BBC Sports Personality of the Year Unsung Hero Awards 2022 - Award Rules & Privacy Notice

1. Any UK resident (including the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man) aged 16 or over on 1 January 2022 is eligible to be nominated, except previous winners of the BBC Get Inspired Unsung Hero Awards, BBC or BBC Group employees or any person connected to the Awards and their close relatives. Nominees aged between 16 and 17 will require parental consent to be nominated. Proof of age, identity, eligibility and consent (where applicable) may be requested.

2. The nominee must:

(i) either be an individual or formally organised sports or activity group involved in the same activity;

(ii) help amateurs participate in a physical activity or sport, or be engaged in community development work through sport (and that physical activity or sport must have a recognised governing body. Please see the list here, external.)

(iii) offer help that does not normally form part of their job or normally take place at their place of work unless such help goes above and beyond their paid work activities in which case an explanation will be required;

(iv) help voluntarily with no financial reward;

(v) be engaged in sporting endeavour primarily; where fundraising results from that endeavour the nominees must not be linked to the charity that has benefitted;

(vi) in the opinion of the person nominating be deserving of a BBC Award;

(vii) not bring the BBC into disrepute (in the BBC's sole discretion); and

(viii) have consented or have parental consent to be nominated.

3. Nominations can be made:

Via bbc.co.uk/unsunghero through the online webform. Entries can be written or video files.

Or via bbc.co.uk/unsunghero where a downloadable form can be completed and emailed to [email protected].

Nominations will be accepted from 7.00am on Friday 30th September 2022 and must be received no later than 11.59pm (UK time) on Sunday 30th October 2022. Each entry route is capped - if more than 2 minutes of video is submitted only the first 2 minutes will be assessed. For written entries (online or emailed form) only the first 800 words will be assessed and will require more than 100 words to be considered.

4. All nominations must be on an official BBC form (downloaded or online). No more than two persons can be included in a nomination. Where a group of three or more is nominated, that nomination will be discarded. Persons nominating should declare any professional or personal relationship with the person or people nominated.

5. The BBC will appoint a panel who will each shortlist no more than 9 nominees for the final judging panel. The shortlisting criteria will be:

(i) The impact they have had on individuals and/or their local community;

(ii) The impact they have had on communities at a regional/national level beyond their local community

(iii) The extent of the nominee's contribution at the grassroots level of their sport or physical activity; and

(iv) The personal sacrifices or commitment made.

(v) The extent of the nominee's contribution to people not engaged in their sport or physical activity

Actions which qualify for criteria (i) - (v) will be considered primarily on the previous twelve months. Fundraising activities will be eligible for consideration in the award but fundraising itself is not a criterion and will not gain additional credit in shortlisting the nominations or selection of the winner.

6. Persons shortlisted may be asked to disclose details of any criminal convictions and offences (including any allegations or investigations that are being carried out). The BBC will not require shortlisted finalists to provide information relating to spent convictions. If disclosure is required by the BBC, nominees will be asked to sign a consent form at the time of disclosure. Nominated persons asked for this information must keep the BBC informed of any changes to that disclosed up to the point the winner is announced. This information will be handled in the strictest confidence and, as with all personal data, in accordance with the Privacy Notice.

7. The BBC may undertake background checks of the shortlisted finalists (including searches on public websites and social media platforms). If this is required by the BBC, nominees will be asked to sign a consent form at the time. Information discovered or that may have been disclosed by the entrants themselves will inform the decision as to the selection of the finalists (which shall be at the judging panel's sole discretion).

8. A national judging panel will then meet to select the overall winner based on the aforementioned criteria in section five, any supporting documentation and a short BBC film about each of them. The panel will consist of representatives from the BBC, leading sports figures and a previous BBC Unsung Hero winner dependent on availability. The judging process will be overseen by an independent verifier.

9. The overall winner will be announced live on BBC One's Sports Personality of the Year 2022 programme, and to which the winner and their guest are invited to attend.

10. The judges' decision as to the winner is final. No correspondence relating to the awards will be entered into.

11. The winner will receive the national BBC Sports Personality of the Year Unsung Hero Award 2022 trophy. There are no cash alternatives and the award cannot be sold or transferred in any circumstances.

12. All winners must agree to take part in any post-award publicity if required.

13. The BBC reserves the right to:

(i) vary the opening and closing times for making nominations and to vary the date of the announcement of the awards;

(ii) disqualify any nominee who breaches the rules or has acted fraudulently in any way; and/or

(iii) cancel or vary the awards or any of the selection processes or criteria, at any stage, if in its sole opinion it is deemed necessary or if circumstances arise outside of its control.

14. The BBC, its sub-contractors, subsidiaries and/or agencies cannot accept any responsibility whatsoever for any technical failure or malfunction or any other problem which may result in any nomination not being properly registered.

15. Persons nominating and nominees will be deemed to have accepted these rules and agree to be bound by them.

Your trust is very important to us. This means the BBC 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.

The BBC Sports Personality of the Year Unsung Hero Award is awarded to an individual who has made a substantive yet unrecognised contribution to sport. You can nominate the outstanding volunteers in sport in your community, recognising impact on the community in the last twelve months.

Your nominee must be 16 or over on 1 January 2022. You can nominate via this web form or via bbc.co.uk/unsunghero where a downloadable form can be completed and emailed to [email protected].

If you use the online form, the BBC will collect the personal data via an online platform used by the BBC.

You will need permission from the nominee or the nominee's parents/guardians if the nominee is under 18 years of age.

The winning nominee must agree to take part in any post-award publicity if required. We may use yours or your nominee's contribution for promotional purposes on the BBC's social media sites.

If we broadcast the contribution on-air, this may include the programme being available online and/or on demand, and the contribution may be used again in a future broadcast.

For information in relation to how the BBC will process your or your nominee's personal data, where you are providing contributions to our programmes, please see our Privacy Notice for Contributors here.

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 BBC requires the BBC to follow additional compliance steps. 

Your nominee must have been aged 16 years or over on 1st January 2022 to be nominated.

The BBC will collect and process the following personal data about you

•Full name

•Postcode

•Email address

•Contact telephone number

•Your submission (video file or written form) which contains your opinion and reasons for nominating someone

The BBC will collect and process the following personal data about your nominee

•Full name

•Postcode

•UK region where they live

•Email address

•Contact telephone number

•The personal stories and achievements about nominee that you provide

If your nominee is under the age of 18 years old, we will also collect and process the following personal data about their parent/guardian, to seek permission for their child's nomination:

•Full name

•Email address

•Contact telephone number

Depending on the content of your submission we will also collect the following special category data about you nominee:

•Race or ethnic origin     

• Religious or philosophical beliefs       

• Health information

•Sexual orientation

The BBC will carry out background checks on the shortlisted nominees, such as online and social media screening checks and DBS checks. The BBC will use the personal data processed as part of background checks to verify that they meet the eligibility criteria. Information returned as part of a background check may not rule someone out of the awards, but non-disclosure of such information, which is later discovered may result in their exclusion from the awards.

The BBC is the "data controller" of your personal data. This means that the BBC 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 BBC has the responsibility to comply, and to demonstrate compliance with, data protection law.

The lawful basis on which the BBC processes your personal data is the performance of its public task. The lawful basis on which the BBC processes your special category data is substantial public interest. The BBC'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 BBC's wider public purposes under its Royal Charter in which the BBC should:

"To support learning for people of all ages: the BBC should help everyone learn about different subjects in ways they will find accessible, engaging, inspiring and challenging. The BBC should provide specialist educational content to help support learning for children and teenagers across the United Kingdom. It should encourage people to explore new subjects and participate in new activities through partnerships with educational, sporting and cultural institutions."

The BBC 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 BBC and not independently of the BBC.

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

We will keep personal data for unsuccessful nominations for up to ninety (90) days after the winner has been announced.

We will keep personal data for winning nominations for two (2) years for auditing and compliance purposes.

Your personal data will be stored in the UK and the EEA.

You have rights under data protection law:

•You can request a copy of the personal data the BBC 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 BBC 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 , externalif you have questions or you wish to find out more details about your rights, please visit the BBC's http://www.bbc.co.uk/privacy. 

If you have a concern about the way the BBC has handled your personal data, you can raise your concern with the supervisory authority in the UK, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) https://ico.org.uk/, external.   

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