NO PURCHASE OR PAYMENT NECESSARY. A PURCHASE OR PAYMENT WILL NOT IMPROVE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING.

Bethesda Magazine’s 2024 Best of Bethesda Readers’ Poll (the “Contest”) is sponsored by Z – Pop Media, LLC (“Sponsor”), 6116 Executive Blvd., Suite 740, Rockville, MD 20852. Contest nomination/voting period begins on 08, 14, 2023, at 12:01 a.m. ET and ends on 09, 12, 2023 at 11:59 p.m. ET (the “Nomination/Voting Period”). Sponsor’s computer is the official time-keeping device for this Contest. The Contest is divided into 96 categories (each, a “Category”) and candidates (“Candidates”) will be placed in the Categories.

The Contest is subject to these Official Rules, and by submitting a nomination and voting (“Nomination/Voting”), all nominators/voters (“Nominators/Voters”) agree to abide and be bound by the terms and conditions herein and the decisions of the Sponsor.

Eligibility:

This Contest is open to Candidates operating in any of the Categories that, at the time of entry, have a physical location in (or, in the case of individuals, provide services within) the boundaries of Montgomery County, MD, or the 20015 or 20016 ZIP codes of Washington, D.C. Nominators/Voters must be eighteen (18) years of age or older and legal residents of the United States. You are not eligible to participate as a Nominator, Voter or Candidate if you are an employee or contractor of Sponsor, or any of Sponsor’s parent companies, affiliates, subsidiaries, advertising companies, promotion contractors and/or public relations companies or any other entity that participated in the creation, operation or fulfillment of this Contest (collectively, the “Contest Entities”) or if you are a member of the immediate family of any such employee or contractor. “Immediate family” refers to spouses, parents, siblings and children.

To Nominate and Vote:

All Nominators/Voters must be located in the United States at the time they cast their vote. Limit one Ballot per Nominator/Voter during the Nomination/Voting Period. All Ballots from any Nominator/Voter in excess of the limit will be void, and Sponsor reserves the right to disqualify that Nominator/Voter and all Nominations/Votes submitted by that Nominator/Voter.

To submit a Nomination and Vote for a candidate (“Candidate”), visit http://www.moco360.media/best-of-bethesda (the “Contest Page”) and accurately complete and submit the Nomination/Voting form for five or more Categories. Above five, you may submit Nominations/Votes in as many Categories as you wish; you are not required to nominate/vote in all Categories. You may Nominate a Candidate/Vote in more than one Category, but you may not Nominate more than one Candidate/Vote in any one Category. All fields designated as “required” must be completed. Nominations with incomplete or inaccurate Nomination

information will be disqualified. You must be located in the United States when you submit Nominations/Vote.

All Nominations are subject to Sponsor’s determination of eligibility, and Nominations/Candidates determined to be ineligible by Sponsor will be disqualified. If Sponsor determines, in its sole discretion, that a Candidate is eligible for the Contest but inappropriate for the specified Category, Sponsor reserves the right to remove the Candidate from that Category and enter the Candidate in a different Category. If Sponsor determines, in its sole discretion, that there is an insufficient number of Candidates nominated for any Category, Sponsor reserves the right to remove that Category from the Ballots. Sponsor will attempt to standardize the Nominations and Ballots to match the Candidates to the correct Categories to account for spelling errors and variations on names, and such decisions will be in the sole discretion of Sponsor.

Vote totals will not be published.

All Nominators/Voters must provide their full name and email address. Nominators/Voters who fail to provide any required information on a Ballot may be disqualified without further notification by Sponsor. Information received from Nominators/Voters becomes the property of Sponsor and will not be returned or acknowledged. The information that you provide in connection with the Contest will be used by Sponsor in accordance with its Privacy Policy, which is found at https://moco360.media/privacy-policy/ and which may be updated from time to time.

Winner Selection and Notification:

Winners will be determined by popular vote. A Candidate may be honored in more than one Category, but votes will not be combined across Categories. The leading vote recipient in each Category will be declared the winner (“Winner”) in that Category. If there is a tie at the Winner level, each tied Candidate will be declared a Winner. Sponsor may attempt to contact Winners using public contact information listed for each Candidate but makes no guarantee it will do so.

If a potential Winner in a Category is determined to be ineligible, Sponsor in its discretion may disqualify that Candidate and select an alternate Winner applying the criteria set forth above as soon as reasonably practicable after such disqualification.

Winner Recognition:

All Winners will be listed online at http://www.moco360.media/best-of-bethesda and published in an edition of Bethesda Magazine. Public recognition has no retail value, and if, for any reason, a Winner is not listed online or in print, no alternate prize will be awarded.

It is the intention of Sponsor to honor one (1) Winner in each Category, provided a sufficient number of eligible Candidates receive votes, as determined in the sole discretion of Sponsor.

General Terms:

By participating in the Contest, Nominators/Voters and Candidates agree to release Sponsor from liability and waive all claims against Sponsor arising out of or related to the Contest. Additionally, Sponsor will not be held liable for anything listed under the Official Rules or General Terms. This Promotion and these Official Rules will be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of State of Maryland, without regard to its conflict of laws principles. Nominators, Voters and Candidates consent to the exclusive jurisdiction and venue of the federal, state, and local courts located in or have jurisdiction of Montgomery County, MD for the adjudication of any dispute arising from or related to this Promotion and these Official Rules.

Sponsor is not responsible for Nominations/Votes that are lost, misdirected, garbled, distorted, truncated, incomplete, illegible, incorrect or late for any reason, and all such Nominations, Ballots and/or votes will be void. Nominations/Votes must not be generated by a script, macro or other automated means. Proxy voting is not allowed. No one may purchase or otherwise provide incentives for Nominations/Votes. Any use of robotic, repetitive, automatic, programmed, script, macro or any other automated means or similar Nomination or Voting methods or agents, vote exchange websites, vote “farming” or other method to vote or unfairly increase votes, as determined by Sponsor in its sole discretion, is prohibited and will void all Nominations/Votes submitted by that participant. Complimentary products or services offered in exchange for Nominations or votes is prohibited. No Candidate may pressure its employees or contractors, or their families, to nominate/vote on its behalf in the Contest. Nominations/Votes cast in response to threats, coercion, or intimidation are void as determined by Sponsor in its sole discretion. A Candidate may not collude with any Nominator/Voter to violate these Official Rules or participate in or actively encourage such activity, whether directly or indirectly.

Sponsor reserves the right in its sole discretion to disqualify any Nominator/Voter or Candidate (and disqualify their Nominations/Votes) from further participation in the Contest if Sponsor concludes, in its sole discretion, that such Nominator/Voter or Candidate: (a) has attempted to tamper with the Nomination/Voting process, or other operation of the Contest; (b) has violated or attempted to circumvent or violate these Official Rules or any applicable laws; or (c) has acted toward Sponsor or any other Nominator/Candidate or Voter in an unfair, inequitable, deliberately annoying, threatening, disrupting or harassing manner. If a dispute arises regarding compliance with these Official Rules, Sponsor may consider, in its sole discretion, data reasonably available to Sponsor through information technology systems in Sponsor’s control, but Sponsor will not be obligated to consider any data or other information collected from any other source. Any failure by Sponsor to enforce any of these Official Rules will not constitute a waiver of such Official Rules.

Sponsor reserves the right to cancel, suspend, terminate, or postpone this Contest or any part of this Contest, if Sponsor determines, in its sole discretion, that the security, administration, fairness, integrity and/or operation of the Contest has been corrupted or impaired by any error, non-authorized intervention, network failure, information storage failure, telecommunications failure, malfunction or any cause beyond Sponsor’s control. If Sponsor cancels or terminates the Contest or any part hereof, Sponsor will post notice of same on the Contest webpage. If

Sponsor terminates the Contest during the Nomination/Voting Period, Sponsor will have the right, but not the obligation, to select a Winner in each Category by applying the criteria set forth above and based on eligible, non-suspect votes received as of the termination date.

Contest Entities and their agents, officers, directors, employees, and related persons (collectively, “Released Parties”): (a) are not responsible for technical failures of any kind, including but not limited to lost, disconnected, interrupted, or unavailable network, server, or other connections, late, lost, undeliverable, damaged or stolen mail, or for any failed telephone or computer hardware or software, or for any failed, delayed, misdirected, corrupted, or garbled transmissions or errors of any kind, whether human, mechanical, or electronic; (b) are not responsible for any incorrect or inaccurate information, whether caused by Nominators/Voters, printing, typographical or other errors or by any of the equipment or programming associated with or used in the Contest or in the printing of this offer, administration of this Contest, or in the announcement of the Winners; (c) are not responsible for any injury or damage to any computer, modem or other electrical device as a result of participation in this Contest or downloading of any software or materials; (d) are not responsible for unauthorized human intervention in any part of the Contest; (e) are not responsible for any printing, typographical, technical, computer, network or human error that may occur in the administration of the Contest, the acceptance of Nominations or votes, the selection of Winners, or otherwise in any Contest-related materials; (f) are not responsible for any unauthorized third party use of any Nominations or Ballots; (g) are not responsible for the inability to select Winners because of equipment failure or data storage failure; and (h) are released from all alleged, existing, or future actions, claims, and/or liabilities of whatever nature including, but not limited to, personal injury, bodily injury (including, without limitation, wrongful death and disability), property damage, and expense (including, without limitation, reasonable attorneys’ fees) and loss or damage of any other kind, arising in whole or in part directly or indirectly, from participating in the Contest.