As part of a European COVID crisis program co-funded by the EU, the Dairy Council for Northern Ireland is organising a competition to promote European milk and dairy products: Best Scones NI.
“Scones” are an important part of Northern Ireland’s gastronomic culture, and the purpose of the Competition is to find Northern Ireland’s best scone.
Key Competition Dates – entrants should note the following dates before applying –
The competition will open Tuesday 8 June 2021 and close on Monday 19 July 2021.
Public voting will commence on Monday 19 July 2021 via www.bestsconesni.com and will close on Tuesday 31 August 2021 at 5pm
Judges tasting sessions from w/c 6 September 2021 during opening hours of your business
Awards ceremony Monday 18 October from 6pm – 10pm
A local NI business which meets the following criteria may participate. The entrant should submit their entry to www.bestsconesni.com
Entrant criteria: Business owners must be currently trading in Northern Ireland under at least one of the following categories:
Café/coffee shop/ home bakery/deli
Restaurant/Bar/Gastro pub
Hotel
Product criteria: Scones sold in the entrants’ business should be baked using dairy ingredients such as cow’s milk/butter/buttermilk/cream/cheese.
Entrant exclusions: Wholesale suppliers and products baked only for mass produced retail i.e., supermarkets, small/medium convenience stores, petrol stations, and do not have any customer facing facilities are excluded from the competition.
The entry should include
An image of the business (to facilitate customer voting)
Contact details of the business entrant – point of contact, email address, phone number, social media handles (if available), web address
Select the type of business that is being shortlisting – see category options above
All marketing materials are available to download via our online entrants portal on www.bestsconesni.com
All entrants will receive a window sticker to display in their business premises or vehicle – if you require a surplus of stickers please contact competition@bestsconesni.com
All entrants are responsible for promoting their involvement in the campaign via their social channels, word of mouth and business connections
Voters are restricted to one vote per entry
No third-party advertising is permitted
Use of Facebook Group and Google ads to ‘boost’ reach and to influence votes will not be allowed and will lead to disqualification
This is a public competition – Offensive or abusive content used to promote of the competition will not be tolerated and may lead to disqualification
By voting in the competition, entrants confirm that they have read and agree to be bound by these terms and conditions and all rules and guidelines applicable.
Eligibility: This Promotion is open only to Northern Irish residents aged 18 years and over. Employees (and their immediate families) of the Promoter, its client, the agencies or companies associated with this promotion are not eligible to enter.
To enter the promotion, you must vote for your business nomination.
The promotion can only be entered via bestsconesni.com .
1 weekly prize winner will be selected from all the individuals who have entered.
The prize winner will receive a £20 hospitality voucher to spend.
The prize is not refundable, transferable or exchangeable and cannot be redeemed for cash or any other form of compensation.
The Promoter of this promotion is Best Scones NI, Sinclair House, 89-101 Royal Avenue Belfast BT1 1EX.
This promotion will run from Monday 19th July 2021 to Tuesday 31st August 2021.
The winner we will notified on the Friday of each associated week.
You will be contacted privately via the contact details through which you entered the competition to obtain details necessary to arrange the delivery of your prize.
In the event that a winner cannot be contacted or does not respond within 48 hours to winner notification, an alternative winner will be selected from entries.
If a winner is deemed not to comply with these conditions of entry, the entry will be discarded, and a new winner of the prize will be determined by the Promoter.
Winners must agree to participate in any promotional activities that may be organised by the Promoter in connection with the Promotion without any further consent or payment.
The prize may take up to 18 working days to arrive.
If for any reason any aspect of this promotion is not capable of running as planned the Promoter may in its absolute discretion cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the promotion, or invalidate any affected entries.
Voting in the competition implies full acceptance of these competition rules. For further enquiries please contact competition@bestsconesni.com
The five businesses with the highest number of votes in each category that meet the product criteria will be shortlisted for the judging process.
Shortlisted entrants must agree for their business to be visited by our three judges to judge the scones on site in the entrants’ business 14th, 17th, 20th & 23rd September 2021.
Shortlisted businesses will be notified in advance of the judging.
Each shortlisted business will be asked to nominate up to three scones from their menu, which the judges will assess based on taste/flavour; texture/mouth feel; and eye appeal/presentation
Their premises are open as usual
They follow government COVID guidelines
They do not offer any special treatment which may influence the judges’ vote
All shortlisted businesses will be invited to nominate up to two members of staff to attend a VIP event on Monday 18 October from 6pm
Awards ceremony – Following the VIP event, participants will be joined by journalists and dairy company representatives for a drinks & canape reception where the category winners and the overall winner will be announced.
In entering the Competition, the business agrees that its nominees will attend both the VIP event and award ceremony afterwards on Monday 18 October 2021.
The winning business will receive –
An bespoke Best Scones NI award to display in their establishment and social media logos and banners to confirm their title.
£1,000 voucher to go towards a hospitality venue of their choice with their staff
Event publicity.
Winning title logos and artwork for social media and online
Runners up will receive –
Social media logos noting their runner up status
Event publicity.
The winner will be required to take part in media interviews, publicity photos and short videos, in addition to social media and post-competition communications and marketing activity.
If entrants do not wish to be filmed please nominate a person from your business to be put forward for any publicity activities as mentioned.
Participation agreement: This contest is free to enter and open to Northern Ireland food service businesses which bake in-house.
The organizer will consider as a competition entrant any person who has submitted their entry to the Dairy Council for Northern Ireland website www.bestsconesni.com, thus accepting all the terms and conditions of the contest.
All entrants consent for their application image to be posted publicly on www.bestsconesni.com for the public to make their vote of Northern Ireland’s best scones.
The business owner and/or supervising manager must have given permission for the entry to be submitted.
The judges’ decision is final, and no communication will be entered into.
All entrants must consent to being contacted by Best Scones NI on the behalf of Dairy Council NI to inform entrants of competition updates such as event timings and shortlisting news.
The entrant: Each participant is solely responsible for the content and photographs that they are sending and guarantees that they are the author or has the necessary rights and permissions from the author or owner for their use.
If shortlisted, the participant transfers to Dairy Council for Northern Ireland any intellectual property rights of the business’ entry submission photograph, without receiving any compensation.
Similarly, a finalist expressly authorizes Best Scones NI and Dairy Council for Northern Ireland and European Milk Forum to publish the business images and publicity photographs, with or without their name, on the contest website.
They allow the entrants’ business images to be stored and shared on social networks by any participant in the contest, without receiving any remuneration in exchange.
The organisers of the competition accept no liability for any claim for infringement of intellectual or industrial property rights or photo rights.
Owners, employees and family members of the organizer and entities related to the competition, Best Scones NI or DCNI cannot participate in the contest.
The organiser reserves the right to avoid speculative or commercial practice relating to the Contest, including through legal or other means at its convenience.
Similarly, it reserves the right to disqualify any participant from the contest acting in a manner contrary to the rules or attempting to alter the results of the contest or hinder its proceedings.
It also reserves the right to any verification, before notification of the shortlisted businesses, identity of participants and voters.
The organizer reserves the right to extend the competition by communicating well in advance on the Dairy Council for Northern Ireland website www.bestsconesni.com and indicating the new deadline in force. It also reserves the right to modify or cancel the contest, if duly justified.
The organizer undertakes to communicate, well in advance, about the new regulations or new general terms and conditions or, where applicable, the final cancellation, through the medium of communication used at the time of publication of the contest.
The organizer will not be held responsible for any adverse impact (unable to register a participant, etc.) related to a malfunction of the computer or electrical network due to natural external factors (including adverse weather conditions or technical failure of the ISP).
Each participant, while agreeing to transmit his personal data, expressly authorizes the Best Scones NI/ Dairy Council for Northern Ireland and their agents, and the European Milk Forum to manage and process the data in an automated manner, by incorporating it into a computer file of which they will be both owners and managers.
This data will be used in the contest to send, where appropriate, to manage the dispatch of communication or further information through future promotions organized by Best Scones NI/ Dairy Council for Northern Ireland, by all means of communication, including email.
The participant may at any time exercise his right of access, rectification, cancellation and opposition of his data by requesting in writing to the holders of the file: (i) Best Scones NI (ii) Dairy Council for Northern Ireland.
The various actions will be communicated via social media – Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn for Northern Ireland website www.dairycouncil.co.uk and www.bestsconesni.com
In the event of disputes and disagreement on the application and interpretation of these competition rules, the organiser will decide any question relating to the application of these rules.
In the absence of specific information provided for by the competition rules and alternatively by country law, the applicable law will be the law of the country in which the case arises.
Participation in the competition implies full acceptance of these competition rules. For further enquiries please contact competition@bestsconesni.com