"Anchors Away": Share your Military Love Story and Win

The Valentine's Day Military Love Contest

Contest Highlights

Honoring couples apart for Valentine's Day due to military deployments
Share story of how you fell in love, how you cope with being apart, what you'll do when reunited
Retain your privacy - real names are not allowed at Experience Project
Best stories win up to $50 in gift certificates to Bath & Body Works or White Barn Candle Company- pamper yourself!
Free and open to all members of the United States Military and Loved Ones
Share with others in your military circle (we never spam)

For many people, Valentine's Day is an opportunity to celebrate relationships with flowers and chocolates, a romantic dinner, or even a weekend getaway. However, for people separated from their loved ones because of overseas military deployments, Valentine's Day can prove to be an exceptionally difficult and lonely time.

This year Experience Project - a community that connects people who have common experiences - salutes military personnel and their loved ones with an exclusive contest for the stories behind the love. Military love - love that withstands time, distance and distress - is powerful and inspirational for us all. We ask that the stories address how you fell in love, how you cope with being apart, and what you look forward to doing once your other half returns home. Special honors for publicly expressing your love for the other person so they can read it. It feels good!

The community's favorite stories, as decided by members and staff, will receive $50, $20, or $10 gift certificates (good online or in-store) to Bath & Body Works and White Barn Candle Company. The contest is open exclusively to members of the military and their loved ones and is entirely free to enter.

For those that would like to remember a fallen hero, a special section of the site has been set aside for memorializing loved ones through text, pictures, and video. Our staff is standing by to assist you if you need any help. Furthermore, the Experience Project team has made donations to the National Military Family Association, which strives to improve the quality of military family life. In light of the unique challenges faced by military families, we highly encourage others to do the same.

Here are the easy steps to participate:

Login or Register - if you haven't joined us yet, it's free, anonymous, takes 20 seconds and we never spam you.
Then go to the "I Am Away From My Love on Valentine's Day" Group and click "Me Too" in the upper right hand corner to join the gang
Now, just share your love story - including how you fell in love, how you cope with being apart on Valentine's Day (and any day), and what you plan to do when you're reunited. Consider sharing a public devotion so your other half can read it!

That's it! Easy, quick, fun - it feels good, and you'll end up discovering other people just like you. Welcome to the Experience Project.

Remember, at Experience Project we connect people who share experiences and truly understand each other, in a comfortable community. There is no greater feeling than knowing you are not alone, and we want to help you find your kindred spirits through the thoughts, feelings and experiences that define your life.

Criteria for winners includes length (longer is better), descriptiveness, and the ability to capture the thoughts and feelings of your love. This is a powerful and inspirational concept to everyone - share it to connect and help others. The full contest rules are below.

Easy, yah? Yah, we know. Then get started now.

The Experience Project is a community of people sharing their personal thoughts and experiences without revealing their real life identities. It's a supportive and fun environment to get to know yourself and others just like you. The more experiences you share, the better we are able to match you up with other people that have same background as you and understand where you're coming from. Think about it as connecting with people based on who you are, not who you know. Take a look at some of the experiences, personal stories, dreams, and confessions people are talking about. Click here to learn more about the site

Promotion Rules

Entry must be on the topic of "I Am Away From My Love on Valentine's Day" and submitted within that Experience Group
Contest is open to members of the United States Armed Forces and their loved ones, be they existing or new members of The Experience Project
The promotion begins February 1st @ 12PM PDT and ends February 12th @ 10AM PDT. Entries before or after that timeframe will not be considered for the promotion.
Prizes, and all communications, will be delivered via the e-mail address registered with the account. We are not responsible if we cannot deliver the prize to you because you entered your e-mail address incorrectly.
The Experience Project does not endorse, sanction, encourage, or condone any of the experiences on the site.
Employees, officers, directors, agents, representatives and their immediate families or members of Experience Project are ineligible to participate.
Limit one prize per user for this promotion.
The first place winner will receive a $50 (ARV $50 USD) Bath & Body Works Gift Certificate (valid online and in-store), the 2nd place winner a $20 Bath & Body Works Gift Certificate (ARV $20.00), and the third place winner a $10 (ARV $10.00) Bath & Body Works Gift Certificate.
No substitutions or exchanges or cash equivalents for the prizes will be allowed
Certificates will be mailed on or after February 16th, 2006 to the physical address provided by the winners.
Judging will be performed exclusively by the Experience Project staff, taking into consideration community input
All decisions are final and explanations will not be provided to entrants that did not receive a prize
Basic elements required of an entry for promotion eligibility: a true, personal story with a beginning, middle and end, and significant length (approximately half a typed page, single spaced).
Judging criteria includes quality of entry in terms of effectively expressing the thoughts, feelings and full experience of your love story. The most useful entries are those where a reader is provided context and insight into the mind and wisdom of the author
Entries may be edited for grammar and spelling by Experience Project staff, with every effort-- but no guarantee written or implied-- made to avoid unintentionally altering the original author's intent
Entrants will recieve priority notification of future promotions (they can choose to opt-out of this at any time)
Winners will be chosen on or about February 13th, 2006
Winners agree that their Experience Project username (but not their real name or e-mail address) can be used promotionally at the Experience Project website.
Winners will be posted on the Experience Project website (http://www.experienceproject.com) within 2 weeks after the end of the promotion.
Author certifies that the entry relates a true story that is theirs.
Author certifies that they or their loved one is a member of the United States Armed Forces.
It is unlawful (and rude!) to submit copyrighted content that is not yours.
All questions or comments should be submitted to promotions@experienceproject.com
All entries become the property of the Experience Project
The Experience Project accepts no responsibility for errors in submission caused by network, site, or other malfunctions or any other damages that may arise from your participation in this promotion.
General terms for participation at the Experience Project can be found here
The Experience Project, its parent company, subsidiaries, affiliates or agencies shall have no liability whatsoever, for any injuries or damage incurred in whole or part from participation in this promotion.
Void where prohibited, restricted, or limited
Bath & Body Works and The National Military Family Assocation is not affiliated with the Experience Project and does not sponsor nor endorse this contest.

This is a love story writing contest where you, as a member of the United States military or a loved one of a soldier, submit stories of how you fell in love, how you cope with being apart during deployments and stress of uncertainty, and what you plan on doing when reunited. The prizes include Bath and Body Works gift certifcates that can be used in store or online, and are also valid at White Barn Candle Company. Sharing stories allows you to record them, express your thoughts and feelings publicly while retaining your privacy, and meeting other people in the community who understand you. We run essay contests all the time, so be sure to register to be informed of the latest contest before the crowds.

Anonymous & Free

to join millions in the world's largest community of life experiences

Explore first-person stories about any experience, including your own! Connect anonymously with people who understand.