Terms and Conditions

National Grid’s ‘Voices for a Green Future’ Competition Terms and Conditions, 18th June 2021

This competition is being run by National Grid PLC (“National Grid”) and its agency partner Daniel J. Edelman Holdings Ltd. (“Edelman”). Submission of entries for this competition are subject to the following terms and conditions:

Entry

1. National Grid’s ‘Voices for a Green Future’ Competition (“Competition”) is open to UK residents - except for the children of anyone involved in judging the competition - who are in school years 3 to 10 and aged between 7 to 15 years old on the opening date of the Competition (Monday 21^st June 2021). National Grid/Edelman may ask finalists and winners for proof of UK residency, school year and age, and reserves the right to select alternative finalists and winners if not proven to their satisfaction.  
2. All entrants to this Competition must have permission from a parent or legal guardian before entering. The parent or legal guardian of the entrants agree to the Terms and Conditions on behalf of the entrants.
3. There is no entry fee and no purchase necessary to enter this Competition.
4. The opening date/time for entry is 21^st June 2021 at 06:00. Closing date/time for entry is 17^th August 2021 at 17:00. After this, no further entries to the Competition will be permitted or accepted.
5. To enter the competition, each entrant and parent or legal guardian will need to submit all required information as set out in the entry form accessed via this webpage: www.nationalgrid.com/voicesforagreenfuture. Entry must be made by this method only – no other formats will be accepted.
6. Information submitted via this entry form will be handled by National Grid/Edelman in accordance with National Grid’s privacy policy https://www.nationalgrid.com/privacy-policy. By entering the Competition you agree to the collection, retention, usage and distribution of your personal information in order to process your entry, contact you about the Competition and to administer any prizes won.
7. Only one entry per individual. Duplicate entries will be removed, leaving the first one submitted. No joint entries will be accepted.
8. No responsibility can be accepted for entries not received for whatever reason. Proof of delivery of entry is not proof of receipt by National Grid/Edelman. National Grid/Edelman cannot acknowledge receipt of entry.
9. Entrants must write no more than 200 words to answer the question that is relevant to their school year and age category, set out on the entry form. The ideas and work must be all the entrant’s own work and shouldn’t include mention of brand names, characters, celebrities or other high-profile individuals, political parties or political figures, companies or third parties.
10. Each parent or legal guardian will need to provide a telephone number and email address which allows National Grid/Edelman to contact the parent or legal guardian from 1^st September 2021 to 3^rd September 2021. This will be to advise the parent or legal guardian that the entrant has been shortlisted as a finalist, and to arrange a date and time between 1^st September 2021 and 16^th September 2021 for the entrant to be filmed/photographed remotely by National Grid/Edelman reading their submission to camera, via a video call service such as Microsoft Teams. Since this video will be submitted to the final judging panel to select the four Competition winners, it is an essential part of the process for the entrant to be confirmed as a finalist in the Competition. If the parent or legal guardian cannot be contacted between 1^st September 2021 and 3^rd September 2021, or the filming cannot be scheduled or does not take place satisfactorily for any reason, National Grid/Edelman reserve the right to select a replacement to shortlist as a finalist.
11. Should the finalist be selected as one of the four Competition winners, the parent or legal guardian will be contacted again via the supplied telephone number/email address from 23^rd September 2021 to 27^th September 2021. The four winning entrants will then need to build on their 200 word entry to write a two to five minute speech. Entrants, accompanied by their parent, legal guardian or another adult of their choosing, will need to be available for filming/photographing in person, at their school or other suitable location, between 4^th October 2021 and 19^th October 2021. The winning entrants will be filmed delivering their speeches. This is an essential part of the process for the entrant to be confirmed as one of the four winners of the Competition. If the parent or legal guardian cannot be contacted between 23^rd September 2021 to 27^th September 2021, or the filming cannot be scheduled or does not take place satisfactorily for any reason, National Grid/Edelman reserve the right to select a replacement winner. The filmed winners’ speeches will be showcased in a video that will be played at the United Nations Climate Conference (COP26) and via a range of other channels (see point 12 below). The speech must be all the entrant’s own work and shouldn’t include mention of brand names, characters, celebrities or other high-profile individuals, political parties or political figures, companies or third parties. National Grid/Edelman reserve the right to make edits to the speech as part of our coaching process or refuse speeches that do not meet requirements.
12. By submitting an entry for the Competition and ticking the parent or legal guardian consent box, the entrant’s parent or legal guardian is deemed to have given permission for the written entry, the speech, and any subsequent photos or videos of finalists/winners, along with the entrant’s forename, age and town or county, to be published free of charge by National Grid and Edelman at events such as COP26 and in all media/channels including television, radio, print, internet and any other communication media used by National Grid at any time, for all purposes they wish without additional compensation or prior notice, as part of this campaign, or as part of any future communications.
13. For editorial reasons, National Grid acquires ownership of all rights of the written entries, the speeches, and any video recordings of either and will acquire full editorial control of all content produced by the entrant. By participating in this competition, the entrant will be assigning all rights and interests in all existing or future rights of copyright under the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 (“the Copyright Act”) including waiving all moral rights granted by sections 77-89 of the Act and under any broadly equivalent rights granted anywhere else in the world to National Grid.  In some cases, including where the entrant is filmed, the parent or legal guardian will be asked to counter-sign an image release waiver prior to the filming taking place.
     

Judging process and criteria

14. All entries will be judged in the first instance by representatives from Edelman, who will decide which entries should be shortlisted as finalists, selecting the five best entries for each of the following categories:
    • Primary school: years 3-6 (entrants aged from 7 to 11)
    • Secondary school: years 7-10 (entrants aged from 11 to 15)
15. The parents or legal guardians of the shortlisted finalists will be contacted by Edelman to schedule filming of the entrant reading their submission to camera (see point 10 above).
16. In total, 10 verified and filmed entries (the five best for each category) will go through to the final round to be watched by the final judging panel who will decide on thefour winners (two from each category) who will then go on to be filmed delivering their final speech (see point 11 above).
17. The final judging panel will be made up of David Wright, Group Chief Engineer at National Grid, TV presenter Helen Skelton and two members of UK Parliament.
18. In the first round of judging, the written entries will be assessed against the following criteria to select the finalists:

• Originality of the idea – be as descriptive as possible on your hopes for a greener more sustainable world. Do not copy another’s work or mention brand names, characters, celebrities or other high-profile individuals, political parties or political figures, companies or third parties. All work must be your own.
• Creativity and passion – think differently and explain your idea in your own words to inspire world leaders to take note and listen.
• Inspire a reaction – inspire a reaction from the reader be it emotional, a change in behaviour or a change in their thinking.
• Spelling and grammar – Make sure you check your work for spelling and grammar mistakes.

19. In the final round, the judging panel will assess the video entries against the following criteria to select the winners:

• Speech delivery – be clear and concise and show you care. Think about the pace of your speech. Don’t forget about your body language and go for it.
• Originality of the idea – be as descriptive as possible on your hopes for a greener more sustainable world. Do not copy another’s work or mention brand names, characters, celebrities or other high-profile individuals, political parties or political figures, companies or third parties. All work must be your own.
• Creativity and passion – think differently and explain your idea in your own words to inspire world leaders to take note and listen.
• Inspire a reaction – inspire a reaction from the reader be it emotional, a change in behaviour or a change in their thinking.

19. National Grid/Edelman are committed to ensuring that all those who are eligible to participate in this competition can do so and are not restricted or prevented from doing so, or placed at a substantial disadvantage in the judging of their video entry as a result of any health condition or other physical or mental impairment. As a shortlisted finalist, if you believe that your ability to participate in the final stages of this competition may be affected in this way, your parent or legal guardian can discuss this with National Grid/Edelman at the time they are contacted to arrange filming and National Grid/Edelman will work with you to put reasonable adjustments in place.
     

Winners

21. The winners, and runners-up, will be notified from 23^rd September 2021 to 27^th September 2021.
22. National Grid’s decision in respect of all matters to do with the Competition will be final and no discussion or correspondence about any matters, including selection of finalists or winners, will be entered into.
23. National Grid reserves the right to disqualify any entrant who breaches the Terms and Conditions of the Competition, has acted fraudulently in any way, or has brought National Grid and the Competition into disrepute.
24. The winners will be announced on 20^th October 2021 and details will be available thereafter on the National Grid website. National Grid/Edelman require the winners and their parents or legal guardians to consult with us before making any statements to the media and to refrain from making any comments about winning on social media until 20^th October 2021.
25. The video of the winners delivering their speeches will be available on the National Grid website and other channels once it has been played at the United Nations Climate Conference (COP26).
     

Prizes

26. The prizes are as stated, and no cash or other alternatives will be offered. The prizes are not transferable. Prizes are subject to availability and National Grid/Edelman reserve the right to substitute any prize with another of equivalent value without giving notice.
27. For each of the four winners, the prizes are as follows:

• A VIP shoot with a professional videographer to record their final speech on camera.
• Their speech will be showcased digitally at the United Nations Climate Conference (COP26) – the largest conference the UK has ever hosted, attended by world leaders.
• The chance to be interviewed by media to talk about the competition.
• £150 worth of National Book Tokens and/or science, technology, engineering, maths (STEM) related toys.
• A £5,000 grant, that each school of the four winners can claim, to be spent on STEM or climate change related educational resources, equipment or experiences for their students.

26. Each of the six runners up, will receive a £50 National Book Tokens voucher.
27. The schools of the four winners, as specified on the entry form, will be contacted once the final winners have been confirmed and will need to complete a form to claim the £5,000 grant. If, for any reason, the school does not claim the grant within 28 days of being contacted, National Grid reserves the right to donate the £5,000 to a suitable alternative cause.
28. If a winner is home schooled, National Grid will donate the £5,000 grant to a suitable alternative cause.
29. National Grid/Edelman are not responsible for inaccurate prize details supplied to any entrant by any third party.
30. National Grid/Edelman will notify the winners and runners up of their prize allocations along with details of how the prizes will be administered. If any winner or runner up rejects their prize allocation, or there is any breach of these Terms and Conditions, their prize allocation will be forfeited.
31. Due to Covid-19, elements of the prize and involvement in publicity may change or have to be altered to fit with the prevailing Covid-19 regulations and requirements. If any of the prize details need to change as a result, all efforts will be made to fulfil an equivalent prize.
32. National Grid/Edelman reserve the right to change dates, due to editorial/production considerations, including any restrictions which may be extended due to COVID-19.
33. National Grid/Edelman accept no responsibility for any costs associated with the prizes.
     

Governing law and enforcement

36. National Grid reserves the right at its absolute discretion to make reasonable variations to these terms and conditions without prior notice, or to delay, vary or discontinue any aspect of the competition or the prizes awarded. 
37. The Competition and these Terms and Conditions will be governed by English law and any disputes will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England.