all the great things they are doing for schools.

So, this particular contest is completely different and out of the design of my other contests.

Contest Starts:  September  20, 2009 at 12:01 AM and ends on September 28, 2009 at midnight.

Did you know teachers spend an average of $1200 of their own money on classroom supplies each year? That’s $4 billion annually! That’s why OfficeMax joined with Adopt-A-Classroom to create “A Day Made Better“—a national cause event founded to erase teacher-funded classrooms. This year, “A Day Made Better” will take place on October 6 where 1,000 teachers will be surprised in their classrooms each with $1,000 worth of essential supplies from OfficeMax. That’s more than one million dollars donated to help teachers! Principals at needy schools nominated the teachers for demonstrating dedication, innovation, and passion. To pay-it-forward, OfficeMax and Mom It Forward have teamed up to create awareness about the issue of teacher-funded classrooms and to give you the opportunity to get involved and help a teacher in your community on behalf of the “A Day Made Better.” Here’s how… Simply nominate a teacher of your choice to win this giveaway by following the entry requirements. Be sure to check out the prize and criteria!

Prize

One exceptional teacher will receive a ONE HUNDRED DOLLAR gift card to OfficeMax. This can go a long way when it comes to classroom supplies!

Criteria

This is a giveaway that is meant to be given away. What does that mean? You get to nominate a teacher by sharing why this person is exceptional and deserving of this giveaway. The best part, every story told helps raise awareness in an effort to erase teacher-funded classrooms. The winning teacher will be chosen based on the following criteria, so be sure to tell us why your teacher is most deserving:

• Dedication: does everything in his/her power to deliver the best possible education for his/her students.
• Innovation: thinks outside the box and engages his/her students through creative learning activities & programs.
• Passion: expresses a genuine passion for education and shares this enthusiasm in the classroom.
• Need: demonstrates a need for essential classroom supplies.

Entry Requirements

To enter your teacher, you are required to do two things.

(Note: post a separate comment for each entry.)

1. Write a post nominating a teacher on your blog:

Make a nomination for the teacher you think not only deserves but needs this donation.

• You can simply put the teachers info as a comment in this post (not to personal just a general info that qualifies them for this donation) and make sure you leave an email address so I can notify you if your nominee wins.  Your email is not published.

• If you would like to nominate one teacher but are afraid to offend another teacher, you can nominate by posting the teachers information in the comments sections and enter your name as “anonymous”.  Be sure to put a valid email address in the comment form so that if your teacher wins I can get in touch with you, emails are not publicized.

• If you would like to nominate a teacher and would like to do it as a separate blog post on your blog, by all means that would be awesome too.  You will just need to leave the link to your post in the comment section of this post.
  

OR

Create a story on Whrrl.com.

• Go to our custom Whrrl page at http://whrrl.com/search?q=omx, click “Start A Story” and upload photos and text about why your teacher is most deserving.
• Be sure to include the #omx hashtag in the text of your story.
• Post a link to your Whrrl story in the comments section.

2. Post these messages on Facebook and/or Twitter.

(Note: Be sure to leave comments here with links to your messages.)

• Teachers spend avg $1200 of own $$ on school supplies annually! Help erase teacher-funded classrooms. http://bit.ly/3VUNvC PLS RT #omx
• Nominate a teacher 2 win $100 in OfficeMax classroom supplies. Enter here: http://bit.ly/E6W70PLS RT #omx
• Join the “A Day Made Better” movement to end teacher-funded classrooms at http://bit.ly/UJ3LF #omx

More than 30 sites are participating in this campaign between now and Sunday, October 4. Visit http://momitforward.com for a list of all the giveaways! You may enter a different teacher on every site, but you may only win once! Thanks so much for helping pay-it-forward to teachers in your community! Please join us on Tuesdays, September 22 and 29 from 9 to 11 pm ET for Girls Night Out (#gno) on Twitter if you’d like to meet the team behind the cause: @officemax, @adaymadebetter and @Adopt_Classroom. Hope to see you there!

Fine Print

Entries are due Sunday, October 4 by midnight PDT. No purchase necessary to enter. Winners will be selected by me based on the entry that in my opinion meets the above criteria. OfficeMax, Adopt-A-Classroom and Mom It Forward play no part in choosing the winner of this giveaway. OfficeMax, Adopt-A-Classroom, and Mom It Forward employees are ineligible to enter. In a spirit of fairness, my personal friends and family members are also ineligible. Entries that do not follow all of the entry requirements will not be considered. The winner will be notified and have 24 hours to confirm receipt of the email. If no response is received within 24 hours, another winner will be selected. Open to participants in the U.S. 18 years and older.

Information for our local party is forthcoming, hopefully on Wednesday the 23rd of Sept and no later than the 24th of Sept.