BBC’s Red Nose Day Comedy Classroom with Blue Peter – Rules and Terms and Conditions

BBC Learning’s Comedy Classroom is working with Blue Peter and Comic Relief to give children the chance to write three original, funny and well written jokes that will be performed live on the Red Nose Day Blue Peter special programme on 23 March 2017.

Teachers, parents or guardians, and youth group leaders (outside of school) should read this information before entering a child or children into the competition.

You can download and print the competition application form from the Comedy Classroom Competition Page on bbc.co.uk/comedyclassroom, or the Blue Peter main competition page. Children can complete the form and post it to Blue Peter to enter the competition. Teachers or an adult can help with completing the address and consent details required on the form but the jokes must be handwritten by the children themselves.

1. The 'Red Nose Day Comedy Classroom Blue Peter Competition’ (the “Competition”) is open to all UK residents (including residents of the Channel Islands and the Isle Of Man) aged between 6 and 12 years of age on Tuesday 28th February 2017 (the closing date for entries) except the children or close relatives of Comic Relief, BBC or the National Literacy Trust employees or any persons closely connected with the Competition. The BBC reserves the right to request proof of age for entrants as well as parent’s or guardian’s consent and necessary state of health.

2. Only one entry per person may be submitted. Joint entries ARE permitted. You can enter either as an individual or as part of a group of up to 3 people maximum. Teachers can choose to enter their pupils as individuals or part of a group entry. Children can also get together with their friends to submit an entry, but must have parental permission for all individuals on the form. If entering as a group, make sure all the members of the group are entering only once, because only one entry per person is permitted. In the case of multiple entries being received we will only consider the first entry received. All the others will be disregarded from the judging process.

3. All children entering as part of a group must all be aged within the same age category (either 6 to 8 or 9 to 12).

4. To enter the Competition entrants must:

• Write 3 funny, original and well written jokes.
• Each of the 3 jokes must be written in the spaces provided on the postal entry form.
• The jokes must be legible and must be written in English.
• They must be handwritten by the children (entrant) in the spaces provided on the postal entry form only.

5. Entry is via the entry form only which can be downloaded from the Comedy Classroom website www.bbc.co.uk/comedyclassroom or Blue Peter website (www.bbc.co.uk/bluepeter).

6. If you are a teacher by submitting an entry for the competition, teachers are agreeing that the school’s head teacher has granted all necessary permissions and consents both on behalf of the school and from the parents/legal guardians of every pupil being entered, either through existing in loco parentis protocols in place at the school, or as a result of direct communication about the competition to the parents/legal guardians of all entrants, in order to gain the appropriate consent including the rights required by the BBC and Comic Relief to use the jokes (see point 13 below).

7. If you are a youth group leader doing this activity with children outside of school and the children want to enter the competition, the form must be completed by a parent. Each child entering will need to obtain parental permission by way of signature on the application form. Youth group leaders are not permitted to enter children into the competition ‘in-loco parentis’.

8. Parental consent forms will only need to be signed and sent to the BBC production team if the entry is shortlisted. The BBC production team will need to contact teachers, parents or guardians as part of the final verification process and will provide the forms to the shortlisted entrants.

9. The entry must be the entrant’s or group’s own original work and must not contain defamatory, obscene, offensive, or any other unsuitable material. Entries must be suitable to be broadcast, published or used online by the BBC for audiences of all ages, but in particular for a child audience. Please see the following for further information: BBC Editorial Guidelines, if the entry has troubling content the BBC may if required take advice from the relevant authorities in BBC Child Protection Policy.

10. All submissions must include: the entrant(s) name, age, date of birth, school if entered via a teacher, or home address (including postcode if entered via an individual), teacher or parent/guardian's name and a contact telephone number which must be filled in on the appropriate sections of the entry form. Entrants should ask their parent/guardian's permission to enter the Competition and ensure that they have read these Terms and Conditions. This must be confirmed by completing the tick box on the entry form. The telephone number provided must allow you to be contacted between Monday 13th March and Wednesday 15th March 2017.

11. All entrants must enter the Competition by submitting their 3 jokes on the entry form BY POST ONLY to:

Blue Peter's Red Nose Day Comedy Classroom Joke Competition,
Bridge House
MediaCityUK
M50 2BH

12. Entries must be RECEIVED no later than 6pm on Tuesday 28th February 2017. Late, incomplete, illegible entries or entries with insufficient or incorrect postage will be disqualified. The BBC cannot take any responsibility for any technical failure or malfunction, including but not limited to any affecting postal services, which may result in any entry being delayed, lost or not properly registered or recorded. The BBC will not be able to return entries. Proof of sending is not proof of receipt.

13. By submitting an entry for the Competition, the entrant (s) parent/guardian(s) are deemed to have granted a non-exclusive royalty-free irrevocable perpetual assignable worldwide licence to the BBC to use and exploit the joke (and/or extracts thereof) and allow Comic Relief (and its partners) to use and exploit for the benefit of Comic Relief and Comedy Classroom. For the avoidance of doubt, Blue Peter, Comedy Classroom, Comic Relief (Red Nose Day) and the National Literacy Trust may wish to display entries containing an entrants’ name(s), age, school and town or county, in all of the above instances and will work in line with the BBC's Child Protection Policy, to prevent jigsaw identification of any entrant. Blue Peter, Comedy Classroom, the National Literacy Trust and Comic Relief may wish to display entries containing an entrant's name, age and town or county in the studio and in a website gallery as they come in throughout the Competition entry window. If you have concerns about the BBC and Comic Relief’s use of the entries we would advise you not to enter.

14. It may be necessary for the BBC to acquire ownership of all rights in the winning jokes. It is a condition of entry that the winner's/winner(s) parent/guardian(s) will sign any additional documentation in order to assign all rights to the BBC / Comic Relief and to waive all moral rights the winners may have in the winning jokes. If you have any concerns about this requirement, we would advise you not to enter.

15. The jokes should not copy existing jokes or texts and the BBC as part of their due diligence and verification process will be authenticating the originality of the work.

16. Try to avoid reference to companies, branding or products. Any reference to brands or products should not be defamatory.

17. For editorial reasons it is a condition of entry that you keep your jokes confidential until they are first broadcast or used by the BBC or Comic Relief.

18. All entries will be judged in the first instance by members of BBC Learning and the Comedy Classroom production team. This first judging panel will decide which entries should be put forward to the second stage of judging. The first judging round will select the 15 best entries for each of the following age categories:

• Category 1: Entrants aged 6 to 8
• Category 2: Entrants aged 9 to 12

19. For each age category 3 back-up entries will be ranked in order of merit to act as standbys to replace any entries that in the verification process need to be excluded from the competition.

20. The 15 best entries in each category will be verified by telephone conversations with the teacher, or parent/guardian named on the entry form. The total 30 entries that are verified will go through from the first round of judging to the second round of judging.

21. The second judging stage will look at the 15 best entries for each age category (30 entries in total) and be carried out by a judging panel of representatives from BBC Learning, the National Literacy Trust, Blue Peter and comedians or comedy writers representing Comic Relief (Red Nose Day). The panel may change subject to availability. From the 30 entries, the panel will choose the top entry in each age category (two entries in total). 2 highly commended (runners up) will be ranked in order of merit. The entries will be anonymised.

Judging Criteria:

All entries will be judged against the following criteria. The three jokes submitted will be judged as one entry.

Funny: each entry will be judged on its comedic merit, and whether it is funny or not.

Creative: the jokes must be imaginative and stand out with creative use of words and language.

Original: the jokes should be unique, original and it must not copy any existing jokes.

Well written: the competition is also about improving literacy skills so judges will be looking for good spelling, punctuation and grammar.

Prizes:

• 1st Prize: 1 Winner in each age category
• The winner(s) prize for each age category (6 to 8 and 9 to 12) will be provided by Blue Peter.
• The winner(s) from each age category will have their jokes performed live on Blue Peter by a Blue Peter presenter or comedian, on the Red Nose Day special broadcast on 23rd March 2017.
• Winner(s) in each age category will receive an Orange Blue Peter competition winner's badge.
• Winner(s) will receive a Comedy Classroom trophy and certificate of participation.
• Winner(s) will have the opportunity (subject to availability) to visit the Blue Peter studio for the announcement of the winners of the Red Nose Day Comedy Classroom Competition on 23 March 2017.

Top runners up (highly commended) (x 2 in each age category)

• Will receive a Comedy Classroom highly commended certificate of participation.
• Will receive an Orange Blue Peter competition winner's badge.

Top 30 verified entries:

• The top 30 entries that are verified and go through to the second round of judging will receive an Orange Blue Peter competition winner's badge.

22. The winner(s) in each category must be available and have Head Teacher and parental/guardian permission to attend the Blue Peter studio at MediaCityUK in Salford, on the day of 23 March 2017 for the announcement of the winning entry. The winner(s) must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. There is also a chance that the winning jokes will be featured on the live Red Nose Day BBC One broadcast on 24 March 2017.

23. These dates are non-movable, but we reserve the right to change them due to editorial/production considerations.

24. The BBC will obtain an appropriate child licence for the winners if needed. Reasonable travel, food, accommodation costs will be provided by the BBC for the winning child and a parent or guardian and/or teacher to appear on Blue Peter for the announcement of the winners. The winner will be deemed to have agreed to be filmed during their day in studio and on location by the Blue Peter Production, Comedy Classroom or Comic Relief teams. The parent/guardian of the winner will be required to sign contributor consent forms on behalf of their child/ward and themselves to allow the BBC to use the contributions in all media for all purposes.

25. Telephone calls will be made to the 30 short listed entrants and their teacher/parent/guardians on Monday 13th, Tuesday 14th, and Wednesday 15th March 2017 in order to check eligibility. Teachers that submitted an entry on behalf of pupils must be available on these days on the telephone number provided on the entry form. Teachers will be required to give in-loco parentis permission on behalf of the Head Teacher for the pupils to continue into the next stage of the competition. If entered by a parent, parents will be called directly at this time. If an entrant is unable to be contacted after reasonable attempts have been made to do so, the BBC reserves the right to offer their place to the next best entrant. Further proof of age, identity and eligibility may be requested at this stage. Unsuccessful entrants will not be contacted.

26. BBC Learning, Comic Relief or Blue Peter may need to make minor reasonable modifications to the winning joke, however the jokes that features on the programme shall recognisably be the winning entry of the Competition.

27. The prizes will be as stated. The prizes cannot be transferred and there is no cash alternative.

28. The winner and runners-up will be notified on the afternoon of Friday 17th March or Monday 20th March 2017 by telephone, as per the contact details provided in their entry. In the event of the winner being unable to be contacted, after reasonable attempts have been made, or being unable to attend the Blue Peter filming (in studio or on location) on Thursday 23rd March 2017, or if the winner is found to be in breach of the rules or fails to take up their prize for any reason, including illness, unavailability, problems in having consent for absence from school, child licensing difficulties OR problems with obtaining a sign off from their doctor regarding state of health to participate, the BBC reserves the right to offer the prize to a runner-up who will be ranked in order of merit but it is not obliged to do so.

29. The BBC's and the judges' decision as to each stage of this competition and as to the winners is final. No correspondence relating to the Competition will be entered into. Entries cannot be returned to entrants so please keep a copy of your entry and names of children in each group.

30. Entrants will be expected to take part in post-Competition publicity for the BBC.

31. The BBC reserves the right to cancel the Competition or change any of these rules at any stage if deemed necessary in its opinion or if circumstances arise outside of its control. Any such changes will be duly communicated. The BBC cannot be held responsible for any unforeseen events relating to, or the cancellation of any related element of this Competition outside of the control of the BBC.

32. The BBC will only ever use personal details for the purposes of administering the Competition, including regular updates on the progress of the competition and an initial invite to participate in feedback, and in accordance with the BBC's Privacy & Cookies Policy. The BBC will not publish them or provide them to anyone other than the NLT for feedback purposes without permission. You can read more about the BBC Privacy Policy.

33. The teacher and parent/guardian of an applicant is deemed to have accepted these Terms and Conditions when consenting to the application of the relevant entrant. A teacher that submits an entry on behalf of a child, or school, is deemed to have the approval of the head teacher who must consent in loco parentis. It is the responsibility of the teacher to obtain this before sending any entries. If you are a group leader, you must have the parental permission of each child on the entry form.

34. The Competition complies with the BBC Code of Conduct for Competitions and Voting.

35. The BBC, Comic Relief or NLT and/or any other organisation associated with the Competition accepts no liability for any damage, loss, liabilities (including direct, indirect, incidental, consequential or punitive damage) injury or disappointment incurred or suffered by you as a result of entering the Competition, not being able to enter into the Competition or accepting any of the prizes. Nothing shall exclude the liability of the BBC or Comic Relief or NLT (i) fraudulent misrepresentation, (ii) for death or personal injury as a result of that party's negligence, or (iii) any other cause of action which cannot be limited or excluded under applicable law. In no event shall the BBC or Comic Relief and/or any other organisation associated with the Competition's total liability to you for all damages, losses, or causes of action exceed the price of the relevant prize.

36. If any of these clauses should be determined to be illegal, invalid or otherwise unenforceable then it shall be severed and deleted from these Terms and Conditions and the remaining clauses shall survive, remain in full force and effect.

37. These Terms and Conditions shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales. The courts of England and Wales shall have exclusive jurisdiction over any claim, dispute or matter arising under or in connection with these Terms and Conditions.

38. The BBC is working with partners the National Literacy Trust [NLT] to help deliver this literacy initiative. The NLT is a national charity dedicated to raising literacy levels in the UK. As part of the BBC’s evaluation of the competition, the BBC may share your contact details supplied to us with our partners the National Literacy Trust to enable them or the BBC to contact teachers or parents/guardians via email to invite you provide feedback that could help evaluate the impact of the literacy initiative amongst children and teachers. The information will be handled and stored in line with BBC Data Protection guidelines.

39. The BBC reserves the right to disqualify any entry which breaches any of these Terms and Conditions, or to withhold a prize if in its opinion entries do not reach the required standard.

40. The BBC reserves the right to amend these Terms and Conditions or cancel this competition at any stage, if deemed necessary in its opinion, or if circumstances arise outside of its control.