This privacy notice was last updated: Aug 11, 2023
After reading the privacy policy, should you have any concerns or questions, please email legal@pivotalcontest.org.
Your data protection rights
Access and rectification: you may request a copy of the information we process about you and ask us to rectify any incorrect data.
Erasure or restriction: in some circumstances, you may ask us to delete or restrict our processing of your data, but we cannot delete any data we are legally required to process or data needed to investigate or report cheating as well as any other behavior highlighted by our Terms & Conditions.
Object to processing: in some circumstances, you may ask us to stop processing your data.
Please get in touch with us if you have any questions about how we handle your data or want to exercise one of your rights. You are entitled to a reply within 30 days.
How we get your personal data
We typically process personal data on potential or existing participants in the contest and website visitors.
We may process personal data when you:
- Contact/communicate with us online (email, video calls, etc) or on the phone.
- Use our submission portal or our website
- Get nominated by someone
- Request a free book or apply to grade essays.
It is voluntary to provide us with your personal data, but we cannot provide you with our services, including participating in the contest, if you choose not to.
We do not rent, buy or sell personal data from or to others, use automated decisions or profiling in the processing of your personal data, or process any special category data as per the GPDR Article 9.
Purpose, lawful basis and retention periods
We only process your personal data when we have a purpose and a lawful basis for doing so. Under the GPDR Article 6-1, the lawful bases we rely on are:
- Your consent
- We have a contractual obligation (contract)
- We have a legal obligation
- We have a legitimate interest
Details on the processing of your personal data
This section describes when and how we process your data, for what purposes and our legal ground to do so (lawful bases). We also specify the retention periods for the processing.
You communicate with us
Regardless of your relationship with us, we process your personal data whenever you communicate with us, regardless of the medium. Depending on where, how, and why you contact us, we may collect your name, contact details, IP address and other information you choose to send to us.
The purpose is to be able to respond to your inquiries and, on some occasions, to keep records in case of complaints, legal claims, or otherwise dealing with any suspicion of duplicity related to the running of the contest.
You submit an essay (participate in the contest)
When you submit an essay, we already have the personal data you provided when registering to the submission platform. You can add other personal data in your account dashboard, like address, school advisor, etc.
The purpose is to fulfill our obligation as organizers of the contest and ensure that we make all reasonable efforts to reduce cheating or otherwise malicious behavior in the contest and that we can deliver the prizes to the winners and finalists.
We process the data for as long as you have an account or are involved in any process related to the smooth running of the contest, including but not limited to, suspicion of cheating, duplicity or otherwise malicious behavior.
You use our website
We collect the IP Address of your device and the number of requests your device makes to our services, as well as information from your user agent that we anonymize and share with EU third-parties.
The purposes for this processing are to protect ourselves against cyberattacks and to analyze our website traffic to optimize and run our contest effectively.
You subscribe to the newsletter
If you subscribe to the newsletter, we process your name and email address. The purpose is to provide you with news, reminders, and offers related to your participation or interest in the test.
You can opt-out at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in any such email. We process the data for as long as you are registered or if the processing is based on your contest until you withdraw it.
Transfer of personal data outside the EU/EEA
In some cases, your personal data will be transferred to a “third country”, i.e. outside the EU/EEA. For example, where we use data processors to manage email services. We only use data processors we trust that are well known, and reputable.
Accessing and Correcting your Personal Data
You have a right to access your personal data and request a correction if you believe it is inaccurate. If you have submitted Personal Information and would like to have access to it, or if you would like to have it corrected, please get in touch with us using the contact information provided below.