BEFORE THE PRELIMINARY PAGEANT

Registration & Eligibility

• All information submitted during registration must be truthful and accurate.

• Contestants must meet the age and division requirements for the division in which they enter.

• AmeriFest/KFP reserves the right to request documentation to verify a contestant's age or eligibility.

• Contestants may only compete in the division for which they are registered unless a change has been approved by the AmeriFest/KFP State Office.

• AmeriFest/KFP reserves the right to combine or adjust divisions when necessary based on the number of contestants registered.

Payments & Refunds

• NO REFUNDS are given at any time on deposits, ads, entry fees, or payments.

• Any deposits or fees paid toward your entry are non-transferable to another contestant.

• All entry fees must be paid according to the deadlines provided by the pageant director or State Office.

• Unpaid balances may result in removal from competition.

• If a preliminary pageant must be rescheduled due to an unforeseen circumstance, previously paid fees will be applied to the rescheduled date.

• AmeriFest/KFP is not responsible for travel, hotel, food, transportation, or other expenses incurred by contestants or families due to a schedule change, cancellation, or postponement.

Photographs & Advertising

• Any photographs submitted to AmeriFest/KFP may be used for future AmeriFest/KFP advertising, social media, websites, promotional materials, and pageant-related purposes.

• By submitting a photograph, you confirm that you have the right or permission to submit the photograph and authorize AmeriFest/KFP to use it for promotional purposes.

• AmeriFest/KFP is not responsible for copyright disputes involving photographs submitted by contestants or families.

Privacy

• At NO time does AmeriFest/KFP share your personal contact information with any third party. We protect your contact information.

• Personal information is used for legitimate AmeriFest/KFP communication, registration, pageant, and organizational purposes.

• Contestants and families should respect the privacy of other contestants and should not share another person's private contact information without permission.

Equal Opportunity & Respect

• We DO NOT tolerate discrimination against race, religion, or social background.

• AmeriFest/KFP does not tolerate discrimination, bullying, harassment, intimidation, or inappropriate treatment of contestants, families, judges, staff, volunteers, or guests.

• Everyone attending an AmeriFest/KFP event is expected to treat others with dignity and respect.

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DURING THE PRELIMINARY PAGEANT

Arrival & Check-In

• Contestants are responsible for arriving on time for registration, check-in, and competition.

• Contestants should arrive early enough to allow time for check-in and preparation.

• If you are late to competition, we cannot guarantee stage time.

• AmeriFest/KFP staff will make every reasonable effort to accommodate a late contestant when the schedule allows, but the pageant schedule cannot always be delayed for individual contestants.

• Contestants should remain available until all required portions of the competition have been completed.

Dressing Room & Backstage

• ONE person is allowed in the dressing room per contestant.

• Staff members cannot hold or be responsible for items or devices left backstage. If you can, please do not bring things backstage with you.

• Contestants are responsible for their own belongings.

• Valuable items should not be left unattended.

• Only contestants, staff, and approved individuals may enter restricted backstage areas.

• Dressing rooms and backstage areas should be kept clean and orderly.

• Contestants and families are responsible for any damage caused to the venue or its property by members of their party.

Sportsmanship

• Any poor sportsmanship of ANY kind will not be tolerated and may result in disqualification.

• Contestants are expected to be respectful and supportive of one another.

• Parents, guardians, family members, and guests are also expected to demonstrate good sportsmanship.

• Bullying, arguing, intimidation, harassment, threatening behavior, or intentionally disrupting another contestant will not be tolerated.

• Negative behavior toward another contestant because of placement, awards, scores, appearance, or competition results may result in disciplinary action.

• Poor sportsmanship does not have to occur on stage to be considered a violation of AmeriFest/KFP policies.

Judges & Competition

• All pageant judges' decisions are final and shall be respected.

• Judges are selected by AmeriFest/KFP and are expected to judge contestants fairly and independently.

• Contestants, parents, guardians, and guests may not approach judges to argue about scores, placements, or decisions.

• No contestant or family member may attempt to influence, pressure, threaten, or harass a judge.

• Individual judges' scores and deliberations are confidential.

• AmeriFest/KFP will not tolerate harassment of judges because of competition results.

Competition Integrity

• Contestants may not intentionally interfere with another contestant's performance.

• Contestants may not intentionally damage, hide, move, or interfere with another contestant's belongings, wardrobe, props, or competition materials.

• Any intentional cheating, falsification, impersonation, or misrepresentation may result in disqualification.

• Contestants are expected to compete honestly and fairly.

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PARENTS, GUARDIANS & GUESTS

• Parents, guardians, family members, and guests are expected to support their contestant while maintaining respectful behavior toward all contestants.

• Parents and guests may not confront judges regarding scores or placements.

• Parents and guests may not interfere with another contestant's preparation or competition.

• Parents and guardians are responsible for the behavior of members of their party.

• Disruptive, threatening, abusive, or inappropriate behavior by a parent, guardian, family member, or guest may result in the contestant being removed from the event or receiving disciplinary action.

• AmeriFest/KFP reserves the right to ask any person who violates event policies to leave the premises.

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SOCIAL MEDIA & PUBLIC CONDUCT

• Contestants and families are expected to maintain respectful conduct on social media.

• Bullying, harassment, threats, discrimination, or targeted attacks involving AmeriFest/KFP contestants, judges, staff, volunteers, or the organization are not permitted.

• Concerns about the pageant should be brought directly to the pageant director or State Office rather than turned into public disputes.

• Private communications, screenshots, or confidential information should not be publicly shared for the purpose of creating conflict or harassing another person.

• Contestants may not falsely represent themselves as an official spokesperson for AmeriFest/KFP.

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SCHEDULE CHANGES & EMERGENCIES

• AmeriFest/KFP reserves the right to change the competition schedule, order, venue, or format when necessary.

• In the event of severe weather, illness, venue issues, emergencies, or other circumstances outside of AmeriFest/KFP's control, the pageant may be postponed, rescheduled, relocated, or modified.

• If the event is rescheduled, previously paid fees will be applied to the new date.

• AmeriFest/KFP will communicate significant schedule changes as soon as reasonably possible.

• Contestants and families are responsible for following updated instructions provided by the pageant director or State Office.

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COMPLAINTS & CONCERNS

• We encourage contestants and families to bring questions or concerns directly to the pageant director or AmeriFest/KFP State Office.

• Concerns should be communicated respectfully and privately whenever possible.

• Public arguments, confrontations, harassment, or social media attacks are not an appropriate way to resolve a disagreement.

• Judges' decisions are final and complaints regarding placement do not require or guarantee a change in results.

• AmeriFest/KFP will review legitimate concerns and determine the appropriate response based on the circumstances.

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RIGHT TO REMOVE OR DISQUALIFY

• AmeriFest/KFP reserves the right to remove a contestant, parent, guardian, guest, or other individual from an event for violating these policies.

• Depending on the severity of the violation, a contestant may be disqualified from the current competition.

• Serious violations WILL result in loss of a title or award and/or restriction from future AmeriFest/KFP events.

• AmeriFest/KFP reserves the right to refuse participation to any individual whose conduct is threatening, abusive, discriminatory, dishonest, disruptive, or otherwise inconsistent with the standards of the organization.

• Some violations may result in immediate removal or disqualification without a prior warning when necessary to protect the safety or integrity of the event.