Terms and conditions

The competition

The title of the competition is “Igniting Innovation” and the Woodland Trust (“the Trust”) is inviting proposals from people aged 16 to 25 for projects to help fight the climate crisis.

The theme is open to your personal interpretation, but the Trust is inviting entries that are aligned with its strategy to inspire, protect and create woodland for people and planet.

All entries will be judged against four key criteria:

• Innovation
• Impact
• Feasibility
• Research

See further details of each the four key criteria for judging on the webpage.

The competition entry process will involve an initial written or video submission and then 18 shortlisted entries will be selected to submit a video presentation of their project for final judging. The 18 shortlisted entries will be invited to attend an online training session to assist them with the development of their project presentation.

The Judges, comprised of members of the Woodland Trust’s Conservation Evidence Team and Youth Reimagined Team, will then select six to eight winners from the video submissions received.

The closing date for entries is 9am on 20 January 2025.

The prizes

The winners will receive funding (up to a maximum of £6,000) from the £20,000 funding pot and up to 12 months mentorship from experienced business and conservation experts to develop and deliver projects that with help the fight against the climate crisis. Any funding awarded will be paid in advance in instalments in accordance with an agreed project budget. A Prize Award Panel including the Trust’s Head of Conservation Outcomes & Evidence and experts in the environmental sector will determine the level of funding and mentorship to be allocated to each winner at an in-person event on 10 May 2025.

General competition rules

1. The Promoter

1.1. The promoter is: The Woodland Trust of Kempton Way, Grantham, Lincolnshire, NG31 6LL (the Trust).

2. How to enter

2.1. The competition will run from 24 September 2024 (the "Opening Date") to 9am on 20 January 2025 (the "Closing Date") inclusive.

2.2. Entries can be submitted by individuals or as a joint entry by a team, which shall have no more than six team members. All member of the team must be within the 16–25 age range.

2.3. To enter the competition, entries must be submitted using the application form. Entrants may also submit an accompanying video submission with their online application form which should be sent to youth@woodlandtrust.org.uk. Video entries must not exceed five minutes in length to be eligible.

2.4. Entrants must complete all sections of the online application forms.

2.5. All competition entries must be received by the Trust as set out in 2.2 above by no later than midnight on the Closing Date. All competition entries received after the Closing Date, or which are longer than the five minute limit on video entries, will not be considered.

2.6. The Trust will not accept:

(a) responsibility for competition entries that are lost, mislaid, damaged or delayed in transit, regardless of cause, including, for example, as a result of any equipment failure, technical malfunction, systems, satellite, network, server, computer hardware or software failure of any kind; or

(b) proof of transmission as proof of receipt of entry to the competition.

2.7. By submitting a competition entry, you are agreeing to be bound by these terms and conditions.

2.8. Unsuccessful entrants will not be contacted and no feedback on any entry will be provided.

3. Eligibility

3.1. The competition is only open to all residents in the UK aged between 16 years and 25 years on the Closing Date, except:

(a) employees of the Trust or its subsidiary companies;

(b) employees of agents or suppliers of the Trust or its subsidiary companies, who are professionally connected with the competition or its administration; or

(c) members of the immediate families or households of (a) and (b) above.

3.2. In entering the competition, you confirm that your application is your own original work and content does not infringe any rights of third parties, including but not limited to copyright or use or reproduce any third-party trademarks without the necessary permissions and consents.

3.3. In entering the competition, you confirm that you are eligible to do so and eligible to claim any prize you may win. The Trust may require you to provide proof that you are eligible to enter the competition.

3.4. If you are under the age of 18, you must provide written parental or guardian consent to claim your prize. The Trust may ask the winners to provide proof of age.

3.5. By entering, entrants (or their parent/guardian as appropriate) will be deemed to have agreed to be bound by these competition terms and conditions and the Trust reserves the right to exclude any entry from the competition at any time and in its absolute discretion if the Trust has reason to believe that an entrant has breached these rules, acted fraudulently in any way or brings the Trust into disrepute. The Trust reserves all rights to disqualify you if your conduct is contrary to the spirit or intention of the prize competition.

4. Judging process

4.1. The entries will be judged through the following process:

4.2. Stage One – assessment of entries. All entries will be assessed by judges comprising of members of the Woodland Trust’s Youth Re-imagined Team and Conservation Evidence Team who will compile a shortlist of 18 entries.

4.3. Stage Two – shortlist and final video submission. Each of the shortlisted 18 entries will be invited to prepare and submit a video presentation of their project proposal for judging in Stage Three. Entrants will also be invited to attend an online training session on 15 February 2025 to assist them with the development of their project and its presentation for final judging in Stage Three. Attendance at this training session is not mandatory to proceed to the next stage of the competition. Each of the shortlisted entrants will be contacted by the Trust within three weeks of the Closing Date. If, after reasonable attempts, a shortlisted entrant cannot be contacted, the Trust reserves the right to offer the place on the shortlist to the next best entry.

The deadline for submission of final video presentations is 9am on 10 March 2025.

4.4. Stage Three – judging of video submissions. From the video presentations submitted by the deadline in Stage Two, six to eight winners from the video submissions received will be selected. The video submissions will be judged by a panel of judges comprised of two members of the Woodland Trust’s Youth Re-imagined Team and one member of the Conservation Evidence Team based on the criteria published on the challenge information page. The decision of the panel of Judges will be final. Each of the winners will be contacted by a member of the Trust within two weeks of judging. The Trust will send the full names of the Judges to anyone who writes within one month after the Closing Date of the competition requesting details of the Judges.

4.5. Stage Four – prize allocation. The six to eight winners will be invited to attend an in-person event on Saturday 10 May 2025 at a location in London to pitch their project proposal in person to the Prize Award Panel and answer any questions they may have.

4.6. The Prize Award Panel will consist of up to five members including the Trust’s Head of Conservation Outcomes & Evidence and experts in the environmental sector who support the work of the Trust. The winners will be notified of the identities of the Prize Award Panel prior to the event.

4.7. The Prize Award Panel will decide what financial amounts from the prize fund of £20,000 to award to each entrant, up to a maximum of £6,000 per entrant, and the level of mentorship involvement for each project, up to a maximum of 12 months mentorship. The Prize Award Panel will consider the requested project budgets and the project’s financial requirements in determining their award. For the May 2025 event, depending on travel requirements and distance from entrant’s home, the Trust will contribute a reasonable amount to the travel expenses of each entrant and, at the Trust’s discretion, one other person to accompany them as appropriate.

4.8 The winners will be advised of their prizes at the event on Saturday 10 May 2025 (Announcement Date).

4.9 The decisions of the Prize Award Panel (acting reasonably) will be final.

5. The prizes

5.1. There are up to eight prizes available to be won comprising two elements:

i) a financial contribution to your winning project (up to a maximum of £6,000 per entrant) to be paid in an amount determined by the Prize Award Panel.

ii) up to 12 months mentorship support, including quarterly workshops (the type, duration and amount of support to be determined by the Prize Award Panel) from experienced business and conservation experts to develop and deliver projects that with help the fight against the climate crisis.

5.2. The financial contribution will be provided in the form of payment in instalments made to a nominated bank account agreed by the Trust up to the maximum amount of the prize awarded. Payments and instalment amounts will be determined by the Trust in accordance with the proposed project spend requirements agreed by the Prize Award Panel who will use their expertise and experience to assess the project’s financial needs. Payment of any future instalments will be subject to satisfactory evidence of proof of spending of any previous instalments. The winners will be required to enter into a legally binding agreement to commit that any funds will only be spent on their project and any funds not spent on the project will need to be repaid.

5.3. Each winner will need to commit to attend mandatory quarterly workshops throughout their mentorship period and will be supported by their allocated mentor and Woodland Trust staff in the management of the project throughout the mentorship period awarded to the project.

5.4 The prize is not negotiable or transferable.

6. Winners

6.1. The decision of either the Judges or the Prize Award Panel are final and no correspondence or discussion will be entered into.

6.2. The Trust must either publish or make available information that indicates that a valid award took place. To comply with this obligation the Trust will publish your first name, age, city or county where you live and a description of your winning entry on The Woodland Trust website within 30 days of the prize award on 10 May 2025.

6.3. The participants agree to co-operate with any reasonable requests by the Trust relating to any post-competition publicity.

6.4. If you object to any or all of your first name, age, and city or county where you live being published or made available or participating in the required publicity, please contact the Trust at youth@woodlandtrust.org.uk. In such circumstances, the Trust must still provide the information and winning entry to the Advertising Standards Authority on request.

7. Claiming the prize

7.1. Prizes will be distributed and the first instalment paid into the entrants’ nominated bank account once the Trust has agreed the value of first instalment. You will also be contacted to arrange any mentorship sessions.

7.2. The Trust will make all reasonable efforts to contact the winners to arrange the winners claim of their prizes. If the winner cannot be contacted or is not available, or has not claimed their prize within 30 days of the Announcement Date, the Trust reserves the right to offer the prize to the next eligible entrant selected from the correct entries that were received before the Closing Date.

7.3. The Trust does not accept any responsibility if you are not able to take up the prize.

8. Limitation of liability

8.1. Insofar as is permitted by law, the Trust, its agents or distributors will not in any circumstances be responsible or liable to compensate the winner or accept any liability for any loss, damage, personal injury or death occurring as a result of taking up the prize except where it is caused by the negligence of the Trust, its agents or distributors or that of their employees. Your statutory rights are not affected.

9. Ownership of competition entries and intellectual property rights

9.1. All competition entries and any accompanying material submitted to the Trust will become the property of the Trust on receipt and will not be returned.

9.2. Unless otherwise agreed by the Trust in writing, by submitting your competition entry and any accompanying material, you agree to:

(a) assign to the Trust all your intellectual property rights with full title guarantee; and

(b) waive all moral rights,

in and to your competition entry and otherwise arising in connection with your entry to which you may now or at any time in the future be entitled under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 as amended from time to time and under all similar legislation from time to time in force anywhere in the world.

9.3. You agree that the Trust may, but is not required to, make your entry available on its website and any other media, whether now known or invented in the future, and in connection with any publicity of the competition. You agree to grant the Trust a non-exclusive, worldwide, irrevocable licence, for the full period of any intellectual property rights in the competition entry and any accompanying materials, to use, display, publish, transmit, copy, edit, alter, store, re-format and sub-licence the competition entry and any accompanying materials for such purposes.

10. Data protection and publicity

10.1. The Trust will only process your personal information as set out in the Privacy Policy. See also conditions 6.2, 6.3 and 6.4, with regard to the announcement of winners.

11. General

11.1. If there is any reason to believe that there has been a breach of these terms and conditions, the Trust may, at its sole discretion, reserve the right to exclude you from participating in the competition.

11.2. The Trust reserves the right to hold void, suspend, cancel, or amend the prize competition where it becomes necessary to do so.

11.3. These terms and conditions shall be governed by English law, and the parties submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.