picture showing screwed up paper and a ring bound notepad
  1. By entering the competition, entrants 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 young people aged 5-18 resident in Devon (excluding those from the Unitary authorities of Plymouth and Torbay).
  3. The closing date for entries is midnight on Saturday 30th November 2019.
  4. Entrants must write a poem, at school or at home, on a rubbish, waste, 3Rs (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) or compost theme (including plastics).
  5. The poem must be submitted on A4 paper in portrait in 12pt or 14pt Times New Roman, Arial or Calibri font.
  6. Poems can be in any form and any length up to 20 lines long.
  7. Schools may submit multiple entries, but only one entry per pupil will be accepted.
  8. For the purposes of judging, entries will be divided into four categories:
    1. KS1 (years 1 & 2; 5-7 year olds)
    2. KS2 (years 3, 4, 5 & 6; 8-10 year olds)
    3. KS3/4 (years 7-11; 11-15 year olds)
    4. 16-18 year olds
  9. Entries can be submitted using any of the following methods:
    1. By email to recycle@devon.gov.uk
    2. By drop off at a public library in Devon in the designated bins
    3. By post to:
      Lucy Mottram,

      Waste Management Team,

      County Hall,

      Topsham Road,

      Exeter

      EX2 4QD

  10. Entries sent electronically should be in Word or PDF format. If submitted from a school, file names should include the school name, pupil name and the year group of the pupils (e.g. Silverton_HartleyJ_Y5). Otherwise the file name should include the young persons’ name and age: e.g. HartleyJ_10.
  11. One winning entry and two runner-up entries will be selected for each of the age categories detailed above.
  12. In case of a high number of entries submissions may be shortlisted by an impartial panel prior to judging, at the discretion of Devon County Council.
  13. The winning young person in each category will win £50 of book tokens and a reusable bag of Recycle Devon merchandise. They also win the opportunity to read out their poem and have it recorded so it can be broadcast across our social media channels, including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
  14. The runners up will be awarded £25 of book tokens and a reusable bag of recycled goodies.
  15. The twelve winners and runners up will each receive a framed certificate and the chance have their poem read aloud (either by themselves or someone nominated by them or the Recycle Devon team) for the Waste Education YouTube channel.
  16. There are no cash alternatives for any of the prizes.
  17. The winners will be announced in March 2020 at the Recycle Devon Awards.
  18. Devon County Council accepts no responsibility for late, lost, incomplete, incorrectly submitted, delayed or misdirected entries.
  19. Entries will not be accepted from any children of the judges, DCC Waste Management Team, Suez or Resource Futures Waste Educators.
  20. 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.
  21. Schools and young people 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 poems for publicity purposes. Winning entries may be used to promote the 3Rs and composting through events, exhibitions, websites and publications for both commercial and non-commercial usage.
  22. 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) in which case that liability is limited to the minimum allowable by law.
  23. The judges’ decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into other than to notify the winning entrants. 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.
  24. 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

Email: lucy.mottram@devon.gov.uk

Telephone: 01392 383519