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The Â鶹ԼÅÄ National Short Story Award 2025 Privacy Notice

Your trust is very important to us. This means the Â鶹ԼÅÄ is committed to protecting the privacy and security of your personal data. It is important that you read this notice so that you are aware of how and why we are using such personal data. This privacy notice describes how we collect and use personal data about you during and after your relationship with us, in accordance with data protection law.

Why are we doing this and how can you participate?

The Â鶹ԼÅÄ National Short Story Award is one of the most prestigious awards for a single short story, with the winning author receiving £15,000, and four further shortlisted authors £600 each. The stories will be broadcast on Radio 4 and published in an anthology.

They may also be broadcast and/or published on Â鶹ԼÅÄ platforms such as radio, the Â鶹ԼÅÄ website and the Â鶹ԼÅÄ’s social media pages.

We are asking published authors or their agent/publisher to send us one short story of up to 8,000 words to be considered for the award.

If an entry has been submitted by an agent/publisher, the agent/publisher will need to inform the author about the sharing of their personal data to the Â鶹ԼÅÄ prior to submitting the entry and ensure they have their permission to do so.

The personal data will be collected via an online platform used by the Â鶹ԼÅÄ.

Individuals who are shortlisted will be invited to participate in various activities to promote and share their story. For information in relation to how the Â鶹ԼÅÄ will process your personal data where you are providing contributions to our programmes, please see our Privacy Notice for Contributors .

What personal data will the Â鶹ԼÅÄ collect and how will we use it?

When you submit a story for the Â鶹ԼÅÄ National Short Story Award, the Â鶹ԼÅÄ will collect and process personal data about you/the author for the following purposes:

• To administer the Award,
• To obtain the relevant permissions,
• To communicate with you on matters relating to the awards and,
• If the author is shortlisted, to publish information about the author and their story on the Â鶹ԼÅÄ’s website and Cambridge University’s website.

Personal data
There are two types of personal data: personal data and special category data. Special category data is still personal data, but its processing by the Â鶹ԼÅÄ requires the Â鶹ԼÅÄ to follow additional compliance steps

Authors must be aged 18 or over on the submission deadline and be a British national or UK resident to apply for the Award.

The Â鶹ԼÅÄ will collect and process the following personal data about authors:

• Full name
• Email address (if submitting their own entry)
• Phone number (if submitting their own entry)
• Gender
• Proof of nationality or residence (such as through a utility bill)
• City/country of residence
• Postal address (if submitting their own entry)
• Image of the shortlisted author for publication
• Biographical information about the shortlisted authors that the authors provide to us

The Â鶹ԼÅÄ may also collect and process special category data about authors, depending on what information is shared with us. This could include: 

• Racial or ethnic origin
• Religious or philosophical beliefs
• Health information

The Â鶹ԼÅÄ will collect and process the following personal data about publishers/agents, if a story is submitted by them on an author’s behalf:

• Full name
• Place of work
• Email address
• Phone number
• Country and city of residency

We will review the applications and create an initial shortlist. Only the shortlisted entrants would be required to prove their residency.

Background checks

Before selecting a winner the Â鶹ԼÅÄ may run background checks on the five (5) shortlisted entrants to verify publication history based on the information provided in the entry form.

The Â鶹ԼÅÄ may also carry out further background checks on the five shortlisted entrants such online and social media screening checks and DBS checks. The Â鶹ԼÅÄ will use the personal data processed as part of background checks to verify you meet the eligibility criteria. Information returned as part of a background check may not rule you out of the awards, but non-disclosure of such information which is later discovered may result in your exclusion from the awards.

Who is the Data Controller?

The Â鶹ԼÅÄ is the “data controller” of your personal data. This means that the Â鶹ԼÅÄ decides what your personal data is used for, and the ways in which it is processed. For the avoidance of doubt, your personal data will be collected and processed solely for the purposes set out in this privacy notice. As the data controller, the Â鶹ԼÅÄ has the responsibility to comply, and to demonstrate compliance with, data protection law.

Lawful basis for processing your personal data

For the purpose of running the awards, the lawful basis on which the Â鶹ԼÅÄ processes the personal data and special category data is the performance of its public task. The additional condition on which the Â鶹ԼÅÄ processes your special category data is substantial public interest related to statutory and governmental purposes. The Â鶹ԼÅÄ’s role is to act in the public interest and to serve all audiences with content which informs, educates, and entertains. 

This is consistent with the Â鶹ԼÅÄ’s wider public purposes under its Royal Charter, which states that the Â鶹ԼÅÄ should:

“show the most creative, highest quality and distinctive output and services: the Â鶹ԼÅÄ should provide high-quality output in many different genres and across a range of services and platforms which sets the standard in the United Kingdom and internationally. Its services should be distinctive from those provided elsewhere and should take creative risks, even if not all succeed, in order to develop fresh approaches and innovative content.”

The lawful basis on which the Â鶹ԼÅÄ processes personal data for background checks is our legitimate interest in evaluating and assessing your application to ensure that we shortlist entrants who are suitable for the awards.The Â鶹ԼÅÄ has a legitimate interest to select appropriate entrants whose values align with the Â鶹ԼÅÄ’s. We have carefully considered the impact on you and will not use your personal data where the impact overrides our interests.

We may process criminal convictions data when we ask you to complete a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check, which we will only do to the extent permitted by law. Our lawful basis in those circumstances will be for the safeguarding of children and individuals at risk.

The Â鶹ԼÅÄ have a legal obligation to process the personal data of the winners to comply with relevant competition regulations.

Sharing your personal data

The Â鶹ԼÅÄ works with our approved third-party providers who help us to provide some of our services. These partners only use your personal data on behalf of the Â鶹ԼÅÄ and not independently of the Â鶹ԼÅÄ.

A full list of authors who entered to the Award will be shared with the judges who are literary professionals. In addition, story title, entrant names and town/region of residence for those submissions shortlisted and highly commended will be shared with the judges, and with Cambridge University who is the Â鶹ԼÅÄ’s partner in administering the Award.

We may share personal data with a third party where required or permitted by law.

Retaining your personal data

The personal data of the successful author and/or their agent/publisher will be stored by the Â鶹ԼÅÄ for a period of two (2) years for regulatory purposes.

The name and gender of the author and title of the submitted story of all participants will be retained for the lifetime of the Award in order to run future awards. All other personal data from the submission will be deleted by 3rd November 2025.

Contributions that are broadcast and/or published will be retained and archived in perpetuity.

Your personal data will be stored in the UK and the European Economic Area (EEA).

Your rights and more information

You have rights under data protection law:

• You can request a copy of the personal data the Â鶹ԼÅÄ stores about you.
• You have the right to request that we rectify any inaccurate or incomplete personal data that we hold about you.
• You have the right to ask for the personal data we collect about you to be deleted, however there are limitations and exceptions to this right which may entitle the Â鶹ԼÅÄ to refuse your request.
• In certain circumstances you have the right to restrict the processing of your personal data, or to object to the processing of your personal data.
• You have the right to ask that we transfer the personal data to you or to another organisation, in certain circumstances.

You can contact our, Data Protection Officer if you have questions or you wish to find out more details about your rights, please visit the Â鶹ԼÅÄ’s Privacy and Cookies Policy at .

If you have a concern about the way the Â鶹ԼÅÄ has handled your personal data, you can raise your concern with the supervisory authority in the UK, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) .

Updating this privacy notice

We will revise the privacy notice if there are significant changes to how we use your personal data.