Privacy Notice

This notice explains how the North East Women of Excellence Awards (the "Awards") collects, uses and protects personal information through this entry platform.

Last updated: 13 September 2026

Who is responsible

The data controller for personal information collected through this platform is:

North East Women of Excellence Awards Ltd

Company number: 17378224

North East Women of Excellence Awards Ltd is registered with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), registration reference ZC241809.

Registered address:
Clavering House
Clavering Place
Newcastle Upon Tyne
England
NE1 3NG

If you have any questions about this notice or how we use your personal information, contact us by email at hello@northeastwomenofexcellenceawards.com or write to us at the registered address above.

What we collect

Through nominations, we collect:

• the nominee's name, email address, job title and organisation;
• the nominator's name, email address, organisation, relationship to the nominee and supporting statement;
• whether the nominator is happy to be contacted about the nomination.

Through accounts and applications, we collect:

• account name and email address, and a securely stored password;
• application details: name, job title, organisation, the North East areas the business or organisation is based in, answers to the application questions, any supporting evidence file, and any audio or video answers;
• confirmation of eligibility and acceptance of the Entry Terms & Conditions, including the version accepted, the date and time, the typed signature, and technical information such as IP address and browser;
• records of emails the platform has sent about a nomination or application.

Optionally, you may also give us:

• a LinkedIn profile link and an Instagram handle;
• permission to use appropriate information or extracts from your entry in finalist and winner publicity, and separate permission to tag your public social media accounts;
• consent to receive Awards news and updates;
• equality and diversity monitoring answers: age group, ethnic group, disability or long-term health condition, and caring responsibilities.

We do not ask for a date of birth, a diagnosis, medical information or evidence of any condition. We do not collect photographs or organisation logos at application stage.

Why we collect it and our legal basis

We use personal information for the purposes described below. The legal basis that applies depends on what we are doing.

1. Awards administration

Personal information supplied through nominations, accounts and applications is used to administer the Awards, communicate with entrants and nominees, assess eligibility, manage entries, conduct judging and moderation, select and communicate with finalists and winners, and deliver the Awards. This is necessary for our legitimate interests in running the Awards fairly and effectively, and to take steps before entering into or fulfilling the arrangements that allow someone to participate. Submitting an application or nomination is a choice; when you do so, we need to use the information you provide to run that process.

2. Essential Awards communications

We may need to contact entrants, nominees, judges and other relevant participants with service or transactional communications that are necessary to operate the Awards. These include messages about account verification, nomination and application status, judging arrangements, eligibility questions, finalist and winner announcements, and technical issues. These communications are separate from optional marketing emails and are sent because they are necessary to administer the Awards.

3. Marketing

We only send marketing or newsletter communications to people who have separately opted in through the platform. This consent is collected independently from the entry process and from the Entry Terms & Conditions. You can withdraw this consent at any time, and doing so will not affect your entry or how it is judged.

4. Publicity

Additional finalist and winner promotional use of entry extracts and related publicity is based on the separate optional publicity permission collected in the application. This is entirely voluntary. Basic administration and announcement of Awards results, including identifying finalists and winners by name, organisation and category, is separate from this additional promotional permission and does not depend on it. If you do not give the additional permission, we can still administer the Awards, announce the outcome and include you in the results.

5. Equality and diversity monitoring

Monitoring information is collected only with your explicit consent. It is entirely optional: you can leave every question blank or choose "Prefer not to say" without affecting your entry. We use it in aggregate to understand who the Awards are reaching and representing across the North East during the live awards campaign and for post-campaign review, and to identify where outreach, representation and accessibility may need to improve. Live campaign monitoring may include people who have started an application as well as those who have submitted one. It is never used to assess an entry and it does not affect eligibility, judging, finalist selection or winner selection.

Information about ethnicity and disability or long-term health conditions can be particularly sensitive. By choosing to answer those questions, you give your explicit consent to our use of that information for this specific monitoring purpose only.

Equality and diversity monitoring

These questions are entirely optional and exist so we can understand who the Awards are reaching across the North East and where we need to improve outreach, representation and accessibility. Your monitoring answers:

• are never used in judging, scoring or eligibility decisions;
• are never made available to judges or category partners;
• are stored separately from your application and its answers;
• are displayed in Campaign Performance as aggregate counts and percentages only, with groups of fewer than five shown as "Fewer than 5" and the corresponding percentage hidden to reduce identification risk;
• free-text self-described ethnicity information is not displayed in Campaign Performance and is represented there only within the aggregate "Self-described" group;
• are accessible individually only to authorised Awards administrators, and only where genuinely required;
• are not included in general entrant or application exports.

Ethnicity and disability information is treated as particularly sensitive and handled with additional care, including restricted access and aggregate-first reporting.

Social media

Providing a LinkedIn profile link or Instagram handle in your application does not itself give us permission to tag you on social media. Tagging permission is collected separately through an optional tick-box in the application, and you can give or withhold it regardless of whether you have provided your social profile details.

Who we share information with

We share personal information only where necessary with people and service providers involved in operating the Awards:

• authorised Awards administrators;
• assigned independent judges, but only the application information they need to assess entries;
• technology, hosting, email and data-storage providers used to operate the Awards platform and send communications;
• other professional or service providers where genuinely required to administer or deliver the Awards.

Judges do not receive individual equality and diversity monitoring responses, social profile links, publicity permissions or marketing preferences. Sponsors and category partners do not automatically receive entrant personal information from this platform.

If you become a finalist or winner, your name, organisation and category will be used in Awards announcements and publicity as set out in the Entry Terms & Conditions, along with anything covered by the optional permissions you have given.

Security

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal information and restrict access according to role and purpose. Entrants can see only their own information, judges can see only the entries assigned to them, and administrative access is limited to authorised Awards administrators. Uploaded evidence and recordings are stored in private storage and are not publicly accessible. Passwords are never visible to us, and key actions such as terms acceptance, judging and result decisions are logged.

How long we keep it

We keep information for as long as needed to run the Awards cycle and maintain a proper record of entries and results:

• Unsuccessful nomination and application records are normally retained for up to two years after the relevant Awards cycle, unless there is a legitimate reason or legal requirement to retain them longer.
• Identifiable equality and diversity monitoring responses are normally retained for no longer than two years after the relevant Awards cycle.
• Anonymised or aggregated monitoring statistics may be retained longer so that the Awards can compare reach and representation between years.
• Finalist and winner information may be retained for longer as part of the Awards' historical record and archive.
• Marketing information is retained while the person remains subscribed, with appropriate records retained where necessary to respect an unsubscribe or withdrawal.
• Publicity permission records may be retained where necessary to demonstrate the permission given and manage subsequent use or withdrawal.

Your rights

Depending on the circumstances, you may have rights in relation to your personal information, including the right to access, correct, delete or restrict its use, to object to certain processing, and to withdraw consent where our processing is based on consent.

Withdrawing consent does not make earlier lawful use of your information unlawful. For example, if you withdraw publicity consent after we have already published a winner announcement based on that consent, the withdrawal stops future use but does not erase what was already done lawfully.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at hello@northeastwomenofexcellenceawards.com. You also have the right to raise concerns with the UK Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk.

Contact us

For privacy questions or to exercise your rights, email hello@northeastwomenofexcellenceawards.com or write to:

North East Women of Excellence Awards Ltd
Clavering House
Clavering Place
Newcastle Upon Tyne
England
NE1 3NG

This notice describes how the entry platform currently works. It will be updated if that changes.