APPLEBEE'S REALBURGERS™ FOR REAL HEROES
SWEEPSTAKES and CONTEST

Official Rules

Nominate a living person who is a "Real Hero" in your life—someone who makes a difference every day in his or her unique way. The Real Hero Winner will win a Grand Prize in accordance with these Official Rules.

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. A PURCHASE OR PAYMENT OF ANY KIND WILL NOT INCREASE THE CHANCES OF WINNING SWEEPSTAKES OR CONTEST. VOID OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES AND WHERE PROHIBITED OR RESTRICTED BY LAW. Submitting an entry or accepting Finalist status constitutes the Nominator's and the Nominee's full and unconditional agreement to and acceptance of these Official Rules and the decision of the Sponsor and judges which will be final and binding on all matters relating to this contest.

The Sponsor, Applebee's Services, Inc. ("Applebee's") will receive nominations ("Nominations") from individuals ("Nominators") for Real Heroes ("Nominees") one of whom will be awarded a Grand Prize in accordance with these Official Rules. On or about July 6, 2009, the judges will select 10 Real Hero Finalists ("Finalists") based on the Nominator's sincerity, the uniqueness of the Nominee's story, the personal connection between the Nominator and the Nominee and the authenticity of the Nominator's expression of gratitude. The Nominations of the Finalists will be posted at www.applebees.com/realheroes. The public will then have a chance to vote for the most deserving Real Hero from among the Finalists. Prizes are described below. Nominations can only be made online.

How to enter. All entries must be submitted online to: www.applebees.com/realheroes. Nominations must consist of an essay in the English language of 1000 characters or less explaining why the Nominee is a hero and the first and last name of the Nominee and the Nominee's valid email address (or 10-digit phone number, if Nominee does not have email address) and be signed by the Nominator with his/her first and last names, 10-digit phone number, mailing address and email address. If the Nominator has the Nominee's consent to provide the image of the Nominee, please so indicate and upload an image of the Nominee. Do not upload an image of your Nominee without his or her consent. The image must be a .jpg or .gif file no larger than 500K, suitable for posting on the website. Applebee's reserves the right to crop, adjust or modify Nominees' images to fit website requirements.

Entries for the Contest must be received by Applebee's via the official contest website between 12:01:00 am CDT on June 7, 2009 and 11:59:59 CDT on July 5, 2009 ("Nomination Period"). Nominators will receive a confirmation email. Each Nominator may nominate no more than 1 person per day during the Nomination Period and any Nominations after the first received each day from a single Nominator will be disqualified.

Eligibility. To be eligible, the Nominee must be a living individual as of June 7, 2009 and legally residing in the United States throughout the Contest, age 13 or older, and must not be an employee of Applebee's, IHOP or their subsidiaries, affiliates, or franchisees, their respective advertising and marketing agencies or any of their subsidiaries, affiliates, divisions and related companies, and must not be a child, spouse, sibling, or parent or living in the same household of any such employee. All Nominators must have a valid email address and phone number (so we can call you if your Nominee is named a Finalist). In the event of a dispute as to who has entered from a particular email address, the registered owner of that email address or the individual to whom that email address is officially assigned by its owner shall be deemed to be the Nominator. Nominators who are minors in their state of residence must have their parent's permission to enter. Nominators must have permission of parent or legal guardian of Nominees who are minors in their state of residence. Proof of parental consent will be required prior to a minor being named as a Finalist.

Random Nominator Weekly Winners ("Weekly Winners")/Odds of Winning. 100 Weekly Winners will be drawn at random from among all Nominators on each of the following dates: June 15, 22, 29 and July 6, 2009. Each Weekly Winner will win a $50 Applebee's Gift Card (Approximate Retail Value ("ARV"), $50). Total ARV of all Weekly Winner prizes is $20,000. (If in any week there are fewer than 100 eligible Nominators in the drawing pool, then at that drawing Applebee's will award prizes to no more than the number of eligible Nominators, up to 100 maximum for that week. There will be no carry-over of Weekly Winners prizes.) Only 1 Weekly Winner prize per person during the entire Nomination Period. The odds of winning will be determined by the actual number of eligible Nominations received. Weekly Winners will be sent Gift Card by mail approximately 4-6 weeks after drawing date.

Finalists. From among all Nominees, 10 Finalists and 10 Alternates will be selected by a panel of judges appointed by Applebee's. Nominations will be judged on the following criteria: Nominator's sincerity, the uniqueness of the Nominee's story, the personal connection between the Nominator and the Nominee and the authenticity of the Nominator's expression of gratitude. At the judges' discretion, entries including unsuitable content, sexually explicit or inappropriate content, descriptions or images of animals or people in unsafe conditions, or content that is in violation of third party rights (including, but not limited to, copyrights) will be immediately disqualified. Applebee's retains sole discretion as to what constitutes unsuitable content and will not be liable in any way for disqualified entries. Neither Nominators nor Nominees will be notified if their Nomination is disqualified. All Nominators and Nominees agree that judges' decisions are final, binding and are not open to challenge.

The Potential Finalists and Alternates and their Nominators will be notified by email or phone call on or about July 6, 2009, and the items set forth below must be provided by Nominator and/or Nominee within three 3 days (72 hours) as specified below in order to be named an Official Finalist. (Alternates will become Official Finalists only if a Potential Finalist is disqualified or is not responsive.) Applebee's is not responsible for any change of email address, postal address, or phone number or for any failure of a Potential Finalist to receive notification.

For a Nominee to be officially named as an Official Finalist, Nominator will be required to provide proper identification of Nominee and of Nominator, written confirmation that Nominator is the sole author of the essay submitted, documents confirming Nominator's and/or Nominee's ownership of any rights and permissions necessary for Applebee's to exercise the rights granted Applebee's in these rules (including an image of the Nominee and the right to use his/her image as contemplated in this Contest) and for purposes of advertising and promotion, and affidavits of eligibility, promotional releases, and releases from liability in favor of Applebee's executed by both Nominator and Nominee, within 3 days (72 hours) after email or phone notification sent by Applebee's. In the event Nominator does not supply the requested items within the time specified, Nominee will not be an Official Finalist and that Nominator's entry will be disqualified without further notice. Applebee's decisions as to eligibility are final and not open to challenge.

The Official Finalists will be posted on www.applebees.com/realheroes between 12:01:00 am CDT July 15, 2009 and ending at 11:59:59 pm CDT on July 23, 2009 ("Voting Period"), during which time the public will be permitted to vote.

Finalist Prizes. The following prizes will be given to each Official Finalist: 1 year's worth* of Applebee's Realburgers™, awarded in the form of one $500 Applebee's Gift Card. (*approximately 1 Applebee's Realburger per week for 52 weeks, exclusive of taxes and tips.) ARV of Finalist prize, $500; total ARV of all Finalist prizes, $5000. Each Official Finalist will be eligible in the Grand Prize Voting to win the Grand Prize.

Grand Prize Voting. The voting will be conducted on www.applebees.com/realheroes during the Voting Period. One vote per person per day. A "person" is a single individual as identified by a single, verifiable email account. All votes attributable to a person must be cast by that person accessing Applebee's.com personally – proxy voting by another is not allowed. In the case of a tie, the tying Nomination that received the highest score from the panel of judges will be the winner. Applebee's reserves the right to monitor voting and remove any votes which, in its sole discretion, appear to be in violation of these rules. If it is determined that voting in violation of these rules has been done by a Nominator or an Official Finalist or with a Nominator's or Official Finalist's knowledge, consent or cooperation, in Applebee's sole discretion, Applebee's reserves the right to disqualify such Nominator and Official Finalist from further participation in the Contest and to remove the Nomination, the Nominator and the Nominee, from further voting and eligibility for prizes.

Grand Prize Real Hero Winner: The Grand Prize Real Hero Winner will be the Official Finalist who receives the largest number of qualified votes during the Voting Period. The Grand Prize Real Hero Winner will be announced online at www.applebees.com/realheroes and the Grand Prize Real Hero Winner will be notified on or about July 24. If the Grand Prize Real Hero Winner is a minor, the prize will be awarded to his or her parent or legal guardian. The Grand Prize Real Hero Winner will receive $5000 cash and a year's worth of Applebee's Realburgers, awarded in the form of a $500 Applebee's Gift Card. (ARV of Real Hero Grand Prize is $5,500.) The Nominator of the Grand Prize Real Hero Winner will receive $1000 cash and a year's worth of Applebee's Realburgers, awarded in the form of a $500 Applebee's Gift Card. (ARV of Nominator Grand Prize is $1,500.) (In the event that more than 1 person nominated a Hero, the winning Nominator will be the person whose essay is posted by Applebee's during the Voting Period.) Total ARV of all prizes in this promotion for Heroes is $10,500 and for Nominators, $21,500. Total ARV of all prizes in this promotion is $32,000. The prize winners are responsible for compliance with all applicable federal, state and /or local laws and regulations, including without limitation, the payment of all applicable taxes. The prize winners assume liability for injuries caused or claimed to be caused by participation in the Contest or the use or misuse of the prizes. Prizes are non-transferable and may not be redeemed for cash, except in Applebee's discretion.

Representations and Warranties. The Nominator warrants that he or she is the sole author and copyright owner of his or her Nomination essay and that he or she has acquired all rights necessary to upload the image of the Nominee (including any copyright in the photo and the personal permission of the Nominee) (the image and essay together are the "Content") and grants Applebee's the right to modify Content in its sole discretion for grammatic and other purposes which do not substantially alter Nominator's meaning. The Nominator will, upon request, produce any written documents Applebee's deems necessary or desirable to allow Applebee's to use the Content as described here and in the Contest, and that the Nominator grants to Applebee's a royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, nonexclusive right and license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform and display the Content (in whole or part) worldwide and/or to incorporate it in other works in any form, media, or technology now known or later developed for the full term of any rights that may exist in your submissions. The Nominator also warrants and represents that the Content has not been previously published nor has it won previous awards. Finalists who are minors must have the consent of their parent or legal guardian, who must sign all documents and return as indicated above.

By submitting a Nomination to this Contest, each Nominator agrees, confirms and represents to Applebee's, that neither he/she nor anyone else has engaged or taken part in (or induced or encouraged anyone else to do so) in any activity or conduct in connection with the Contest that: (i) may or is likely to harm or create a risk of harm, physical or mental injury, emotional distress, death, disability, disfigurement, or physical or mental illness to any person, other living thing or any property; (ii) may or is likely to create a risk of any other loss or damage to person, living things or property; (iii) is or may constitute a crime, unlawful or non-consensual activities (e.g., conduct that could lead to criminal prosecution), tortious conduct (e.g., conduct that could lead to civil prosecution) or the violation or infringement of the rights of any other party; or (iv) violates any of the terms or conditions of these Official Rules.

By submitting a Nomination, the Nominator gives full consent to Applebee's (and parties deriving rights from Applebee's) to use the Content and his or her name, likeness, home city and state (except where prohibited) in products and in all forms of advertising, promotional, editorial, marketing and collateral materials, specifically including but not limited to displaying the Nomination on Applebee's Web site, Web sites operated by Applebee's marketing partners or any other third party, without additional compensation or permission, except where prohibited by law. The Nominator warrants that he or she has all necessary rights and permission required for the Content to allow Applebee's (and those deriving rights from Applebee's) to exercise the rights granted without infringing upon the rights of third parties.

Applebee's reserves the right in its sole discretion to cancel or suspend this Contest, in part or in its entirety, and to randomly award the prizes from among all eligible Nominations received prior to action taken by Applebee's, should virus, bug, tampering, unauthorized intervention, fraud, technical failures, or other causes beyond Applebee's control corrupt the administration, security, fairness, integrity or proper administration of the Contest. CAUTION: ANY ATTEMPT BY A NOMINATOR TO DELIBERATELY DAMAGE ANY WEB SITE OR UNDERMINE THE LEGITIMATE OPERATIONS OF THE NOMINATION PROGRAM IS A VIOLATION OF CRIMINAL AND CIVIL LAWS AND SHOULD SUCH ATTEMPT BE MADE, APPLEBEE'S AND ITS PROMOTIONAL PARTNERS RESERVE THE RIGHT TO SEEK DAMAGES FROM ANY SUCH NOMINATOR TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW.

In the event that Applebee's does not receive at least 20 qualified and eligible entries on or before the end of the Nomination Period, Applebee's reserves the right to extend the Nomination Period by up to 7 days, by notice given on this website. In the event of such an extension, judges will not discriminate between those entering prior to and after the original deadline.

Void where prohibited or restricted by law. Subject to all federal, state and local laws. All issues and questions concerning the construction, validity, interpretation and enforceability of these rules, or respective rights and obligations of the parties, will be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of Kansas without giving effect to any choice of law or conflict of law provisions. Any waiver of any right or obligation hereunder by Applebee's does not constitute a general waiver of any other rights or obligations.

Applebee's is not responsible for lost, stolen, illegible, misdirected or late submissions. Applebee's assumes no responsibility for computer system, phone line, hardware, software or program malfunctions or other errors, failures of any kind, delayed computer transmissions or network connection problems that are human or technical in nature.

A complete list of winners will be posted online on or about July 31, 2009.

Privacy. By entering the Contest, the entrants agree and consent that any information provided may be used by Applebee's in accordance with its Privacy Policy available at www.applebees.com. If you do not want your information used in this manner, do not enter this Contest.

Sponsor. Applebee's Services, Inc., 11201 Renner Blvd, Lenexa, KS 66219.