Congratulations to all of our featured artists!

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2027 USB Calendar Community Choice Award

OFFICIAL RULES

1. Overview & Purpose

United Southern Bank (“USB”), in partnership with AP Creative Branding Studio (“AP”), is sponsoring the 2027 USB Calendar Community Choice Award to give members of the community an opportunity to vote for their favorite artwork featured in the 2027 USB Calendar.

All twelve (12) artworks selected for the 2027 USB Calendar are eligible for the Community Choice Award.

The artist whose artwork receives the highest number of valid votes will be named the 2027 USB Calendar Community Choice Award Winner and will receive a US$250 cash prize.

2. Voting Eligibility

• Voting is open to individuals 14 years of age or older.
• There is no residency requirement to vote.
• USB and AP employees and their family members are permitted to vote.
• No purchase or account with United Southern Bank is necessary to vote.
• Voting is void where prohibited by law.

3. Voting Period

Voting opens October 6, 2026 at 8:00 a.m. ET and closes October 23, 2026 at 12:00 p.m. ET (noon).

Votes received before or after the official voting period will not be counted.

4. How to Vote

Voting will take place through the designated Community Choice Award voting page on the United Southern Bank website.

The voting page will display each of the twelve (12) eligible artworks along with the artist’s name, grade, and school.

To cast a vote, voters must:

• Select one (1) artwork;
• Provide a valid email address; and
• Submit the online voting form.

No mailed, emailed, telephone, social media, or in-person votes will be accepted.

5. Voting Limit

Each individual may cast one (1) vote per calendar day during the voting period.

A valid email address is required with each vote and will be used to administer and validate voting.

Only one (1) vote associated with the same email address per calendar day will be counted. If multiple votes are submitted using the same email address on the same calendar day, duplicate submissions will be removed during vote validation.

Voters may vote for the same artwork on multiple days or may choose a different artwork on another day, provided they cast no more than one vote per calendar day.

6. Voting Integrity & Invalid Votes

USB and AP reserve the right to review voting records and invalidate votes that reasonably appear to violate these Official Rules or compromise the integrity of the Community Choice Award.

Votes may be removed or disqualified if USB/AP reasonably determines that they resulted from or involved:

• Automated voting, bots, scripts, or other automated methods;
• Duplicate voting in violation of the daily voting limit;
• Fictitious, invalid, temporary, or disposable email addresses;
• Vote buying or payment in exchange for votes;
• Offering prizes, compensation, gifts, or other incentives in exchange for votes;
• Manipulation or attempted manipulation of the voting system;
• Fraudulent activity or misrepresentation; or
• Any other attempt to artificially increase or alter voting results.

USB/AP may use reasonable technical and administrative methods to identify and remove invalid votes.

USB/AP's determination regarding the validity of votes will be final.

7. Campaigning & Sharing

Artists, families, schools, USB branches, community organizations, USB/AP employees, and other supporters may encourage others to participate in the Community Choice Award and may share the official voting page through social media, email, websites, printed materials, or other appropriate channels.

Supporters may encourage individuals to vote for a particular artwork.

Campaigning may not include:

• Purchasing votes;
• Paying or compensating individuals for voting;
• Offering prizes, gifts, discounts, or other incentives in exchange for votes;
• Automated or bulk voting;
• Creating or using fictitious email addresses for the purpose of casting additional votes; or
• Any other activity intended to circumvent the voting limits or manipulate the results.

8. Determining the Winner

Following the close of voting, USB/AP will review the submitted votes and remove any duplicate, invalid, or otherwise disqualified votes.

The eligible artwork receiving the highest total number of valid votes will be declared the Community Choice Award Winner.

Only votes determined to be valid under these Official Rules will be included in the final vote count.

9. Tie-Breaking Procedure

If two (2) or more artworks receive the same highest number of valid votes, the tied artwork that received votes from the greatest number of unique email addresses during the voting period will be declared the winner.

If a tie remains after applying the unique-voter tie-breaker, USB/AP will conduct a runoff vote limited to the tied artworks.

The dates, voting period, and instructions for any runoff will be published by USB. Unless otherwise stated in the runoff announcement, the voting eligibility, voting limits, vote-validation procedures, and other applicable provisions of these Official Rules will also apply to the runoff.

10. Prize

One (1) Community Choice Award winner will receive a US$250 cash prize.

The Community Choice Award is an additional prize and does not replace the US$100 prize previously awarded to each of the artists selected for the 2027 USB Calendar.

The winning artist is responsible for any applicable taxes associated with the prize. USB/AP may require appropriate tax or prize-processing documentation when required.

11. Winner Notification & Announcement

The Community Choice Award winner will be notified using the contact information maintained by USB/AP from the original 2027 USB Calendar Art Contest.

USB/AP intends to notify the winning artist within one (1) week after voting closes.

The winner will be publicly announced approximately two (2) business days after the winning artist has been notified.

If the artist is a minor, communications and prize administration may also include the artist’s parent or legal guardian.

12. Artwork, Artist Information & Publicity

The Community Choice Award voting page may display each eligible artwork along with the artist’s name, grade, and school.

The artwork and artist information may also be used by USB/AP to promote the Community Choice Award, encourage public voting, announce results, recognize participating artists, and promote the 2027 USB Calendar in accordance with the permissions previously granted by the artist and parent/legal guardian, when applicable, through the original art contest entry materials.

By participating in the original art contest and accepting placement in the 2027 USB Calendar, the artists remain subject to the applicable publicity and artwork-use permissions granted through the original contest.

13. Voter Information & Privacy

Email addresses collected through the voting form will be used for administration of the Community Choice Award, including validating votes, identifying duplicate submissions, investigating suspected voting irregularities, and determining final voting results.

Voter email addresses will not be displayed publicly.

Submission of an email address for voting does not, by itself, constitute consent to receive marketing communications from USB or AP. Any marketing communications will require a separate applicable opt-in.

14. Modification, Suspension or Cancellation

USB/AP reserve the right to suspend, modify, extend, or cancel the Community Choice Award if fraud, technical failures, unauthorized intervention, voting manipulation, website outages, or circumstances beyond their reasonable control materially affect the fairness, security, administration, or integrity of the voting process.

If voting is interrupted or materially affected, USB/AP may determine an appropriate method for completing the Community Choice Award using the valid votes received and other reasonable measures intended to preserve a fair result.

15. Limitation of Liability

USB/AP are not responsible for votes that are lost, late, incomplete, incorrectly submitted, misdirected, corrupted, or not received because of technical problems, internet or website failures, transmission errors, equipment failures, or other circumstances beyond their reasonable control.

By participating in the Community Choice Award, voters and participating artists agree to abide by these Official Rules and the decisions of USB/AP regarding administration and validation of the voting process.

16. Governing Law

The Community Choice Award and these Official Rules are governed by the laws of the State of Florida.

If any provision of these Official Rules is determined to be invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions will remain in effect.

17. Sponsor & Administrator

Sponsor: United Southern Bank (“USB”)

Administrator: AP Creative Branding Studio (“AP”), on behalf of USB

Contact:

Kasey Hobbs kasey@unitedsouthernbank.com

Ali Bias ali@apcbs.com