Terms and conditions

1. The promoter of the ‘Whio Awareness Week 2025 competition’ is Whio Forever. Whio Forever can be contacted in relation to this competition by email at any time at whioforevernz@gmail.com.
2. This competition consists of five winning categories.
3. The competition is open to legal residents of New Zealand.

Photo, video and caption submissions

4. The competition will open 21 March 2025 and close 11:59 pm 6 April 2025.
5. Submissions must include a brief caption or story to describe it.
6. Number of submissions are unlimited.
7. All submissions must be received by 11:59 pm 6 April 2025. Entries received after this closing date will not be considered.
8. A panel of judges from Whio Forever will narrow down entries based on the judging criteria, and then vote on the winner for each category.
9. Judging criteria is as follows;
   1. Relevance to each of the five categories.
   2. Originality and creativity of photo/video description.
   3. Reflective of the characteristics of the species or their habitat.
10. The winning announcement will be made by the end of the following week, after the competition closes (Sunday 13 April 2025).
11. Five spot prizes will be given out. All will be chosen at random selection from all eligible entries submitted.
12. The Department of Conservation, Genesis Energy and Whio Forever staff are not eligible to enter. Immediate family members of an employee of the Department of Conservation, Genesis Energy or Whio Forever are also ineligible to enter.

Selecting a winner

13. The winning entry for each category will be selected by a panel of judges from Whio Forever.
14. The winning entry for each category will be contacted by a Whio Forever representative to confirm their postal address, and details of their prize.
15. The spot prize winners will also be contacted to confirm their postal address.
16. Decisions of the judges are final on all matters relating to this promotion.

Prizes

17. All prizes can be shipped anywhere within New Zealand only.
18. The winning prize pack of each category includes a Whio Forever hat and a Whio Awareness Week poster.
19. The Delightful Ducklings prize is a trap kit from the Predator Free NZ store. The physical prize will be shipped to the winner within two weeks following the winner announcement and confirmation of the winner’s postal address. This prize is not sponsored by Predator Free NZ.
20. The Whio Flair prize is a GoPro Hero Action Cam. The physical prize will be shipped to the winner within two weeks following the winner announcement and confirmation of the winner’s postal address. This prize is not sponsored by GoPro.
21. The Fav Whio Film prize is a GoPro Hero Action Cam. The physical prize will be shipped to the winner within two weeks following the winner announcement and confirmation of the winner’s postal address. This prize is not sponsored by GoPro.
22. The Catchiest Caption prize is a $150 Macpac Gift Card. The physical gift card will be shipped to the winner within two weeks following the winner announcement and confirmation of the winner’s postal address. See how to use the gift card and full terms and conditions on the Macpac website. This prize is not sponsored by Macpac.
23. The Wildcard prize is a voucher up to $600 towards two tickets on a white water rafting trip anywhere in New Zealand. The physical voucher will be shipped to the winner within two weeks following the winner announcement, after confirmation of the winner’s postal address and discussion with the winner on their nearest or most preferred rafting provider. A list of providers from around New Zealand will be provided to the winner to choose from.
24. The Spot Prizes are prizes drawn from all valid submissions, where you can win a Whio Awareness Week poster, Whio Forever hat and Whio soft toy. The physical prize will be shipped to the winner within two weeks following the winner announcement and confirmation of the winner’s postal address.
25. Prizes cannot be exchanged or redeemed for the cash equivalent.

Content

26. All entrants must agree to have their photo, video or caption utilised as Whio Forever see fit on social media, subject to the terms of the Creative Commons licence chosen, for the sole purpose of promoting conservation and recreation activities.
27. You are granting permission for your photo/video, and caption, subject to the terms of the Creative Commons licence chosen, to be used in any medium or form of distribution, including but not limited to: the Whio Forever web pages, social media channels, brochures, posters and other printed material for the purposes of promoting the Whio Forever Recovery Programme.
28. All information entered for this competition will be held securely by Whio Forever and used for the purpose of administering this competition.
29. Entrants will not receive any payment if Whio Forever decides to use your photo/video, and caption however you will always receive credit/acknowledgement whenever your content is used. This will occur either in content credit, caption, link or acknowledgement within the publication.  
30. Depending on which licence you have selected, your photo/video, and caption may be shared with DOC's partners, individuals, or other third-party organisations.  
31. Entrants retain copyright and intellectual property of photo/video, and caption.  
32. By entering this competition, each entrant warrants that their entry is original and that their submission does not or will not infringe any third party's intellectual property.  
33. Entrants indemnify and hold harmless both the Director-General and Minister of Conservation against all claims brought by any third party claiming breach of copyright or privacy breach in the photo/video, and caption. 

Disclaimers

34. The promoters reserve the right to terminate or change the competition or any of the prize components at any time without notice.
35. If for any reason this competition is not capable of running as planned (due to any cause beyond control of the competition organisers which corrupts or affects the administration security, fairness, integrity or proper conduct of this promotion), the promotion may be abandoned or postponed at the discretion of the promotor. The organisers do not accept any responsibility for such an event.
36. The organiser and their associated agencies and companies shall not be liable for any loss or damage suffered (including but not limited to indirect consequential loss), or for person injury suffered or sustained, as a result of participating in this promotion except for any liability which cannot be excluded by law.
37. Entry into this competition is deemed acceptance of these terms and conditions. The competition and these Terms and Conditions are governed by New Zealand law.
38. This competition is in no way sponsored, endorsed, administered by or associated with Facebook or Instagram.