Terms and Conditions

What is the Spark Change Awards?

The aim of the Spark Change Awards is to demonstrate how community and voluntary activity is contributing to Ireland’s commitments to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. We will celebrate the projects and communities of Ireland who are taking steps to improve their social, environmental and/or economic sustainability.

These Awards are open to projects that have successfully completed the Spark Change Challenge (see eligibility criteria). Eligible projects can compete in one or more of the seven award categories. Three projects will be shortlisted in each category, and a panel of independent judges will choose a winner in each category.

Who is behind the Spark Change Awards?

Spark Change is a collaborative project of The Wheel and Trinity College Dublin. The project funded by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The Wheel, Trinity College Dublin and the Environmental Protection agency will hereafter be referred to as the Organisers.

Agreeing to the Terms and Conditions

By indicating your intent to participate in the Spark Change Awards, you are acknowledging and agreeing that the Organisers and their partners are not required to host, display, accept, consider any entered or submitted application to the Spark Change Awards, and you further agree that if Organisers determines that your entry does not meet eligibility requirements for any reason, the Organisers may, at their sole discretion, remove your entry from the Spark Change Awards at any time.

By agreeing to these terms and conditions, you are confirming that you have permission to act on behalf of the individuals, organisations or businesses involved in the project represented by your entry.

Eligibility

To qualify for the Spark Change Awards, participating projects must successfully complete the Spark Change Challenge. To successfully complete the Challenge, entrants will have had to:

  1. completed the expression of interest form (closed 31 January 2019)
  2. completed project survey 1 (this online survey will have been emailed to participants between October 2018 and February 2019)
  3. complete project survey 2 (this online survey will be emailed to participants in April 2019
  4. choose at least one of the seven award categories to compete in, and
  5. agree to the Spark Change Awards’ terms and conditions.

Only projects that have met all of the above criteria will be considered for shortlisting.

Agree to be Bound

By entering the Spark Change Awards, you are agreeing to be bound by the decisions of the shortlisting team and judges, and these terms and conditions.

Further, the Organisers reserve the right to (a) modify the Terms and Conditions / Rules of the Spark Change Awards at any time and (b) cancel, terminate or modify any transmission or other activity not capable of completion as planned, including by reason of infection by computer virus, bugs, tampering, unauthorized intervention, force majeure or technical failures of any sort.

Not Responsible For Technical Difficulties

The Organisers, and those working for or on its behalf, will not be responsible for lost, late, misdirected, damaged, submissions or attempted submissions, or for e-mail, internet, computer hardware and software, phone, and/or any other technical errors, malfunctions, and delays that may prevent you from entering the Spark Change Awards, or interfere with your compliance of the rules of this competition. All responsibilities related to submitting a qualifying entry fall on you, the entrant or potential entrant.

Entry Compliance and Entry Disputes

  1. The organisers will validate all entries and will determine, at their sole discretion, whether each entry meets the entry criteria detailed herein for acceptance as an entry into the awards.
  2. The organisers also reserves the unqualified right to investigate the bone fides of any entrant, or of any groups, business or individual that are mentioned or featured in an entry. We reserve the right not to accept, or to disqualify an entry if we are not fully satisfied with the authenticity and validity of the credentials of either the entrant or any associated entity. You understand that the organisers are under no obligation to disclose its reasons for not accepting an entry.
  3. If there is, any doubt as to which category of the competition the submitting organisation fits into, the organisers reserve the right to change the category and information the submitting organisation that it has done so.
  4. The decisions of the judges and shortlisting team are final. The Organiser will not enter into correspondence with entrants.
  5. Where prizes are awarded, it is the sole responsibility of the entrant to determine how the prizes will be shared among the individuals, organisations, or groups associated with the winning entry. The organisers have no liability from disputes arising from the allocation of prizes.

Release from Liability

Entrants agree that the organisers, related individuals or entities, as well as our sponsors, shall not be liable for losses or injuries of any kind resulting from:

  • participation in any element of in the Spark Change Challenge or the Spark Change Awards,
  • joint or collective technical malfunctions of the telephone network and/or transmission line, computer on-line system, computer dating mechanism, computer equipment, hardware and/or software, or any delay or distortion of an entry resulting from data transmissions that are garbled, incomplete, misdirected, lost, mutilated, delayed, corrupted, mechanically duplicated, illegible or otherwise not in compliance with these official rules.

Furthermore, you also agree that the organisers and partners are not liable in any way for any false claims, inaccuracies or illegal content contained in your entry or in associated information, links or external websites.

Data Protection

Data collected from entrants will be stored by third parties who are under contract form The Wheel. Data may be shared with our research partners and funders.

Content Rights and Copyright

The Organisers have the right to use any videos, photos, visual materials or written information submitted by entrants for marketing, information or research purposes.

If images supplied posting photos or videos of children under the age of 18, entrants must ensure that they have the written consent from the minor’s legal guardians.

Disqualification

If an entrant or associate of an entrant attempts to distort or manipulate the results the assessment of the judging process, they will be disqualified from competing in the Spark Change Awards.

Accuracy of Information Supplied by Entrants

The organisers are not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information supplied by entrants.

The organisers reserve the right to modify or vary the terms and conditions at any time.