Terms and conditions

These are the rules. We've written them so you can read them in ten minutes, and there's a short version first. The short version is a summary; if anything in it ever differs from the full terms, the full terms apply. Last updated: 8 October 2026. Nothing below changes after entries open on 12 October 2026 except to fix a typo, and any fix is listed at the bottom with the date.

The short version

• It's a photography competition judged on skill and fulfilment of the brief. No draw, no vote, no luck.
• One theme: Movement, in seven categories: Panning, Prop and Rotor Blur, The Elements, People, Composition, Trails and Interpretation. You choose the category for each entry. Any aircraft photo you took on or after 12 October 2023, so anything from the last 36 months. One image, no composites, no AI creations.
• 18 or over, whatever your experience. Open to the UK, the EU, Norway, Switzerland, the US, Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa only.
• Register for the free workshop by Thursday 8 October and you've got one free entry. Extra entries are £7 for one or £20 for three ($9 or $26, €8 or €23). The entries are hosted on Kōlab, which is free to join at kolab.social. You connect your account once, from a link Kōlab emails you, and your entries appear on it. Members of COAP Online / Accelerator have three included. There is no limit on how many you enter.
• The competition opens for entries on Monday 12 October, with entries uploaded to Kōlab from 08:00, and closes on Saturday 31 October at 23:59 GMT. That date doesn't move.
• Judged blind by a named panel of five judges. Each category gets a winner and two runners-up, and the judges then re-judge the seven category winners to choose the overall winner.
• The overall winner gets £2,000 of new kit from Clifton Cameras if they live in the UK, or $2,000 in cash via PayPal in any of the other entry countries, and their own double-page spread in the January 2027 issue of Combat Aircraft Journal. The other six category winners share a second double-page spread in the same issue.
• Results by email, social media and coaponline.com on Monday 9 November at 11:00. Winners and runners-up are told privately first.
• There are narrow licences to show your photo in the relevant competition galleries and related social and magazine galleries, credited. The image remains yours.

Full terms

1. Who's running this

1.1 The competition is run by COAP Online Limited, company number 13565698, registered office 30-34 North St, Hailsham, BN27 1DW, United Kingdom ("we", "us", "COAP Online"). Contact for anything about the competition: team@coaponline.com.

1.2 Clifton Cameras supplies the overall winner's equipment prize, and Combat Aircraft Journal publishes the winning photographs. Neither of them is running the competition, and these terms are with us, not them.

2. What this is

2.1 This is a skill competition. Entries are judged by a panel against the criteria in clause 8 and every placing, including the overall winner, is decided by the panel's scores. There's no random element at any stage, including tie-breaks.

2.2 By entering you agree to these terms. If you don't agree with something, don't enter.

3. Who can enter

3.1 You have to be 18 or over on the day you enter.

3.2 The competition is open to photographers of every experience level. It doesn't matter whether photography is your hobby or your job.

3.3 You have to live in the United Kingdom, a member state of the European Union, Norway, Switzerland, the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand or South Africa. The competition is not open anywhere else and is void where prohibited. What you win depends on whether you live in the United Kingdom, and clause 9 sets that out in full.

3.4 You can't enter if you're one of the judges or live in the same household as one, or if you work for or contract to COAP Online, or if you work for Clifton Cameras or for Combat Aircraft Journal or its publisher.

3.5 Members of COAP Online / Aviation Photography Accelerator can enter, and clause 5.4 explains your included entries.

4. Dates and times

4.1 The dates:

4.2 The closing date and time won't change. Not for a low number of entries, not for a high one, and not for a problem with Kōlab (clause 16 covers that). The only exception is something outside our control that makes it unavoidable, and even then only in a way that doesn't disadvantage anyone who's already entered.

5. How to enter

5.1 Your free entry. Register for the free workshop at coaponline.com/competition by Thursday 8 October 2026 at 23:59 BST and you get one free entry. It's tied to the email address you registered with. Kōlab emails that address a link. Create a free Kōlab account at kolab.social, or sign in to the one you have, and click the link to connect it to COAP Online (clause 5.6). Your free entry then appears on your Kōlab account, ready to use from Monday 12 October.

5.2 Extra entries. From Monday 12 October you can buy one extra entry for £7 ($9, €8) or three extra entries for £20 ($26, €23) at coaponline.com. The price is the same all the way through to 31 October. Entries are credited to the email address you buy with and appear on your Kōlab account once it's connected (clause 5.6). Clause 7 covers payment and refunds. You can also get three entries a month with the High Roller Pack, a limited edition monthly subscription with 150 places at £19 ($25, €22) a month.

5.3 There is no maximum. Enter as many photographs as you like, whether the entries are free, bought, or included with membership. Entries are per person, not per email address, and you must enter under your own name. If you set up more than one account, every entry you've made is disqualified.

5.4 COAP Online / Accelerator members. If you're a member of COAP Online / Aviation Photography Accelerator when entries are open, three entries are included and appear on your Kōlab account automatically once it's connected to the email on your membership (clause 5.6). Members can still use the free entry from registering for the workshop, and can buy as many more as they like. Included entries aren't refundable or transferable and have no cash value.

5.5 One photo per entry. You can't enter the same photo twice, or two shots from the same burst that are effectively the same photograph. If you do, we'll keep the first and remove the rest.

5.6 Connecting your accounts. Kōlab sends a one-time link to the email address you registered, bought or joined with. Clicking it connects that email to your Kōlab account, which doesn't have to use the same address. You only do this once: entries you get later under the same email appear on your Kōlab account by themselves. If you used more than one email address with us, click the link in each email, or email team@coaponline.com and we'll merge them by hand. Do it before the last day.

5.7 To enter you'll need internet access and a free Kōlab account. Kōlab is the photography platform the competition runs on. The Kōlab account itself is governed by Kōlab's own terms and privacy policy; the competition is governed by these terms.

6. What you can enter

6.1 The theme is Movement: prop blur, panning, vapour, heat haze, anything that shows the aircraft going somewhere. How well the photo fulfils the brief decides whether it's shortlisted, and the judges score it with the brief in mind (clause 8). Every entry goes into one of seven categories, which you choose when you upload it:

• Panning: the aircraft sharp, the background streaked by following it.
• Prop and Rotor Blur: propellers and rotors turning, and the blades show it.
• The Elements: vapour, rain, spray, heat haze, condensation, the weather an aircraft moves through.
• People: the people in and around the movement: crews, pilots, ground teams, spectators.
• Composition: lines, framing and space that carry the speed.
• Trails: smoke, display trails, contrails, light trails and long exposures.
• Interpretation: the open category, your own creative take on movement.

You can enter as many images as you like, in as many categories as you like, one by one. Your choice of category is final, and a photo can only be entered once, in one category (clause 5.5). If a shot fits more than one, put it where you think it's strongest.

6.2 Any aircraft, anywhere, any camera including a phone. The photo must have been taken by you on or after Thursday 12 October 2023, the 36 months before entries open.

6.3 It must be a single photograph. No composites, no HDR merges, no focus stacks, no stitched panoramas, no exposure blends, no frame grabs from video.

6.4 Editing. A judge comparing your original file to your entry should see the same photograph, better finished. Allowed: cropping, straightening, lens and perspective corrections; exposure, contrast, white balance, colour, curves, clarity and dehaze; dodging and burning, global or local; removing sensor dust spots; black and white conversion, toning and moderate vignetting; sharpening and noise reduction, including AI-based tools, provided they don't add anything that wasn't in the original image. Minor object removal is allowed (cones, posts and the like), but there can be no AI-generated changes that alter the scene or the aircraft or change what happened, nothing that fakes movement, and nothing that affects the original value and meaning of the image. Not allowed: adding, moving, duplicating or removing any aircraft or part of one; compositing; altering anything that was moving; sky replacement; adding cloud, vapour, smoke or any background element; generative fill, generative expand or content-aware fill used to alter the composition or the original overall image; any image wholly or partly generated by AI.

6.5 Nothing on the image. No name, signature, watermark, logo, border or text. Judging is blind and any of these identifies you, so the entry is removed before it reaches a judge.

6.6 File. JPEG, longest edge at least 3,000 pixels, and no more than 30 MB, with the EXIF data left in. If you make the shortlist we'll ask for your original file (the RAW, the out-of-camera JPEG if you shoot JPEG, or the original phone file) and you'll have 72 hours to send it. No original file, no place on the shortlist.

6.7 It must be your own work, and you must own the copyright. Clause 13 has the promises you make about it.

6.8 No previously awarded work. You can't enter a photograph that has won, been placed, been shortlisted or been commended in any other photography competition. Work you've published yourself, or that has been published editorially, is fine, as long as you still own the rights and can give the permission in clause 12.

6.9 Be accurate. What you tell us about the photograph must be true. Don't misrepresent what's happening in it, where it was taken or when.

6.10 Original files. If you're shortlisted we'll ask for your original file and you'll have 72 hours to send it. We accept the common RAW formats (.ARW, .CR2, .CR3, .NEF, .ORF, .RAF, .RW2, .PEF among others), the out-of-camera JPEG if you shoot JPEG, or the original phone file. DNG is accepted only if it's your camera's native format, or if the original RAW is embedded in it and can be extracted.

7. Paying for extra entries

7.1 One extra entry is £7, $9 or €8. Three extra entries are £20, $26 or €23. You pay in the currency shown at checkout. No VAT is charged, because COAP Online Ltd isn't VAT registered. There's one price from 12 October to 31 October; no early bird, no codes.

7.2 When you buy, you tick a box that says: "Add my entries straight away. I understand that once I've used an entry I can't cancel it for a refund." Because you've asked for the entries immediately, the 14-day cancellation right you'd normally have for something bought online doesn't apply to an entry you've used (uploaded a photo against). It does apply to entries you haven't used: email team@coaponline.com within 14 days of buying and we'll refund them.

7.3 We don't refund entries that are disqualified under clause 15, or entries that go unused because you didn't upload in time.

7.4 Buying extra entries doesn't improve your chances beyond having more photos in the competition. Every entry is judged the same way, and one entry is enough to win.

8. How it's judged

8.1 The panel. Five judges score the entries: Mark Lynham (3x Winner, Guild of Photographers Photographer of the Year), Lee Matthews (RAF Visual Communicator of The Year), Ben Stanley-Hall (Deputy Editor, Modern Military Aviation, Key Publishing), Frank Crebas (Worldwide Aviation Photographer) and Peter Lewis (Award Winning Aviation Photographer). All five are independent of the promoter: none of them is an employee or director of COAP Online Ltd or on a permanent contract with it, none of them works for Clifton Cameras, and none of them is entering. Ben Stanley-Hall judges in a personal capacity, and Key Publishing, which publishes Combat Aircraft Journal, has no other role in the judging. COAP Online's two founders run the competition and check that entries are eligible, but don't score. If a judge can't take part, we'll replace them with someone of similar standing who meets the same tests, and name them on coaponline.com before scoring begins.

8.2 Judging is blind. During the shortlist and the scoring, the judges see each photo and an entry number and nothing else: no names, usernames, captions, upload times or camera owner details.

8.3 The judging criteria. Each judge scores every entry on the ten criteria below, each from 1 to 10, all carrying equal weight:

• Impact. This is the sense one gets upon viewing an image for the first time. Compelling images evoke laughter, sadness, anger, pride, wonder or another intense emotion.
• Lighting. The use and control of light is central to photography and critical to the judges. Whether the light in an image is artificial or natural, the judges look for its effective use to enhance the image, and the purpose of that use.
• Technique. This is the approach used to create the image. Printing, lighting, posing, capture, presentation media and more are part of the technique applied to an image.
• Creativity. The judges look for the original, fresh and external expression of the maker's imagination to convey an idea, message or purpose.
• Story Telling. This refers to the image's ability to communicate to the viewer and evoke imagination.
• Subject Matter. This should always be appropriate to the story being told in the image.
• Colour Balance. The judges look at the effective use of colours and tones in an image. An image in which the tones work together, effectively supporting the image, can enhance harmony. By contrast, a lack of harmony can be used to evoke diverse feelings for effect.
• Composition. This is central to creating an image and should bring all the visual elements together in concert to express the purpose of the image. Good composition holds the viewer in the image and prompts the viewer to look where the creator intends. Effective composition can be pleasing or disturbing, depending on the intent of the image-maker.
• Centre of Interest. This is where the photographer wants the viewer to stop as they look at the image. There can be primary and secondary centres of interest, and occasionally there is no specific point of interest because the entire scene collectively serves as the focus.
• Style. The judges look for a specific style: your style. It might be defined by a specific genre, or be recognisable in the way a particular photographer applies light to a subject. It can positively impact an image when the subject matter and the style suit each other, or have a negative effect when they are at odds.

Over all ten sits one principle: congruence, or harmony. All the components above must work together to create one image, and the strongest entries are cohesive and consistent in every area. The judges keep it in mind across all ten scores, rather than giving it a score of its own.

8.4 Shortlists. Before the judges see anything, COAP Online's founders check every entry for eligibility under clauses 3, 5 and 6. They don't choose or rank any entry. On Tuesday 3 and Wednesday 4 November the five judges view every eligible entry blind, category by category, and pick a shortlist of up to eight in each category, plus two reserves in order, on how well each entry fulfils the brief and meets the criteria in clause 8.3. An entry that doesn't answer the brief for its category isn't shortlisted. The shortlists are fixed by 18:00 on Wednesday 4 November.

8.5 Original files. Everyone on a shortlist and every reserve is asked for their original file and have 72 hours, to Saturday 7 November at 18:00. We check the original against the entry for the rules in clause 6. If an entry doesn't pass, or the file doesn't arrive, it's withdrawn and the next reserve moves in. Before withdrawing an entry for an editing question we'll tell you what we found and give you 48 hours to explain.

8.6 Scoring. Between Thursday 5 and Sunday 8 November each judge scores every shortlisted entry on the criteria in clause 8.3, alone, without seeing the other judges' scores. In each category, entries are placed by their total score: the highest is the category winner and the next two are the runners-up.

8.6a Overall winner. On Sunday 8 November the five judges score the seven category winners again on the same criteria, alone, without seeing each other's scores or the earlier totals. The highest total in this final round is the overall winner. The overall winner is still the winner of its category.

8.7 Ties. If two entries have the same total for any placing, including the overall winner, the one with the higher combined score on Impact takes the place. If they're still tied, the five judges look at the tied entries side by side and each picks one, and the entry picked by more judges takes the place. If the judges split two and two, the chair decides and records a one-line reason. The judges choose the chair from among themselves before scoring begins. Nothing is ever decided by chance.

8.8 The panel's decisions on scoring are final. We'll always tell a shortlisted entrant why an entry was withdrawn, and you can complain under clause 20, but we won't re-score.

8.9 The scores, the shortlist marks and the judges' notes are kept for two years. They're the record that this was a competition judged on skill. We don't publish individual scores.

9. The prize

9.1 There are three kinds of award: a winner in each of the seven categories, two runners-up in each category, and one overall winner, chosen from the seven category winners under clause 8.6a. The overall winner's equipment or cash prize depends on whether they live in the United Kingdom, and they don't get to choose between the two.

9.2 The overall winner, if they live in the United Kingdom. One item of new photographic equipment of the winner's choice, to the value of £2,000 including VAT, from the range Clifton Cameras stocks at the time the winner chooses. A lens or a body, whatever the winner wants up to that value. There is no cash alternative for a winner in the United Kingdom, and if the winner chooses an item worth less than £2,000 the difference is not paid out. Clifton Cameras delivers to a UK address at no cost to the winner within 30 days of the winner confirming their choice.

9.3 The overall winner, if they live outside the United Kingdom. $2,000 in cash, paid by PayPal within 14 days of the winner announcement on Monday 9 November 2026, provided the winner has given us the PayPal address to pay by Monday 16 November 2026. There is no equipment alternative.

9.4 Every award will be made whatever the number of entries, including in a category with only a few entries; a category with no eligible entries isn't awarded. The overall winner's prize cannot be transferred or sold on to someone else before it is supplied or paid. Equipment cannot be exchanged with Clifton after it is supplied, except under Clifton's normal returns policy for faulty goods.

9.5 Any tax on the prize is the winner's responsibility. We do not deduct anything from a cash prize, and PayPal's own fees, if any, are outside our control. If we cannot pay a cash prize because the winner has no PayPal account that can receive it, we will agree another method with them in writing, and the 14 day period runs from that agreement.

9.6 Publication. The overall winner's photo is published as its own double-page spread, and the other six category winners' photos are published together across a second double-page spread, in the January 2027 print issue of Combat Aircraft Journal, so no photo is printed twice. Each is credited with the photographer's name unless you've asked us to withhold it (clause 11.2). Combat Aircraft Journal decides the design and layout of the spreads. If that issue is delayed or changed for a reason outside our control, the photos are published in the next available issue and we'll tell you.

9.6a The fourteen runners-up are named publicly and their photos are shown on COAP Online's social media, blog and emails. There's no other prize for a runner-up, and we're saying so now so nobody is disappointed later.

9.7 Equipment prizes are subject to any manufacturer's warranty in the normal way. We're not responsible for the kit once Clifton has supplied it.

10. Telling the winners and runners-up

10.1 On Monday 9 November we'll email the overall winner, the category winners and the runners-up at the address on their entry, and phone any of them who gave a number. We log every attempt.

10.2 The winner has to confirm by reply that they're 18 or over and eligible under clauses 3.3 and 3.4, and choose their prize by Tuesday 24 November 2026. If we can't reach the winner by then, or they turn out not to be eligible, or they don't want the prize, the next placed entrant wins and we'll publish a dated note on the results page.

10.2a Category winners have to confirm by reply that they're 18 or over and eligible by Monday 16 November 2026, so their photo can go to Combat Aircraft Journal. If we can't reach a category winner by then, or they aren't eligible, the next-placed entry in that category moves up.

10.3 Results are published on Monday 9 November 2026 at 11:00 GMT by email to everyone who registered or entered and on a results page at coaponline.com, and the full gallery of entries opens on COAP Online's Kōlab page. We may publish before the winner has replied to us.

11. Publicity

11.1 We'll publish the names, counties and photos of the overall winner, the category winners and the runners-up on the results page, in the results email and on our own social media accounts. The Advertising Standards Authority expects promoters to publish or make available the surname and county of major prizewinners so that people can see a real award took place.

11.2 If you'd rather we didn't publish your name, tick the box on the upload form or email us before results are published, and we'll list you as "name withheld" with your county only. If you'd rather your entry wasn't shown publicly at all, tick the other box; it'll still be judged and can still place, but it can't be published in Combat Aircraft Journal, so if it wins, its place on the spread goes to the next-placed photo. Either way, if the ASA asks us to show that the award was made, we'll show them.

11.3 If you win, we'd like to photograph you with your prize at Clifton Cameras, write a short piece about your photo (aircraft, settings, the story, what the judges said) and use it, with your name, to tell people about the result and about the next COAP Online competition. You can say no to the photo shoot and we'll write the piece without it. We won't use your name or image to advertise any product.

12. Your photos: copyright and what you let us do

12.1 You keep the copyright in everything you enter. Entering doesn't transfer anything to us, to Clifton Cameras, to Key Publishing or to Kōlab.

12.2 By entering, you give COAP Online a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to use each entry for the following purposes only: showing it in the competition gallery on COAP Online's Kōlab page and on the results page at coaponline.com; if it's the overall winner or a category winner, letting Combat Aircraft Journal publish it in its January 2027 print issue and any digital edition of that issue (including promotion of the next competition), as clause 9.6 describes; if it's a winner or a runner-up, showing it in the results email, the winner's post on our blog, our own social media posts about the results, and the members' critique workshop on Wednesday 18 November and its replay; and showing it, as an example of past entries, when we announce the next COAP Online competition. Kōlab hosts and displays your entry for us under the same limits.

12.3 We'll credit you by name every time we show your photo (unless you've asked us not to publish your name), and we won't crop it, alter it or add anything to it beyond resizing and converting the file so it displays.

12.4 COAP Online, Key Publishing, Clifton Cameras and Kōlab won't sell your photo or license it to anyone else, apart from the publication in Combat Aircraft Journal under clause 12.2 and its use, as described there, to promote this and later High Roller competitions. If anyone else wants to use it, they'll have to ask you and agree terms with you directly.

12.5 The gallery is public and stays up after the competition, as the record of it. Once results are published on 9 November you can remove any of your entries from the gallery yourself, using the remove control on Kōlab, or by emailing us, and we'll do it within 14 days. The licence for that photo ends when it comes down, except for anything we'd already published under it, like the results email or the winner's post, which can stay as it is. If you're a winner or a runner-up, we'd ask you to leave that photo on the results page for at least twelve months, because it's the public record that a real competition took place; if you've a reason to take it down sooner, email us and we'll sort it.

12.6 Nothing in these terms affects your moral rights, and we don't ask you to waive them.

13. What you promise us

By entering, you confirm that:

13.1 You took the photo yourself, on or after 12 October 2023, and you own the copyright.

13.2 It doesn't infringe anyone else's copyright or other rights, and if a person is identifiable in it you have whatever permission you need to enter it.

13.3 You took it from somewhere you were entitled to be, and you didn't break any airfield, military, aviation security or trespass rules to get it.

13.4 It meets clause 6, and if we ask for the original file you'll send it.

13.5 Everything you tell us about yourself is true.

13.6 If someone makes a claim against us because one of these turns out not to be true, you'll cover us for it.

14. Your data

14.1 COAP Online Limited is the data controller for the competition. Kōlab (Kōlab Social Ltd, a UK company) processes competition data for us under a written data processing agreement. Your Kōlab account itself (username, profile, anything you do on Kōlab outside the competition) is Kōlab's, under Kōlab's privacy policy.

14.2 What we collect for the competition: your name, email address, county, confirmation you're 18 or over, a phone number if you choose to give one (used only if you're a winner or a runner-up), your photos and their embedded data, your entry route (free, bought or included), any purchase record, and the judges' scores and notes on your entries. Until you click the link in clause 5.6, Kōlab holds only the email address you used with us and how many entries it carries, so it can send you that link; clicking it is what connects the two accounts.

14.3 What we use it for: running the competition you entered (that's the contract between us); publishing the winners' and runners-up's names and photos as clauses 9.6 and 11 describe (that's our legitimate interest in showing a real award took place, and you can object using the opt-outs); and, only if you registered for the workshop under the consent line on the registration form, emailing you about COAP Online. You can unsubscribe from that at any time; competition emails, like results, still come.

14.4 Who sees it: COAP Online's two founders as administrators; the five judges see only photos and entry numbers; Clifton Cameras gets the overall winner's name and delivery address to supply the prize and nothing else; Combat Aircraft Journal gets the winning photographs with the photographers' names and counties, to publish them; Kajabi and its payment provider handle purchases under their own terms.

14.5 How long: your photos stay in the gallery until you remove them. Scores, shortlist marks, notification logs and the winner's eligibility confirmation are kept for two years as the record of the competition, even if the photo has come down. The winner's delivery address is deleted once the prize has been delivered.

14.6 Kōlab Social Ltd, a UK company, holds your entries and photos for us. Kajabi, which runs our website, registrations and checkout, is based in the United States, so your name, email address and purchase details are processed there. Any transfer of your data outside the UK is made under the safeguards UK GDPR requires.

14.7 Your rights: you can ask what we hold, ask for it to be corrected or deleted, and object to publication. Email team@coaponline.com. Our full privacy policy is at coaponline.com/privacy-terms. If you're unhappy with how we've handled your data you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk.

15. Disqualification

15.1 We'll remove an entry, and where it looks deliberate all of that person's entries, if: it breaks clause 3 (eligibility), clause 5.3 (multiple accounts), clause 5.5 (duplicates), clause 6 (theme window, single image, editing, marks on the image, file) or clause 13 (your promises); the original file isn't supplied on request; or the entrant abuses the judges, other entrants or our team.

15.2 Where the question is about editing or the original file, you get 48 hours to explain before we decide, and we'll tell you the decision and the reason.

15.3 If a breach comes to light after results are published, up to Thursday 10 December 2026, we can revisit. If a placed entry falls, its award isn't made, or the prize is returned if it has been supplied, and the next-placed entry moves up; we publish a dated correction and tell Combat Aircraft Journal if it affects the published photos.

15.4 No entry fees are refunded on disqualification.

16. If Kōlab isn't working

16.1 If Kōlab fails for you on the last day and you can't upload, email your photo to support@coaponline.com before 23:59 GMT on Saturday 31 October 2026, from the email address your entry is tied to, with "Competition entry" in the subject. We go by the time the email arrives on our server. We'll add it to Kōlab ourselves and it's judged exactly the same.

16.2 This route is for a fault with Kōlab. It isn't a way round the deadline, and it won't rescue an upload that failed because of your own connection with two minutes to go. Give yourself time.

16.3 We won't extend the closing date because of a Kōlab fault. That's why clause 16.1 exists.

17. Changes and cancellation

17.1 Once entries open on 12 October 2026 we won't change the closing date, the prize, the criteria or the judging process, except where something outside our control makes it unavoidable, and then only in a way that doesn't disadvantage anyone who's already entered. Fewer entries than we hoped, more entries than we hoped, and problems with Kōlab don't count as outside our control.

17.2 If we ever had to cancel the competition, we'd refund every paid entry in full and email every registrant and entrant.

17.3 We won't add extra rules after entries open. If we have to fix an error in these terms, the fix is dated at the bottom of this page and emailed to entrants if it affects them.

18. Facebook and Instagram

18.1 This competition is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Meta, Facebook or Instagram. By entering you release Meta Platforms, Inc. and its group companies from any liability connected with it. Entries are made on Kōlab, not on any Meta service.

19. Our responsibility to you

19.1 We'll run the competition with reasonable care and skill. We're not responsible for entries that don't arrive because of problems with your connection or equipment, or for anything outside our reasonable control.

19.2 Nothing in these terms limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud, or for anything else the law says we can't limit. Beyond that, our total liability to you in connection with the competition is limited to the entry fees you paid us.

20. Complaints and the law

20.1 If something's gone wrong, email team@coaponline.com and we'll reply within five working days. If it's about how the competition was advertised, you can also complain to the Advertising Standards Authority at asa.org.uk.

20.2 These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales and the courts of England and Wales have jurisdiction. If you live elsewhere in the UK or the EU you may also be able to bring a claim in your local courts.

20.3 If any part of these terms turns out to be unenforceable, the rest still applies.

20.4 If we don't enforce something straight away, that doesn't mean we've given it up.

20.5 These terms are the whole agreement between us about the competition.

20.6 You can't transfer your rights under these terms to anyone else. We may transfer ours to a company that takes over the competition, and it won't affect your rights.

Changes to this page: none yet.