Terms and Conditions

Eligibility, Terms and Conditions

Entry is open to bona fide individuals who are working for the NHS and have a direct current employment contract with the NHS. This includes contract workers who also have a personal working contract. Entry is not open to third party agencies who are acting in the capacity of suppliers, such as marketing communications agencies. The judges reserve the right to decide on the eligibility of any entrant against the above criteria with their decision being final and binding.
Only projects that have commenced or finished in the period between 1 August 2008 and 30 June 2009 and for which results information is available, can be entered. We know that outstanding teams take time to develop therefore, for the Best Communications Team category only you may submit covering work completed during the previous three years.
Previous winners are entitled to enter or be nominated by a peer entrant, but the work must be significantly different to that entered in previous years. In particular, a re-run of a existing project campaign or broadened audience for a similar communication would be unlikely to constitute a sufficient material difference to qualify.
A project can only be entered into a maximum of two categories. Entrants should select the category in which they believe their project best fits the category descriptor. At their sole discretion, the judging panel may, in exceptional circumstances, decide to move an entry to be considered in another category.
Entries that are incomplete or wrongly completed will be disqualified at the sole discretion of the awards team.
The judges reserve the right to disqualify any entrant that they consider, in their sole discretion, to be in breach of any law, or of any other relevant codes of practice.
Entries must be submitted in the form stated in the entry instructions.

Entries must be signed by the entry applicant who will be known as the ‘nominee’. Alternatively in the case of an applicant applying to nominate another peer, this person will be known as the ‘nominator’; the nominator shall be the person responsible for signing the entry until such time as the entries have been shortlisted and the shortlisted nominees have been notified and/or invited to submit further documentary support. Nominees who are shortlisted will then become the primary contact responsible for their entry.
The peer nominator or nominee concerned, grants to the NHS, the right to show all entry details to an external judging panel and confirms that they have been given permission, where appropriate, to disclose any such information, which may include for example, results information, which may be otherwise deemed confidential. The nominator or nominee also grants in principal, the right to publish the entry and/or its contents to an unlimited national audience including the NHS National Communications Awards website and via third party media who may be commissioned. The NHS would seek permission before publishing entry content to a wider national audience.
No submissions will be returned. No liability is accepted for loss of or damage to submissions.
The judges’ decisions are final on all matters and no correspondence will be entered into.
Judges will not be entitled to vote on any activity in which they have any vested interest.
All entries must be received by 17 September 2009.
The NHS reserves the right, in extenuating circumstances, to cancel the awards programme at any time and shall not have any liability of whatsoever nature to entrants in such circumstances or otherwise.