Privacy notice

1. Scope

This notice applies to the Soundly Said Global Essay Prize 2026 landing page, referral links, School Cup leaderboard, entry form, judging, prize verification, and related communications. Soundly Said is responsible for deciding how competition information is used.

2. Information we collect

The entry form may collect:

• student name and email address;
• age, grade or year level, and confirmation of secondary-school status;
• school or club name, country, school code, and referral code;
• a parent or guardian email where needed;
• essay titles, essay text, and links to view submitted documents;
• authorship, eligibility, rules, and consent confirmations; and
• technical records that service providers ordinarily create, such as submission time, IP address, device or browser information, and security logs.

3. How information is used

Soundly Said uses competition information to:

• receive, organize, verify, and judge entries;
• communicate about eligibility, access problems, results, prizes, or publication invitations;
• detect plagiarism, duplicate entries, artificial submissions, abuse, or other rule violations;
• calculate aggregate School Cup totals and issue school recognition;
• protect the form, entrants, and competition from security threats; and
• meet legal, financial, safeguarding, and record-keeping obligations.

Competition contact details are not sold. They are not added to unrelated marketing lists unless the student or guardian separately chooses to subscribe.

4. What may become public

The School Cup leaderboard may publicly show a school or club name, country, number of verified students, number of eligible essays, rank, and earned recognition. Individual student names and email addresses are not shown on that leaderboard, and a school row is held back until at least five students are verified.

Winner names, school names, biographical details, or essays are published only after appropriate notice and any consent required from the student or guardian. Submitting an essay is not automatic consent to publish the essay itself.

5. Service providers and international processing

Soundly Said uses third-party services to operate the Competition. These may include Jotform for the entry form, Netlify for website hosting and security, Google services when an entrant provides a Google Docs link, and email or payment services for communication and prizes. Judges and authorized competition readers also receive the limited information needed for their work.

These providers may process information in countries other than the entrant’s own. Their handling of information is also governed by their own terms and notices, including Jotform’s privacy policy and Netlify’s privacy statement.

Referral link generator

The generator creates a link in the student’s browser. Soundly Said does not receive the school information merely because someone generates a link; it is received when the link is visited or an entry form is submitted. Students should use a school or club name—not a person’s full name—as the school code.

Cookies and embedded content

This landing page does not set custom advertising cookies. The embedded entry form, hosting network, fonts, linked documents, or other third-party content may create essential technical records or use cookies under the provider’s own notice. The form can also be opened in a separate tab.

6. Retention and security

Entry and judging records are kept only for as long as reasonably needed to run the Competition, verify results, resolve disputes, and meet legal or financial obligations. Routine competition copies should be deleted or anonymized within 12 months after the winners are announced. Prize records, safeguarding records, active disputes, and separately authorized publication records may need to be kept longer.

Soundly Said uses reasonable administrative and technical safeguards and limits entry access to people who need it. No online storage or transmission method can be guaranteed completely secure, so entrants should avoid unnecessary sensitive information.

7. Students under 18 and guardian contact

The Competition is designed for high-school students. Entrants under the age of age of 18 must provide a guardian contact where requested. Soundly Said may contact that guardian to verify eligibility, authorize a prize, respond to a safeguarding concern, or obtain separate publication permission. The guardian’s address is not used for unrelated marketing.

A guardian who believes a student submitted information without appropriate permission may ask Soundly Said to review or remove it, subject to records that must be retained for safety, fraud prevention, or legal obligations.

8. Access, correction, deletion, and questions

Depending on local law, students or guardians may ask to access, correct, export, restrict, or delete personal information, or withdraw an optional consent. Withdrawing or deleting information needed to administer an entry may require the entry to be withdrawn from the Competition.

To make a request, use the contact options on the official Soundly Said website. Include the entrant’s name and entry email, but do not send an essay or identity document until Soundly Said confirms a secure method. Identity or guardian authority may need to be verified before a request is completed.

Notice version: August 30, 2026.