By Jennifer Eisenbart
Editor
When Burlington High School graduate Cory Harris heard about Amazon.com’s partnership with New Balance to offer a contest to send distance runners to the Rome Marathon, it seemed like a perfect fit.
Asked to show off his inner “Gladiator,” Harris – a long-time distance runner who overcame a terrible car crash in 2009 to become a marathon runner – sent in two pictures. One was a compilation of various pieces of artwork showing the crash and Harris’ subsequent triumphs.
The other – the one Amazon chose – was a picture Harris took of a newspaper article about his ordeal that was published in the Burlington Standard Press.
That picture took Harris to a top-four finalist position – what should have been enough to get him to Rome. But in a disappointing turn of events Tuesday, Amazon.com contacted Harris to tell him the photo violated contest rules and disqualified him.
Harris received a short email from Carla Dunham at Amazon.com Tuesday informing him of the disqualification, saying simply that “while we appreciate your entry, it has come to our attention that your entry did not comply with the photo guidelines set out in the official contest rules.”
“My story touched so many people, and everyone gave their overwhelming support,” Harris said via Facebook Tuesday. “To have it end in this fashion is very unfortunate. It was not so much about individually running the marathon as it was representing all the people who supported me throughout this entire experience.”
The rule quoted to Harris reads: “(c) his/her photo has not previously been distributed through any media channel.” Presumably, the photo of a picture run in a newspaper is the point of contention.
For the full story, please see this week’s print edition of the Burlington Standard Press.
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