School Photography Competition 2026 - now closed
Delays to 2026 results
The department offers its deepest apologies to all participating students and schools for the delay in announcing this year's winners. We will provide an update as soon as we can.
Rules
1. The Promoter
‘The Promoter’ is the Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Cambridge acting through the Department of Sociology based at Free School Lane, Cambridge CB2 3RQ and can be contacted via enquiries@sociology.cam.ac.uk.
2. The competition
2.1 The title of the competition is ‘School Photography Competition’.
2.2 The competition will run from 9.00 on 10 March 2026 (the “Opening Date”) to 17:00 on 8 May 2026 (the “Closing Date”) inclusive.
2.3 All competition entries must be received by no later than the Closing Date. All competition entries received after the Closing Date will be automatically disqualified.
2.4 The competition is open to school and college pupils who are in school years 10 – 13 (in England) or the equivalent elsewhere, during the academic year 2025-2026.
2.5 The winner and up to four runners up, will be chosen by a panel of judges appointed by the Department of Sociology. The decision of the panel of judges (acting reasonably) will be final. The Promoter will send the full names of the judges to anyone who writes within one month after the Closing Date of the competition requesting details of the judges and who encloses a self-addressed envelope to the address set out in Clause 1 The Promoter.
3. How to enter
To enter entrants must submit their photograph and contact information for their teacher or carer USING THIS FORM. (They may also use the form to submit optional supporting text explaining their image.) Entry is limited to one photo per entrant.
Content of photographs
By submitting a photograph to the competition, entrants confirm that:
- it is their original work;
- they are the exclusive owner of any copyright in it;
- it is not a copy of any other work (or any part of another work);
- it conforms with our Content Rules (below);
- anyone depicted in it has consented (or, where the individual depicted is under the age of 18, that person’s parent/guardian has consented) to that depiction, and to the usage of the photograph referred to in these Terms;
- they hereby waive and agree not to assert (and warrant that all individuals featured in their entry have waived and agreed not to assert) any moral rights in and in connection with their entry.
Content Rules – Entrants’ submitted photograph must not:
- infringe anyone’s copyright;
- infringe any other rights, such as a trademark, of any person or entity or a duty owed to any person or entity, such as a duty of confidentiality;
- contravene, or advocate or promote the breach of, any applicable law;
- include anything that is false, inaccurate, misleading, offensive, abusive, threatening or defamatory, or that might cause needless annoyance, inconvenience or distress to any person;
- include any material containing personally identifying information about another person, such as their name, address, phone number, or email address, except with the written approval of that person;
- contain material which is pornographic, obscene, indecent or offensive, which promotes discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age, or that may incite hatred or violence against any person or group; or harass, upset, embarrass, alarm or annoy any person.
Entrants agree to cover and indemnify the Promoter against all liabilities, claims and expenses that may arise as a result of any breach of the above confirmations.
4. Eligibility
4.1 If entrants are under 18, consent from a parent or guardian must be obtained prior to entry and the parent or guardian must agree to these Terms in full.
4.2 Anyone who is professionally connected with the creation/implementation of the competition or its administration is not permitted to enter the competition.
4.3 There is no entry fee and no purchase necessary to enter the competition but entrants will require email and internet access to enter. No refund may be claimed for any expenses incurred relating to the use of an email account or internet connection for the purpose of entering the competition.
4.4 By entering the competition, entrants are indicating their agreement to be bound by these Terms.
4.5 By entering the competition, entrants confirm that they are eligible to do so and eligible to claim any prize they may win.
4.6 The Promoter will not accept competition entries that are:
(a) automatically generated by computer;
(b) completed by third parties or in bulk;
(c) illegible, have been altered, reconstructed, forged or tampered with;
(d) not originals; or
(e) incomplete.
4.7 The Promoter will not accept responsibility for competition entries that are not received for whatever reason.
4.8 There is a limit of one entry per pupil.
4.9 The Promoter reserves all rights to disqualify an entrant if the entrant’s conduct is contrary to the spirit or intention of the prize competition.
5. Prize
5.1 The prize for the winning entry will be:
- £100 for the pupil who is the creator of the winning entry,
- £100 for the pupil’s school,
- a visit to the Department of Sociology, on a date to be agreed in advance with the Department, within six months of the closing date of the competition, which will include a tour of the Department and a meeting with one of the judges, if available.
5.2 The Promotor may substitute the prize (or any part of the prize) for a prize or prizes of equivalent or greater monetary value if this is necessary for reasons beyond the Promotor’s reasonable control.
6. Winner notification and claiming the prize
6.1 The Promoter’s decision as to those able to take part and selection of winners is final. No correspondence relating to the competition will be entered into.
6.2 The winners will be contacted via their teachers/carers using the contact details provided on entry as soon as practicable after judging has taken place and by 30 June 2026 at the latest. If the winners are unable to accept the Prize for any reason, or cannot be contacted, or do not claim the prize within 72 hours of notification, the University reserves the right to award the Prize to other entrants.
6.3 The Promoter will notify the winners’ school, so that the prize money can be transferred to them.
6.4 The Promoter will make all reasonable efforts to contact the winners. The Promoter does not accept any responsibility if the winners are not able to take up the prize.
6.5 The prize may not be claimed by a third party on the winners’ behalf.
6.6 The Promoter will publish first name and surname of major prize winners and their winning entries on its website and social media accounts by 30 June 2026.
6.7 If either of the winners object to any or all of their first name, surname and winning entry being published or made available, please contact the Promoter at the contact details in the above Clause 1 The Promoter.
6.8 The Promoter reserves the right to cancel or amend the competition and these Terms without notice in the event of a catastrophe, war, civil or military disturbance, act of God or any actual or anticipated breach of any applicable law or regulation or any other event outside of the Promoter’s control. Any changes to the competition will be notified to entrants as soon as possible by the Promoter.
7. Limitation of liability
Except in respect of death or personal injury resulting from any negligence of the Promoter, to the maximum extent permitted by law, neither the Promoter nor any of its officers, employees or agents shall be responsible (whether in tort, contract or otherwise) for:
(a) any loss, damage or injury to the entrant and/or any third party or to any property belonging to them or any third party in connection with the competition and/or the prize (including the winner’s receipt or use of the same), resulting from any cause whatsoever; or
(b) any loss of profit, loss of use, loss of opportunity or any indirect, economic or consequential losses whatsoever and howsoever caused.
8. Ownership of competition entries and intellectual property rights
8.1 All competition entries and any accompanying material submitted to the Promoter will become the property of the Promoter on receipt and will not be returned.
8.2 By submitting their competition entry and any accompanying material, entrants agree that the Promoter may, but is not required to, make their entry available on its website and any other media, whether now known or invented in the future, and in connection with any publicity of the competition and of the Department of Sociology. Entrants grant the Promoter a non-exclusive, worldwide, irrevocable and royalty-free licence to use, reproduce, adapt, distribute, publish and communicate to the public their competition entry in all media for the full period of any intellectual property rights in the competition entry for these purposes. The Promoter will not make any further use of their entry except with entrants’ written agreement.
9. Data protection and publicity
Any personal data relating to the winners or any other entrants will be used solely for the purpose of administering the competition and in accordance with current UK data protection legislation. All entrants have the right to access, rectify, oppose the processing of and delete any personal information collected through participation in the competition. The Promoter will only process entrants’ personal information as set out in its data protection notice at https://www.information-compliance.admin.cam.ac.uk/data-protection/general-data and its Privacy Policy when you visit a www.cam.ac.uk site. See also Clauses 6.6 and 6.7 with regard to the announcement of competition winners.
10. General
10.1 The Promoter shall have the right, at its sole discretion and at any time, to change or modify these Terms, such change to be effective immediately upon posting online.
10.2 The Promoter reserves the right to hold void, suspend, cancel, or amend the prize competition where circumstances outside its reasonable control make this unavoidable.
10.3 If there is any reason to believe that there has been a breach of these Terms, the Promoter may, at its sole discretion, reserve the right to exclude any entrant from participating in the competition.
10.4 These terms and conditions shall be governed by English law, and the parties submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.