Be a Trailblazer

I.  Eligibility

A.) This challenge is open to all ages, but participants must join the Be a Trailblazer experience on the Goosechase app, which requires a smartphone. Contestants under 18 years of age who win a prize must have a parent present when picking up their prize. 
B.) Forest Preserve District of Will County (FPDWC) employees, Board members, and their immediate family members can participate but are not eligible to win any prizes. Immediate family includes only spouses, parents, and children. 
C.) Inappropriate usernames are not allowed and could result in those participants being removed from the app.
D.) The FPDWC reserves the right to verify, in its sole judgment, winner eligibility.
E.) Participants should not interfere with wildlife in any way. This includes baiting or luring an animal to complete a mission. It is illegal to feed wildlife in the preserves and doing so could result in a citation being issued by a Forest Preserve District police officer as well as removal from the challenge.
F.) Rules are subject to change without notice but will be posted on this page. 

II. The challenge

A.) Contestants must join the Be a Trailblazer experience in the Goosechase app. Instructions can be found here.
B.) Missions are added in four batches, each at the beginning of that season's session.
C.) The Be a Trailblazer experience runs through Nov. 8, 2025. 
D.) Only submissions randomly selected to win a prize will be verified for accuracy. In the event of an invalid submission, a new winner will be selected. 
E.) In the event it is determined by FPDWC staff that a participant is cheating, they will be disqualified from winning any prizes.

III.  Submission/use of photos

A.) Upon submission of a photograph, the contestant grants both the FPDWC and The Nature Foundation of Will County non-exclusive, worldwide, irrevocable, royalty-free license rights to use, reproduce, distribute, and publish the submitted photograph on its website or in publications, brochures, and newsletters and for other marketing and promotional uses, as well as distribute it to the media. The FPDWC recognizes that the photographer owns the image and the copyright to the photograph. Upon submission of a photograph for contest entry, the contestant also grants the FPDWC the right to use the contestant's name, city and state of residence in promotion and other publications.
B.) In the event that ownership of any photograph submitted to the FPDWC is contested in any manner, the FPDWC reserves the right to disqualify the photograph and the participant's completion of that particular mission. Participants are welcome to retry that mission for as long as it stays active on the app.

IV.  Prizes

A.) For missions with prizes, the prize will be listed in the mission and the winner will be randomly selected. 
B.) Participants can win more than one prize for the duration of Be a Trailblazer. 
C.) Each week during the seasonal experiences, four people will be randomly selected to win a Be a Trailblazer T-shirt. 
L.) Any winners will be contacted via the Be a Trailblazer experience in the Goosechase app as well as by the email address provided when signing up; winners will have 48 hours to respond to receive their prize(s). Failure to do so will forfeit the prize(s). Winners will be notified how and when they will receive their prize(s). 
M.) Prizes are nontransferable, and no cash alternative is available.

V.  Legal conditions

A.) By entering the challenge, participants warrant that their entry materials are original and do not infringe on any third party's rights, and that they have obtained any necessary permissions from any third party if a third party or third party's property appears in the photograph. The FPDWC reserves the right to disqualify any entry if it finds in its sole discretion that any of the foregoing warranties are not true. Decisions of the FPDWC shall be final and binding.
B.) By taking part in this challenge, participants agree and acknowledge that there are certain inherent risks of physical injury or damages when engaging in any activity, and all participants voluntarily agree to assume the full risk of any injuries, damages or loss, regardless of severity that they or their minor child/ward may sustain as a result of participating in any and all activities connected with or associated with this challenge. Participants release and hold harmless the FPDWC, its affiliated organizations, and each of its directors, officers, employees, attorneys, agents, and representatives from any and all liability for any injuries, loss, claim, action, demand or damage of any kind arising from or related to the FPDWC, any prize won, any use of the entry materials by the FPDWC, the warranties participants make, any misuse or malfunction of any prize awarded, participation in any FPDWC-related activity, access to and use of the FPDWC's website, the downloading or uploading and/or printing of material from said site, or participation in the challenge.
C.) Any attempt by an entrant or other individual to deliberately damage any website or app or undermine the legitimate operation of the FPDWC is a violation of criminal and civil laws, and should such an attempt be made, the FPDWC reserves the right to seek damages to the fullest extent permitted by law.
D.) The FPDWC is not responsible for any incorrect or inaccurate information, whether caused by website users or by any equipment or programming associated with or utilized by the FPDWC, or by any technical or human error that may occur in the processing of submissions to the FPDWC, including but not limited to any misprints or typographical errors. The FPDWC assumes no responsibility for any error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission, communications line failure, theft or destruction or unauthorized access to, or alteration of, photographs. The FPDWC is not responsible for any problems or technical malfunction of any telephone network or lines, computer equipment, servers, providers, computer online systems, software, or failure of email on account of technical problems or traffic congestion on the Internet or at any website, including injury or damage to participants or to any other person's computer related to or resulting from participating or uploading images or information in the contest.
E.) All federal, state, and local taxes, fees, and surcharges on prize packages are the sole responsibility of the winners.
F.) If, for any reason, the FPDWC is not capable of completing the challenge as planned, including, but not limited to, by reason of infection by computer virus, bugs, tampering, unauthorized intervention, fraud, technical failures, or any other causes beyond the control of the FPDWC that corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness, integrity, or proper conduct of the contest, the FPDWC reserves the right at its sole discretion to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the challenge.
G.) The FPDWC is not responsible for any technical malfunctions.

VI. Contact

A.) Questions and inquiries regarding challenge rules or technical matters should be emailed to [email protected].