Privacy Policy

1. Information We Collect

We collect the following categories of information:

• Account information — your name, email address, password (stored in encrypted form), role (submitter, reviewer, jury, regulator, voter, or administrator), and account status.
• Nomination and submission content — nominee names, organisations, biographies, manifestos, supporting documents, and any other material you submit for an award.
• Review and voting activity — scores, recommendations, validations, comments, and the ballots you cast. Individual voter selections are kept confidential and are not published against your identity.
• Payment information — where an award requires a paid vote, payments are processed by our third-party payment provider (Paystack). We receive a transaction reference, amount, currency, and status. We do not store your full card details on our servers.
• Technical and usage data — audit logs of key actions, timestamps, and information your browser or device provides (such as IP address and browser type) for security and integrity purposes.

2. How We Use Your Information

We use your information to:

• Create and manage your account and authenticate you securely;
• Operate the nomination, review, adjudication, and voting process;
• Send transactional and status emails (for example, account confirmation, submission status changes, and results);
• Process payments for paid votes and issue receipts or refunds where applicable;
• Maintain the integrity of the awards through audit logging and fraud prevention;
• Comply with legal obligations and enforce our terms.

3. Legal Basis for Processing

We process your information where it is necessary to perform our services to you, where you have given consent, where we have a legitimate interest in operating and securing the platform, and where we are required to do so by law. You may withdraw consent at any time by contacting us, though this may affect your ability to use certain features.

4. How We Share Information

We do not sell your personal information. We share it only as follows:

• Within the awards process — submission content is visible to reviewers, jury members, regulators, and administrators as needed to evaluate nominations. Nominee names and manifestos may be shown publicly to voters.
• Service providers — payment processing (Paystack) and email delivery are handled by trusted third parties who process data on our behalf.
• Legal and safety — where required by law, regulation, legal process, or to protect the rights, safety, and integrity of the platform and its users.

5. Public Content

Some information is, by design, public. Nominee names, organisations, and manifestos may appear on public nomination and voting pages, and aggregate or final results may be published on our Results Centre. Please do not include information in a nomination that you do not wish to be seen publicly.

6. Data Retention

We keep your information for as long as your account is active and as needed to provide our services, resolve disputes, maintain the historical record and integrity of past award cycles, and comply with our legal obligations. Audit logs are retained as an append-only record. When information is no longer required, we delete or anonymise it.

7. Security

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your information, including encrypted passwords, access controls based on your role, and audit logging. No system is completely secure, however, and we cannot guarantee absolute security. Please keep your login credentials confidential.

8. Your Rights

Subject to applicable law, you may have the right to:

• Access the personal information we hold about you;
• Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete information;
• Request deletion of your information, where we are not required to retain it;
• Object to or restrict certain processing;
• Withdraw consent where processing is based on consent.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us using the details below.

9. Cookies

We use cookies and similar technologies that are necessary to keep you signed in, maintain your session, and protect the platform against fraud. You can control cookies through your browser settings, but disabling essential cookies may prevent you from using parts of the platform.

10. Children's Privacy

The platform is intended for adults and is not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us so we can remove it.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will revise the "Last updated" date above. Significant changes may be communicated to you directly. Your continued use of the platform after an update constitutes acceptance of the revised policy.

12. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your information, please contact us: