Comic Story Terms and Conditions 2026

1. By entering the competition, the entrant’s parents/guardians are deemed to have read, accepted, and agreed to be bound by, these Terms and Conditions.
2. Entry to the competition is open to all residents in Devon (excluding those from the Unitary authorities of Plymouth and Torbay and those excluded under 23) below).
3. The closing date for entries is midnight on Friday 30^th April 2027.
4. Entrants must draw an original comic, at school or at home, on one of the following themes: buying too much stuff (i.e. consumerism) or waste. For example, reducing waste, fast fashion, culture of having enough, 3Rs (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle), litter, circular economy etc.
5. Entries will be judged on several factors such as: Is there a consumerism or waste related theme? Is it creative and original? Is there good storytelling?
6. The comic must be submitted on a maximum of two sides of an A4 format, either portrait or landscape. Recycle Devon comic box templates will be provided on the website, but it is not mandatory to use them.
7. The comic can be drawn on paper or digitally, in colour or black and white.
8. There is no limit to wording on the comic.
9. Schools may submit multiple entries, but only one entry per pupil will be accepted.
10. For the purposes of judging, entries will be divided into four categories:
    • KS1 (years 1-2)
    • KS2 (years 3-6)
    • KS3/4 (years 7-11)
    • 16+ (16-19 years old)
11. Entries can be submitted using any of the following methods (Please include the name of the school you are attending if not home-schooled):
    • By email to recycle@devon.gov.uk
    • By post to: Lucy Mottram, Waste Management Team, Room 120, County Hall, Topsham Road, Exeter EX2 4QD
    • Dropped into your local Devon Library
12. Entries sent electronically should be in . If submitted from a school, file names should include the school’s name, pupil name and the year group of the pupils (e.g., Silverton_HartleyJ_Y5). Otherwise, the file name should include the persons’ name and age: e.g., HartleyJ_10.
13. The use of artificial intelligence software (AI) to draw and or write the comic will mean disqualification.
14. The use of clip art and or existing graphics on digital drawings will mean disqualification.
15. The winning entry and two runner-up entries will be selected for each of the age categories detailed above.
16. In case of a high number of entries submissions may be shortlisted prior to judging, at the discretion of Devon County Council.
17. The winning person in each category will win £50 of book tokens, a goody bag of Recycle Devon goodies and the possibility of having their comic displayed at their local library. They also win the opportunity for their comic to be shared on Recycle Devon’s social media channels, including Twitter (X), Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
18. The runners up will be awarded £10 of book tokens and a goody bag of Recycle Devon goodies.
19. The winners and runners up will each receive a framed certificate.
20. There are no cash alternatives for any of the prizes.
21. The winners will be announced in May 2027.
22. Devon County Council accepts no responsibility for late, lost, incomplete, incorrectly submitted, delayed or misdirected entries.
23. Entries will not be accepted from any children of the DCC Waste Management Team, Resource Futures Waste Education Team or Suez.
24. Devon County Council will appoint a fair and impartial judging panel to judge the entries and select winners. The winners will be selected from all valid entries. In the event of either poor quality or no valid entries being received from pupils in a particular age category, the judging panel reserves the right not to award all prizes.
25. Schools, young people (with parent/guardian permissions), and parents/ guardians must be willing to participate in publicity surrounding the winning of the prize and consent to Devon County Council and partner organisations using the submitted short stories for publicity. Winning entries may be used to promote the composting and climate activities through Recycle Devon, Libraries Unlimited and Devon Climate Emergency’s events, exhibitions, websites, social media, newsletters and publications for both commercial and non-commercial usage.
26. The copyright of the short story belongs to the author/s but by entering the competition you are deemed to agree to grant a royalty-free perpetual licence to Devon County Council and partner organisations for the promotional purposes set out in paragraph 25 above.
27. Devon County Council will not be liable for any loss (including, without limitation, indirect, special or consequential loss or loss of profits), expense or damage which is suffered or sustained (whether or not arising from any person’s negligence) in connection with this competition or accepting or using the prize, except for any liability which cannot be excluded by law (including personal injury, death and fraud).
28. The judges’ decision is final, and no correspondence will be entered into other than to notify the winning entrants.
29. If any winning entry is deemed not to comply with these Terms and Conditions, the entry will be discarded, and an alternative winner of the prize will be determined by the judges.
30. These Terms and Conditions are governed by English Law and shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English Courts.

Any queries relating to this competition should be directed to: Lucy Mottram, Waste Education Officer, Devon County Council; email: lucy.mottram@devon.gov.uk; telephone number: 01392 383519.