1. The Promoter
1.1 The Promoter is University of Derby of Kedleston Road, Derby DE22 1GB (“the Promoter”).
1.2 The Promoter is running the Competition (as defined below) with the sponsorship of McDonald's Restaurants Limited a company incorporated and registered in England and Wales with company number 01002769 whose registered office is at 11/59 High Road, East Finchley, London, N2 8AW (“McDonalds UK&I”).
2. The Competition
2.1 The title of the competition is the McDonald’s UK&I Change Challenge 2026/2027 (“the Competition”).
2.2 The details and the rationale for the Competition are set out in Annex 1 to these terms and conditions.
2.3 These terms and conditions prevail in the event of any inconsistency with any other material in relation to the Competition. By submitting an entry to this Competition (in accordance with the instructions stated below), all entrants (which include all members of the team who are responsible for this entry) will be deemed to have accepted and be bound by these terms and conditions. Please retain a copy of these terms and conditions for your ease of reference.
3. How to Enter
3.1 The Competition will run from 09:00AM on 12th October 2026 (UK Time) (the "Opening Date") to 23:59PM on 3rd January 2027 (UK Time) (the "Closing Date").
3.2 All entries must be received by the Promoter by the Closing Date. All entries received after the Closing Date are automatically disqualified.
3.3 To enter the Competition, please visit McDonald's Change Champion Competition 2026 - Schools and Colleges Liaison events - University of Derby (“the Website”) and follow the instructions set out regarding submitting an entry to the Competition.
3.4 No purchase necessary and there is no charge to register for use of the Website.
3.5 The Promoter will not accept:
(a) responsibility for any entries that are corrupted, not successfully completed or transmitted, lost, mislaid, damaged or delayed in transit, regardless of cause, including, for example equipment failure, technical malfunction, systems, satellite, network, server, website, computer hardware or software failure of any kind; and
(b) transmission as proof of receipt of entry to the Competition.
3.6 By submitting an entry to the Competition, all team members agree to be bound by these terms and conditions.
3.7 In the first instance, all eligible entries will be judged by a suitably qualified employee of the Promoter, along with an independent judge(s). Once the Promoter and the independent judge(s) have determined the best 20 entrants, a judging panel (comprising of an independent judge, an employee of the Promoter, along with an employee of McDonald’s UK&I), will determine the Winners and the Shortlist (as defined below). The criteria against which entries will be judged is stipulated in Annex 3. The decision of the panel of judges (acting reasonably) will be final. The Promoter will send the full names of the judges to anyone who writes within one month of the Closing Date requesting details of the judges and who encloses a self-addressed envelope to the following address: Legal, Governance and Assurance Services, University of Derby, Kedleston Road, Derby DE22 1GB.
4. Competition entries
4.1 All entries must:
(a) comply with the requirements set out in these terms and conditions (including those stated in Annex 1);
(b) be in video format (no file type or size restriction);
(c) be free from viruses, malware and other types of malicious software; and
(d) be no more than 3 minutes in duration.
4.2 The entries must not contain any sounds, images or content which are:
(a) illegal;
(b) would be reasonably interpreted to promote or condone illegal acts;
(c) violent;
(d) homophobic, racist, discriminatory or which would be reasonably interpreted to promote or condone discrimination against any protected characteristic;
(e) pornographic or indecent;
(f) otherwise inappropriate for the general public (of all ages).
4.3 Any entry which fails to adhere to the criteria stipulated in clause 4.1 and clause 4.2 (as determined by the Promoter) may be automatically disqualified.
5. Eligibility
5.1 The Competition is only open to residents in the UK aged between 16 to 18 years (at the date that the entry is submitted), except:
(a) employees of the Promoter or its holding or subsidiary companies;
(b) employees of McDonald’s UK&I, who are professionally connected with the Competition or its administration;
(c) employees of agents or suppliers of the Promoter or its holding or subsidiary companies, who are professionally connected with the Competition or its administration; or
(d) members of the immediate families or households of (a) and (b) above.
5.2 An entry must be accompanied by a signed parent/guardian guarantee (as set out in Annex 2 of these terms and conditions) for all entrants who are part of the submission who are under the age of 18 at the date of entry. Failure to comply with this requirement will result in the entry being automatically disqualified.
5.3 In order to enter the Competition, the entrants must have the permission of a teacher at their school. The entry must specify the name of the entrant’s school, name and email address of the teacher who has provided their permission for the entrants to enter the Competition. The entrants are all responsible for ensuring that they have obtained the consent of their teacher to provide these details as part of their submission.
5.4 In entering the Competition, all entrants (which includes individual entrants or those individuals who form part of a team who submit an entry) confirm that they are eligible to do so and eligible to claim the Prize (as defined below). The Promoter may require any entrant to provide proof that they are eligible to enter the Competition. Failure for any entrant to provide evidence to the satisfaction of the Promoter may result (in the Promoter’s sole discretion) in the Prize being withheld and the entire entry being automatically disqualified.
5.5 The Promoter will not accept any entries that are (as determined by the Promoter):
(a) automatically generated by computer or created by artificial intelligence (including but not limited to chatbots such as ChatGPT or similar software applications);
(b) not in line with the requirements of clause 4 of these terms and conditions;
(c) completed by third parties or in bulk;
(d) illegible, have been altered, reconstructed, forged or tampered with;
(e) photocopies and not originals; or
(f) incomplete.
5.6 There is a limit of one entry per person (whether individually or as part of a team).
5.7 The Promoter reserves all rights to disqualify any entry if the conduct of any entrant who is responsible for that entry is contrary to the spirit or intention of the Competition.
5.8 Entries cannot be returned.
6. The Prize
6.1 The prize for the winning entry consists of £500 (“the Cash Element”) and a behind the scenes experience at McDonald’s UK&I headquarters (together, “the Prize”). The Promoter shall arrange for the Cash Element to be transferred to the Winner’s school, so that it can be transferred to the Winners (as defined below). Once the Cash Element has been transferred to the Winner’s School, the Promoter will have discharged its obligations in relation to the payment of the Cash Element to the Winners.
6.2 In the event that the Prize is won by a team, the Promoter will advise the Winner’s School that the Cash Element must be split equally between the members of the winning team.
6.3 The Prize is not negotiable or transferable. The Promoter may substitute an element of the Prize with an appropriate replacement, which is of equal or greater value.
6.4 Each entrant, the Promoter and McDonald’s UK&I acknowledge that the “behind the scenes experience at McDonald’s UK&I” is outside the control of the Promoter and agree that the Promoter shall have no liability in respect of this element of the Prize.
6.5 The Promoter will notify the Winners of the date of the behind the scenes experience at McDonald’s UK&I headquarters. Dates once notified to the Winners cannot be changed. The Winners shall be responsible for all costs and expenses in relation to their visit to McDonald’s UK&I headquarters.
7. Winners / Claiming a Prize
7.1 As soon as reasonably practicable following a decision by the judges, the Promoter will contact all the top 5 entrants (including all individuals if the entry has been submitted by a team) (“Shortlist”) by using the email address provided with their entry to notify them that they are shortlisted and that they are invited to attend an awards event organised by the Promoter on a specified date. Dates once notified cannot be changed and individuals shall be responsible for all costs and expenses in relation to their attendance at this event.
7.2 The Promoter will make all reasonable efforts to contact the Shortlist. If any entrant (which includes any individual who form part of a team) cannot be contacted within a reasonable period of time (as determined by the Promoter), then the Promoter reserves the right to invite to the next placed entrant to the event.
7.3 Once notified, if the entrant cannot attend the event (in the case of an entry which has been submitted by a team, then at least one member of the team) then the Promoter must be notified as soon as possible. The Promoter will take reasonable steps to consider how to continue to involve this entrant in the process but reserves the right to replace their entry with the next placed entry.
7.4 The Promoter must either publish or make available information that indicates that a valid award took place. To comply with this obligation the Promoter will send the surname and county of the Winners to anyone who writes to the address set out in clause 3.8 (enclosing a self-addressed envelope) within three months after the Closing Date of the Competition.
7.5 If any entrant (which includes any member of a team) objects to some or all of their surname, county and winning entry being published or made available, they should contact the Promoter (sclteam@derby.ac.uk). In such circumstances, the Promoter must still provide the information and winning entry to the Advertising Standards Authority on written request.
8. Claiming the Prize
8.1 The winning entry will be announced at the event referred to in clause 7.1 (“the Winners”). The decision of the judges (as referred to in clause 3.7) is final and no correspondence or discussion will be entered into.
8.2 The Prize may not be claimed by a third party on behalf of the Winners.
8.3 The Promoter does not accept any responsibility if the Winners (or any individual who forms part of the Winners) if they are unable to take up the Prize.
9. Limitation of liability
Insofar as is permitted by law, the Promoter, its agents or distributors or McDonald’s UK&I will not in any circumstances be responsible or liable to compensate an individual or accept any liability for any loss, damage, personal injury or death occurring as a result of taking up the Prize, attending the event referred to in clause 7.1, except where it is caused by the negligence of the Promoter, its agents or distributors, McDonald’s UK&I or that of their employees. Statutory rights are not affected.
10. Ownership of Competition Entries and Intellectual Property Rights
10.1 All entries and any accompanying material (“Material”) submitted to the Promoter will automatically become the joint property of the Promoter and McDonald’s UK&I on receipt.
10.2 By submitting this Material, all entrants who are responsible for that Material agree and acknowledge that they:
(a) assign absolutely to the Promoter and McDonald’s UK&I all their intellectual property rights in relation to this Material with full title guarantee;
(b) waive absolutely all moral rights; and
(c) waive all other rights (including any right to compensation) in the transferred intellectual property rights, in and to this Material and otherwise arising in connection with this Material to which they may now or at any time in the future be entitled under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 as amended from time to time and under all similar legislation from time to time in force anywhere in the world.
10.3 In the event that the entrants form part of the Shortlist, the entrants agree and acknowledge that the Promoter and McDonald’s UK&I may use their name and image in any publicity material for the sole purpose of identifying their involvement in the Competition.
11. Data protection and publicity
The Promoter will only process personal information in connection with the Competition in accordance with the McDonald’s UK&I Change Challenge 2026/2027 Privacy Notice available at McDonald's Change Challenge 2026 Privacy Notice - McDonald's Change Champion Competition 2026 - University of Derby See also the applicable clauses in these terms and conditions with regard to the announcement of Winners.
12. General
12.1 If there is any reason to believe that there has been a breach of these terms and conditions, the Promoter may, at its sole discretion, reserve the right to exclude an entrant from participating in the Competition.
12.2 The Promoter reserves the right to hold void, suspend, cancel, or amend any element of the Competition where it becomes necessary to do so.
12.3 These terms and conditions are governed by English law. If any entrants to this Competition wish to take court proceedings, then they must do this within the courts in England.