Sport England award hopes to help make sport accessible to more people
September 15, 2014 marks the opening for entries to a new Sports Technology Design award. The competition, which is the brainchild of the Sports Technology Awards and is being supported by Sport England, is hoping to unearth a design that gets more young people, women or disabled people doing sport.
Awards Director, Rebecca Hopkins, explained ‘The Sports Technology Awards has been embraced by the sector and whilst it is exciting to celebrate excellence within the sector, we felt we could add value by prompting innovation at a practical level too. Sport England shared our vision and helped us shape something that has tangible value both for the person or body behind a design but for large numbers of end users too.’
Tanya Joseph, Director of Business Partnerships Sport England, added ‘Sport England is committed to get as many people involved in sport as possible. This means tackling the barriers which get in the way, that is why we have issued this challenge to designers as this is a real issue they can help us overcome.’
Entries for the award are encouraged from UK-based individuals, academic institutions and SMEs with the winner receiving a £10,000 bursary to help them further develop their product.
Submissions are via the Sports Technology Awards website (www.sportstechnologyawards.com) and are open until 30 November 2014. The shortlist will be announced in late January 2015 with the successful entry being revealed at the awards ceremony on 27 March in Central London.
For more information about the challenge please email yasmin@ensltd.com or if you would like to know more about the awards, please visit www.sportstechnologyawards.com.
Criteria and minimum Terms and Conditions of the Sport England Sports Technology Design Challenge
Entry Criteria:
1. To enter the Sport England Sports Technology Design Challenge, access and complete the entry form. Only fully completed entry forms will be accepted.
2. Entries are limited to 1500 words and 5 attachments. Entries exceeding the word limit will be automatically marked down by the judges.
3. Entries must be submitted online via the Sports Technology Awards website.
4. Please provide contact details of a representative who can answer any enquiries on the entry form.
5. All entries must be submitted by November 30th 2014.
6. The competition is open to UK based entrants.
7. Entries will be accepted by those who have a new concept, product or service that will facilitate an increase of participation in sport, especially for women, young people or disabled people.
8. The project can be at any stage of development – from inception of the idea to the distribution of product.
9. All applicants must be able to demonstrate ‘financial need’ for the funding and come under one of the following criteria:
i. A proposal at the idea stage which needs help to develop into a project
ii. A project that needs support to become an effective product service
iii. A product or service that is ready to be scaled up
10. Entry is open to enterprises of all sizes as well as individuals.
11. The winner will be awarded a grant of £10,000 (excl VAT) and will be required to enter into a funding agreement with Sport England.
Terms and Conditions:
1. The entry form represents the full and entire official entry. Attempts to influence the judges further by any means outside, or in addition to, the official entry may result in disqualification.
2. On receipt of an entry, the awards administrators will confirm its arrival via email. If a receipt is not received within three days, it is the responsibility of the entrant to contact the administrators to confirm its arrival. Unless written or verbal confirmation has been received, the arrival of any entry cannot be guaranteed.
3. Entrants will be shortlisted, and then published on the Sports Technology Awards and Sport England websites in January 2015.
4. The final decision will be at the sole discretion of Sport England.
5. The winner will be announced during the Sport Technology Awards on 27th March 2015.
6. All entrants reaching the provisional shortlist will be contacted upon announcement to discuss their attendance. Entrants unable to commit to attendance at the awards ceremony may not be included in the final shortlist.
7. Details of the shortlisted entries will be published, including entry profiles using the information taken from the entry form. The names of the enterprises/individuals that are not shortlisted will not be revealed.
8. Funding can only be used for the purpose for which the prize is granted. Misuse on ineligible items of spend will result in the withdrawal of funding. Ineligible items include:
9. The grant recipient must be able to provide evidence of all spending to ensure no misuse.
10. The grant can be paid either in advance as one payment or split between two six-monthly payments.
11. The investment from Sport England must be recognised using the Sport England Sports Technology Design Challenge logo.