Privacy Notice: Sovereign Minds SPEAR Oratory Prize (the ‘Prize’)
Last updated: September 2025

This Privacy Notice explains the use of your personal data which we process about you in connection with the Prize. This data may have come from you directly, your legal guardians or your school. If you need help with this Privacy Notice, please read it with your parents, legal guardians or a teacher.


We take privacy very seriously at Sovereign Minds.

  1. Who are we? Sovereign Minds is a UK-based organisation that works with young people to nurture their skills, mindfulness, curiosity, critical thinking and independence.

    You can find us at the following address:

    Sovereign Minds
    1A Clifton Road
    Southall
    Middlesex
    UB2 5QP

    Raj Khaira acts as our privacy legal counsel.
    Tash Whitaker acts as our data protection officer.
  2. What is personal data? Personal data means any information about you that can be used to identify you. For example, this could be your name; your date of birth; your contact details; your address; and photographs of you.

    We only collect personal information that is necessary to run the Prize.

    There are certain types of personal data that are especially sensitive to an individual. For example, information about your health; your race; your religious beliefs; and your political opinions. These are known as ‘special category data’. We do not collect any special category data about you.
  3. What personal information do we collect? We will collect, store, and use the following personal information about you in connection with the Prize:
    1. your full name;
    2. your age;
    3. your email address;
    4. your school name (this may include your class name); and
    5. your image captured on photography or film as part of the competition.
  4. Why do we collect personal information; what is our legal basis for use; and how do we use it? We will only collect and use your personal information if we have a legal basis for doing so under UK data protection law.

    We will use your personal information in the following ways:
    1. to review the submission of your entry to the Prize;
    2. to manage attendance at Prize events; and
    3. to notify you of future Sovereign Minds opportunities.
    If you win or are a runner-up at any stage of the event, then we will use your personal information in the following ways:
    1. for educational purposes in our teacher and student resources in preparation for the next cycle of the Prize such as: the teacher and student packs with our tips and reminders.
    Our lawful basis of processing for this is ‘legitimate interest’. That means that we are processing your data because we need it to run the competition and in doing so, we do not infringe any of your rights. You expect us to do this, and the processing is therefore fair.
  5. How and when will you use videos or photos of me? We will only use videos and photos of you on social media, our website or in our marketing materials with your consent.
  6. How long do we keep your information? We will keep your information for 7 years. Our Sovereign Minds Masterclass (the ‘Masterclass’) is for young people between the ages of 16–23. We will keep your information to allow you to benefit from the Masterclass curriculum. If you do not wish to be contacted about the Masterclass, please let us know.
  7. Will we share your information with other organisations? We will not share your personal information to any other company unless they are contracted by us to provide a service, such as the company that runs the servers holding our data or the company that provides our CRM service. We have Data Processing Agreements with these companies and they are obliged to protect your data the same way we are.

    When we work with external service providers outside the UK or EU, we only transfer data if the destination country or organisation is considered by the UK to have sufficient data protection safeguards in place. If not, we take steps to ensure your data's safety, such as using EU Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) or the UK International Data Transfer Agreement (IDTA). We also conduct careful impact assessments to ensure these measures offer enough protection within the local legal framework.

    We do not sell your information to anyone.
  8. What rights do you have in relation to your personal information? You have rights, in certain circumstances, in respect of our processing of your personal data:
    1. Right to be informed: You have the right to be informed about the collection and use of your personal data;
    2. Right of access: You can request access to a copy of the personal data which we hold about you, as well as details about why and how we use it;
    3. Right to rectification: You can ask us to change or complete any personal data we hold about you which is inaccurate or incomplete;
    4. Right to be forgotten/erasure: You have a right, under certain circumstances, to ask us to delete any personal data we hold about you. Please note that there may be situations where we must retain your personal data after a request for erasure where we have a lawful basis for doing so;
    5. Right to restriction of processing: You can ask us to restrict (i.e. prevent) the processing of your personal data in certain circumstances;
    6. Right to data portability: In certain circumstances, you can ask us to transfer the data we hold about you to another service. This would be sent in a structured, commonly used, electronic form;
    7. Right to object to processing: You can object to us using your personal data for particular purposes if the legal basis is legitimate interest; and
    8. Automated decision making: You have a right not to be subjected to automated decision making and profiling, in certain circumstances.
    We do not carry out any automated decision making on your data.

    If you want to exercise any of these rights, or to make a data protection complaint, please contact us on privacy@sovereignminds.co.uk.

    You also have the right to lodge a complaint about our processing with a supervisory authority — in the UK that is the ICO whose details are here: https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/.
  9. How do we keep personal information secure? All data is password-protected, access controlled, backed up securely and encrypted when appropriate.

    All our staff and data processors who have access to and are associated with the processing of your personal information, are legally obliged to respect the confidentiality of your personal information.
  10. Will this Privacy Notice change? We may change this Privacy Notice from time to time (for example, if the law changes). If we make any material changes to the manner in which we process and use your personal data, we will contact you to let you know about the change.
  11. How can you contact us? If you have any questions about this privacy notice or our data protection practices, please contact us on privacy@sovereignminds.co.uk.