Young Designer Competition - Terms & Conditions

About the Competition

1. The promoter is Marks and Spencer plc, Waterside House, 35 North Wharf Road, London W2 1NW (“we”, “us”, “M&S”).

2. The charity is YoungMinds, India House, Curlew Street, London SE1 2ND, a charity under number 1016968, whose main purpose is to raise awareness of mental health for young people across the United Kingdom (“YoungMinds”).

3. “You”, “your” and “yours” are used to mean either/both the young person creating the design and/or the parent or guardian consenting on behalf of the young person.

4. By entering the competition, you agree to the below terms and conditions and to be bound by the decisions of M&S.

Entering the competition

5. This competition is open only to permanent UK residents who are aged between 5 and 16 years (“Young Person”) at the time of submission. There are no other exclusions on a Young People entering the competition.

6. Only the parent or guardian (aged 18 or over) of the Young Person may enter the competition and/or submit a design on behalf of the Young Person.

7. The competition starts on 3 February 2025.

8. To enter the competition, you must submit a design created by a Young Person using words and/or visuals. The design must relate to the topic of ‘What would you say to a friend who needs you: how would you brighten their day?’. The design should be submitted in the format as specified on the submission page before 11:59PM on 31 March 2025.

9. There is no purchase necessary to enter the competition, and there is no charge to register for use of the website.

10. M&S will not accept competition entries that are: (a) automatically generated by computer or created by artificial intelligence (including but not limited to chatbots such as ChatGPT or similar software applications); (b) completed by third parties or in bulk; (c) illegible, have been altered, reconstructed, forged or tampered with; (d) photocopies and not originals; or (e) incomplete.

11. M&S will not accept competition entries that include the following restricted content and material: (a) that violate or infringe another’s rights, including privacy, publicity or intellectual property rights infringement; (b) that show any identifiable product, trademark, or copyrighted property of any other person or business entity; (c) that contain inappropriate, indecent, obscene, hateful, tortious, defamatory, slanderous or libelous material; (d) that promote bigotry, racism, hatred or harm against any group or individual or promotes discrimination; and (e) that is unlawful, in violation of or contrary to the laws or regulations in any country, state or province where the entry is created.

12. M&S may ask the winner to provide proof of age and proof of parental consent.

13. Only one entry per Young Person.

Choosing the winner

14. There will be two winners selected – the first aged 5-11 and the second aged 12-16. The winning designs will be judged based on creativity, originality, and relevance to the competition theme, as determined by a panel of judges. The winning designs will be selected between 1 April and 30 May 2025. Winning entrants will be judged by a panel of M&S and YoungMinds judges that will include at least one independent judge (the “Judges”). The decision of the Judges (acting reasonably) will be final.

15. The process for judging will be: (a) M&S designers will review all the designs and select a shortlist of designs for judging; (b) regional judging will take place in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in April and May 2025; and (c) the winners will go through to the national judging. National judging will take place in May where the two winners (one in each age category) will be selected.

16. The designs will be fully anonymised when they are judged. All designs will be anonymous and contain no personal identifiable information (e.g. name) that could identify the Young Person. This will minimise any bias in the judging process.

17. M&S will notify the parent or guardian of the winners by 30 May 2025 via email or telephone (using the details provided at entry) (any changes to this date will be communicated via the competition website) within 7 days of a decision being made. If the winner does not respond within 7 days of the notification by M&S, then they will forfeit their prize and a replacement winner will be selected from the eligible entries. This process will continue until all winners have been selected.

The prize and outcome

18. The winners will see their design come to life on an M&S product and with their parent or guardian. They will: (a) be invited to visit the M&S office in London to see their designs turned into the artwork for the product; (b) visit the supplier factory in the Midlands to see the products being printed; (c) be part of the launch event in September; (d) receive hoodies or sweatshirts with their design for themselves and their school class (the “Prize”). Reasonable food and travel costs will be included in the Prize.

19. Winners will be required to take part in the launch event in September and at least one of the following events: (a) in the visit to the M&S office, and/or (b) visit to the supplier factory. You agree to take part in each of these. Refusal to take part may result in a different winner being selected.

20. The winners’ designs may be used to manufacture new hoodies or sweatshirts sold by M&S in our stores, on our website, and elsewhere. We are under no obligation to do this, however, and you will not be entitled to any royalty payments or compensation if we decide, at our sole discretion, to use the designs.

21. The winners (and any guests) will be required to take part in reasonable promotion publicity for M&S which may include filming, photography or other recordings required by M&S or other third parties for publicity purposes including on M&S social media and other communications channels. The winners (and any guests) agree to the use of their personal data for such purposes.

Ownership of competition entries

22. Full copyright title shall be retained by the author of any entry. By submitting any entry to M&S (including any text, photographs, graphics, video or audio), you agree to grant M&S a perpetual, royalty-free, non-exclusive, sub-licensable right and worldwide license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform, display and exercise all publicity rights with respect to your entry, and/or to incorporate your entry in other works, in any media now known or later developed for full term of any rights that may exist in your entry.

23. By submitting an entry, you agree to waive any moral rights contained in your entry. Any entry you provide shall be non-confidential.

24. By submitting an entry, you agree M&S may use the material for any purpose and in any way it chooses, including, but not limited to, marketing, advertising and presentations.

General

25. The Prize is non-transferable, non-refundable and subject to availability. There is no cash alternative.

26. M&S’ decision is final and binding and no correspondence will be entered into regarding the outcome of the competition.

27. No responsibility will be taken for late, lost, indecipherable or misdirected entries or for any failure of communication resulting from incorrectly supplied information.

28. M&S reserves the right to check the validity of any entry and the identity of any entrant or winner and to refuse entry or refuse giving the Prize if M&S reasonably considers the entry and/or winner to be in breach of the terms and conditions.

29. Prize details are correct at date of publication. M&S reserves the right to substitute any element of the Prize with a Prize of a similar nature and/or value should any original element of the Prize become unavailable for any reason.

30. M&S reserves the right at any time in its sole discretion to cancel, modify or supersede the competition if it believes, in its sole discretion, that the competition is not capable or is likely not to be capable of being conducted fairly or as specified within these terms and conditions due to events beyond its control (including, without limitation, a virus, a computer bug or unauthorised human intervention or any other cause beyond the reasonable control of M&S that could corrupt or affect the administration, security, impartiality or normal course of the competition).

31. Competition entries will not be returned once submitted.

32. The name and country of the prize winner will be published on the M&S website: Youngminds | Campaigns | M&S by 10 October 2025. Accordingly, please be aware that, in accordance with applicable laws governing prize draws, if you are a winner in this competition, your name and county of residence may be published and/or disclosed to the Advertising Standards Authority. Please contact the press office if you have any concerns: corporate.press@marks-and-spencer.com.

33. Nothing in these terms and conditions shall limit in any way M&S’s liability for death or personal injury caused by its negligence. Subject to that, M&S shall have no liability for any delay and/or failure to perform any obligation to the winner or other entrant that is caused by: (a) technical problems of any kind which may limit or prevent any person's participation in the competition; (b) any loss or damage arising from or in connection with the allocation of the Prize; (c) any act or omission of any third party; or (d) any other events beyond M&S’s control that may cause the competition to be disrupted or corrupted or may lead to loss of, or damage to, the Prize in transit to the winner.

34. Personal data of non-winning participants will be deleted within 6 months after the competition concludes unless further consent is obtained.

35. If any of these terms and conditions is found by a court or regulator to be invalid or unenforceable the other provisions shall continue to apply.

36. We will do our best to resolve any problems relating to the competition. This competition shall be governed by the laws of England and Wales.