Privacy Notice for the 2025 Countryfile Photo Competition
Countryfile is produced by BBC Studios for broadcast, use and exploitation by the BBC. We are responsible for handling personal information you provide, including your contribution, in accordance with data protection law.
What information we collect and how we use it?
To enter the competition, you have provided us with your personal data, such as your name and contact details. Additionally, we may collect information about your profession and payments received for your photography work as part of our background checks. BBC Studios is the “data controller” of this information.
BBC Studios processes your personal data on the basis of its legitimate interests as a media organisation to engage audiences and contributors. We protect your information in many different ways. These include staff training, investing in technology and following strict handling and storing procedures.
BBC Studios may contact you to discuss your contribution and/or to verify your age and check that you have the permission of a parent or guardian to participate in the competition.
Background checks
If we decide to shortlist your entry or feature it in the programme, we may carry out reasonable background research about you. This may include searches of publicly available records such as: criminal convictions and court proceedings; participation in previous television productions; information from social media profiles, including Facebook, X, Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn. Where appropriate, we will contact you to obtain your consent before we carry out these checks. Information discovered or that may have been disclosed by the entrants themselves may inform the decision as to the selection of the finalists.
Such personal data will generally be restricted to relevant members of the programme’s production team and crew, as well as the programme’s third party experts (where relevant) and the BBC (the Commissioner).
Retaining your personal information
If you are successful in being one of the final 12 to feature in the calendar, BBC Studios will retain your data indefinitely. This is for legal compliance purposes and in case we need to contact you again in future, for example because we wish to feature your photo again. If you are unsuccessful, BBC Studios will retain your information until 7 months after the competition close and will then destroy it in line with the BBC Studios Data Retention Policy.
Sharing your information
Your entry and details will be securely shared with The Art of Design who are contracted to assist BBC Studios with administering the competition, including sifting entries and designing and printing the calendar. Your entry (but not your contact details) will also be shared with the judges.
BBC Studios will share winners’ details with the BBC and the BBC will retain these details for two years for audit purposes. The BBC’s privacy policy is available here. Your information will not otherwise be shared with anyone outside BBC Studios.
Your rights and more information
Data protection law gives you certain rights in relation to your personal data, including the right to request from the controller access to and rectification or erasure of your personal data or restriction of its processing, and to object to processing. If you wish to exercise these rights, or if you have any questions about how BBC Studios handles your personal information, please contact [email protected]or visithttps://productions.bbcstudios.com/privacy-policy
If you raise a complaint with BBC Studios about the way it has handled your personal data and you are dissatisfied with the response, you are entitled to raise a concern with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at: https://ico.org.uk/concerns/
