SPONSOR. Jack Henry & Associates, Inc. 663 W. Hwy 60, Monett, Missouri 65708 ("Sponsor").
ELIGIBILITY. Jack Henry Cobalt Awards Contest (“Contest”) is limited to financial institutions and fintech companies who are existing Jack Henry customers or developers using Jack Henry dev ops tools operating in the United States at the time of contest entry and for the duration of the Contest Period. There is no limit to entry submissions, however each entrant can only win once per category. “The Barrier Breaker” and “The Changemaker” categories may be entered only by representatives of eligible financial institutions. “The Integrator” category may only be entered by representatives of eligible fintech companies. Entry submissions must have unique content and are subject to disqualification if provided information is found to be duplicated from another entry or fabricated in any way. Sponsor and its subsidiaries, affiliates, employees, contractors, and advertising/promotional agencies, and the immediate families and household members of each of the above, are not eligible to enter or win. This contest is subject to all applicable Federal, state, and local laws. By entering this contest, you agree that you have the authority to enter your company into this Contest and to be bound by these Official Rules and Regulations. Void where prohibited.
CONTEST PERIOD. The contest begins at 12:01 am Eastern Standard Time on April 1, 2024, and ends at 11:59 pm Eastern Standard Time on June 1, 2024 (the "Contest Period").
HOW TO ENTER. Each entrant must download a submission form PDF for the intended entry category from the Jack Henry Cobalt Awards Contest webpage at https://jackhenry.com/cobalt-awards and email the completed entry form to cobaltawards@jackhenry.com during the Contest Period. For an entry to be reviewed, entrants must complete all required fields in the submission form PDF with information about the company being submitted for consideration including primary and secondary contact person names, email addresses, phone numbers, job titles, and the address of the entrant company's headquarters. Financial institution entrants must also provide the type of institution, such as bank or credit union, and indicate the asset size of the institution (e.g. up to $500M, $500M to $999M, $1B to $10B, or $10 billion+). Furthermore, entrants are required to provide relevant URLs such as the company website and any URLs with information that supports the examples noted in the essay responses.
Entrants must craft a submission of no more than 1050 words in total. Submissions must relate to a pertinent example or examples occurring between January 2023 and March 2024. Entrants have the option to link to supporting documentation in the form of videos, articles, or PDF documents that are hosted on an external source.
For "The Barrier Breaker" category, entrants are expected to provide a detailed account of how they leveraged one or more Jack Henry solutions to dismantle barriers to financial health for their accountholders. Entrants should illustrate their deep understanding of accountholders' needs and the challenges accountholders face, showcasing entrant initiatives that successfully eliminated barriers to accountholder financial success.
For "The Changemaker" category, entrants are required to demonstrate how their financial institution is leveraging Jack Henry technology, services, and innovation to operate more efficiently. Entrants should present concrete examples of how their innovative approaches contributed to enhanced operational efficiency, demonstrating improvements in the business operations of the financial institution, or improvements to the user experience or productivity of their employees.
For "The Integrator" category, entrants are expected to elucidate how their fintech is bridging the gap between service and technology delivery, streamlining transaction processing, and helping to improve accountholder experiences and the financial health of consumers and businesses. Entrants should provide examples and insights into their products and services that are integrated with Jack Henry to foster seamless interactions between various elements in the financial landscape, and how their offerings contribute to positive change in the financial health of consumers and businesses.
AWARD RECIPIENT SELECTION AND JUDGING CRIETERIA. Category Award Recipients will be determined by a panel of judges appointed by Sponsor. For “The Barrier Breaker” and “The Changemaker” categories, one credit union Winner and one bank Winner will be selected in each. For “The Integrator” category, two fintech company Winners will be selected. Entries will be judged for storytelling, technical writing quality, and the provision of quantifiable metrics and/or examples within the sections of each category’s unique judging criteria, outlined below.
For "The Barrier Breaker" category, general judging criteria is as follows:
For "The Changemaker" category, general judging criteria is as follows:
For "The Integrator" category, general judging criteria is as follows:
The judging panel will consist of a combination of Sponsor executive leadership members consisting of a total of seven panel participants. Each entry will be scored individually by each judge, and the points will be combined for a total score on each entry, which will determine finalists and/or identify the need for tie breaker rounds which will be deliberated by the judging panel for final winner selections.
PRIZES. The Contest will recognize a total of six “Winners” (each Winner is an "Award Recipient"). The Winners in each category of the contest will each be rewarded with a donation to a non-profit charity of their choice, which must be noted in the submission form and is subject to review and
approval by Sponsor, in the amount of $10,000 U.S. Dollars. If a non-profit charity requested by an Award Recipient is found to be ineligible by Sponsor, a list of approved charities will be provided, from which the Award Recipient can select where their donation will be applied. Additionally, each Award Recipient will be featured in a press release to recognize their achievements, as well as in a mainstage award ceremony at Jack Henry Connect 2024. Each Award Recipient in all categories will receive a physical trophy and be given the opportunity to participate in a panel discussion in a dedicated session at Jack Henry Connect 2024. All Award Recipients will be provided with a digital badge, allowing them to showcase their achievements online including on their website, social media platforms, and in e-signatures.
The Sponsor will further acknowledge the Winners in “The Barrier Breaker” and “The Changemaker” categories by providing registration, lodging, and travel for up to four representatives per financial institution Award Recipient to Jack Henry Connect 2024 and producing a case study about their entry.
Winners in “The Integrator” category will receive a free booth registration with premium placement in the Tech Hall at Jack Henry Connect 2024, but will not receive lodging or travel expenses related to Jack Henry Connect 2024.
No other method of entry or participation is valid. Sponsor’s computer is the official timekeeping device for entries submitted.
ODDS. The odds of winning are six/the total number of entries received.
GENERAL RULES. All entries and prize claims become the property of Sponsor and will not be returned. Released Parties (as defined below) assume no responsibility for lost, late, stolen, delayed, damaged, misdirected, undelivered, illegible, incomplete or postage-due entries, prize claims or mail. Except where prohibited, by accepting a prize, Award Recipients consent to the use by Sponsor and its designees of their names, logos, and/or photographs for advertising and publicity purposes in any and all media now or hereafter known throughout the world in perpetuity without limitation and without additional compensation, notification or permission. By participating in this promotion, each entrant accepts and agrees (i) to be bound by these Official Rules and the decisions of the Sponsor, which shall be final and binding in all respects, and (ii) to release Sponsor, and its subsidiaries, affiliates and advertising and promotion agencies, and the respective directors, officers, employees and agencies of the foregoing (collectively, the "Released Parties") from any and all liability of any injuries, losses or damages of any kind caused by participating in this promotion or resulting from acceptance, or use/misuse of the prize. Entries generated by script, macro, or other automated means will be void. You will not post, advertise or otherwise promote this contest on any online website, page, or forum dedicated primarily to the exchange of information about sweepstakes or contests or participate in any commercial contest/promotion subscription notification and/or entering services – any such entries will void your entries and you may be disqualified. Sponsor reserves the right at its sole discretion to disqualify any individual that tampers or attempts to tamper with the entry process or the operation of the promotion or website, violates the Official Rules, or acts in an unsportsmanlike or disruptive manner, or with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten, or harass any other person. CAUTION: ANY ATTEMPT BY AN ENTRANT OR ANY OTHER INDIVIDUAL TO DELIBERATELY DAMAGE ANY WEBSITE OR UNDERMINE THE LEGITIMATE OPERATION OF THE PROMOTION IS A VIOLATION THE CONTEST RULES AND OF CRIMINAL AND CIVIL LAWS AND SHOULD SUCH AN ATTEMPT BE MADE, SPONSOR RESERVES THE RIGHT TO SEEK DAMAGES FROM ANY SUCH INDIVIDUAL TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW. Released Parties are not responsible for technical, hardware or software malfunctions, telephone failures of any kind, lost or
unavailable network connections, or failed, incorrect, inaccurate, incomplete, garbled or delayed electronic communications whether caused by the sender or by any of the equipment or programming associated with or utilized in this promotion which may limit the ability to participate or by any human error which may occur in the processing of entries in this promotion. Sponsor reserves the right to modify, terminate, or suspend the online entry should virus, bugs, non-authorized human intervention, or other causes corrupt the administration, security, fairness, or proper play of the promotion. These contest rules constitute the full agreement relating to the promotion. In the event of any conflict between these rules and any of the documents relating to the promotion, these rules shall prevail.
DISPUTES: All issues and questions concerning the construction, validity, interpretation and enforceability of these Official Rules, or the rights and obligations of the entrant or Sponsor in connection with the Contest, or any claim or dispute that has arisen or may arise between you and the Sponsor, shall be governed by, and construed in accordance with, the laws of the State of Missouri without giving effect to any choice of law or conflict of law rules. By participating in this Contest, each entrant agrees that: (i) any claim, dispute, or controversy (whether in contract, tort, or otherwise) arising out of, relating to, or connected in any way with the Contest or the awarding or redemption of prizes will be resolved exclusively by final and binding arbitration conducted pursuant to the AAA's Procedures for Consumer-Related Disputes in conjunction with the AAA's Commercial Arbitration Rules (if and as applicable depending on the amount in controversy); (ii) this arbitration agreement is made pursuant to a transaction governed by the Federal Arbitration Act ("FAA"), 9 U.S.C. §§ 1-16; (iii) the arbitration shall be held at the AAA regional office nearest the entrant; (iv) the arbitrator's decision shall be controlled by the terms and conditions of these Official Rules and any of the other agreements referenced herein that the applicable entrant may have entered into in connection with the Contest; (v) the arbitrator shall apply Missouri law consistent with the FAA and applicable statutes of limitations and shall honor claims of privilege recognized at law; (vi) there shall be no authority for any claims to be arbitrated on a class or representative basis; arbitration can decide only the entrant's and/or Sponsors individual claims and the arbitrator may not consolidate or join the claims of other persons or parties who may be similarly situated; (vii) the arbitrator shall not have the power to award punitive damages against any party; (viii) in the event that the administrative fees and deposits the entrant is required to pay under the AAA rules exceed $125, and the entrant is unable to pay the additional fees and deposits, Sponsors retains the right to forward them to the AAA on the entrant's behalf, subject to ultimate allocation by the arbitrator. In addition, if the entrant is able to demonstrate that the costs of arbitration will be prohibitive as compared to the costs of litigation, the Sponsor retains the right to pay as much of the entrant filing and hearing fees in connection with the arbitration as the arbitrator deems necessary to prevent the arbitration from being cost-prohibitive; and (ix) if any part of this Arbitration Provision is deemed to be invalid or otherwise unenforceable or illegal, the balance of this Arbitration Provision shall remain in effect and shall be construed in accordance with its terms as if the invalid or illegal provision were not contained herein.
AWARD RECIPIENTS LIST REQUEST. Award Recipient information will be available after Winners are announcement at Jack Henry Connect 2024 or November 1, 2024, whichever occurs first. For a copy of the Award Recipient list, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope referencing “Jack Henry Cobalt Awards Recipients" c/o Jack Henry ATTN: Marketing Department, 663 W. Hwy 60, Monett, Missouri 65708. Residents of Washington and Vermont may omit return postage.
PRIVACY. If you are verified as an Award Recipient, your entity name, city and state may be included in a publicly available Award Recipient list.
