Stelios Awards terms and conditions

Before you apply to the Stelios Awards 2023 please read our new terms and conditions.

Please read the terms and conditions very carefully - particularly section three, four and five.

1. General

  • i. This competition is organised and administered by Leonard Cheshire Disability, a charity registered in England and Wales under number 218186 (“Leonard Cheshire”), and The Stelios Philanthropic Foundation, a charity registered in England and Wales under number 1141206.
  • ii. These terms and conditions govern applicants’ participation in the competition known as the Stelios Awards for Disabled Entrepreneurs in the UK (the “Stelios Awards”). 
  • iii. Leonard Cheshire and the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation reserve the right to amend these terms and conditions at any time without notice by publishing updated terms and conditions at www.leonardcheshire.org/stelios and/or www.stelios.org (the “Websites”). 
  • iv. Completed applications must be emailed to tracy.ghori@stelios.com from Monday 27 February 2023 and by Friday 14 April 2023 at 17:00 British Summer Time.
  • v. By submitting an application to the Stelios Awards, all applicants agree to be bound by these terms and conditions in full.
  • vi. Entry into the Stelios Awards is prohibited for employees (and their families) of the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation and/or Leonard Cheshire. 
  • vii. Leonard Cheshire and the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation reserve the right, in their sole discretion, to cancel or suspend the Stelios Awards should causes beyond their control interfere with the administration of or proper participation therein. 
  • viii. Leonard Cheshire and the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation assume no responsibility for postal, technical or natural conditions that prevent the reception and/or judging of an application. 
  • ix. The judges’ decisions will be final and binding, and no further correspondence or discussion will be entered into. 

2. Monetary prizes for 2023

A total of £100,000 will be distributed as follows:

  • i. £50,000 to one overall winner.
  • ii. £30,000 to the second place winner.
  • iii. £20,000 to the third place winner.

3. Eligibility and Award criteria 

  • i. The awards are open to disabled applicants over the age of 18 operating in the UK only. We use the Equality Act 2010 definition of disability, which includes long-term mental and physical health conditions.
  • ii. To be eligible, a disabled entrepreneur must own at least 50 per cent of the applying company.
  • iii. The awards are only open to UK-registered for-profit companies
  • iv. The applicant company must have filed accounts with UK Companies House showing a turnover (Revenues) in one year of at least £5000
  • v. Past winners and/or applicants are welcome to re-apply. 
  • vi. The applicant must have an active business online presence. If you do not have an active digital presence please include your future plans on the application form.
  • vii. The applicant must join the Facebook group Stelios Awards for Disabled Entrepreneurs in the UK.
  • viii. Applicants may apply as many times as they like with different companies, but may not submit more than one application per organisation.

4. Application Submission 

  • i. The Stelios Philanthropic Foundation will open for entries on Monday 27 February 2023 and close on Friday 14 April 2023 at 17:00 British Summer Time. The Stelios Philanthropic Foundation is not responsible for and will not accept any application received after this time. 
  • ii. Applicants must download and complete the formal application form via Facebook or the Leonard Cheshire website www.leonardcheshire.org/stelios and email it to tracy.ghori@stelios.com. If a disability prevents such an application, alternative formats will be considered. 
  • iii. All applications must be submitted to tracy.ghori@stelios.com by Friday 14 April 2023 at 17:00 British Summer Time.
  • iv. All applications and any supporting material must be in English.
  • v. Leonard Cheshire and the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation reserve the right (at their sole discretion) to contact any applicant to request amendments and/or additional information following submission of an application to ensure that such application meets the minimum requirements set out and described by “Eligibility and Criteria”. 
  • vi. The Stelios Philanthropic Foundation will not accept applications which include profanity, pornography, indecent images and/or references and/or which infringe the rights of third parties (including without limitation intellectual property rights). The Stelios Philanthropic Foundation reserves the right to reject any application they consider (acting reasonably) to be incomplete or to contain inappropriate content, or which is not sufficiently clear.

5. Publicity, promotion and other obligations of prize winners

  • i. All prize-winners agree to take part, on Leonard Cheshire and the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation’s reasonable written request, in any publicity or promotional activity surrounding the Stelios Awards for that year applied.
  • ii. There will be no disclosure of a disability to the media without the written consent of the award finalists, though we advise finalists that owing to the Awards' criteria, it is likely most journalists will make a presumption of disability. 
  • iii. The overall winner agrees to serve as a judge for the first round of judging for the Stelios Awards 2024.

6. Intellectual Property

  • i. Leonard Cheshire and the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation are not responsible for obtaining or verifying any intellectual property rights relating to an application. 
  • ii. It is the responsibility of the applicant(s) to secure protection for a product or service which is being entered to the Awards competition. Proof of any patents, design applications or registrations, trademark applications or registrations, other rights, applications or permissions should be referred to in the application.
  • iii. By submitting an application each applicant confirms they are the owner or licensee of all appropriate intellectual property (and moral rights).
  • iv. The applicant shall fully indemnify, keep indemnified and hold harmless Leonard Cheshire and the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation against all costs, expenses (including legal expenses), damages, losses or liabilities suffered or incurred by Leonard Cheshire and the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation applicant’s infringement of the intellectual property rights of a third party. For the avoidance of doubt, where the relevant application is submitted by more than one person, the liability of each applying person under this clause shall be joint. 
  • v. All intellectual property rights to a product or service shall at all times remain (as between the parties) the property of the applicant(s). Nothing in these terms and conditions or an applicant’s participation to the Stelios Awards shall operate to assign or license any intellectual property rights in the Invention to Leonard Cheshire, the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation or any third party (including without limitation the Easy group of companies).

7. GDPR – your personal data 

  • i. In keeping with GDPR, Leonard Cheshire and the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation shall keep all applicants’ contact and personal details confidential and password protected and shall not disclose them to third parties outside Leonard Cheshire and Stelios Philanthropic Foundation without the written consent of the applicant. 
  • ii. In keeping with GDPR, applicants understand that in submitting an application, applicants expressly authorise Leonard Cheshire and the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation to use the application’s data collected during the registration process for the purposes of administering the Stelios Awards. Leonard Cheshire and the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation shall collect, store, use, handle and process applicants’ personal data in accordance with its privacy policy (available on the Website) and all applicable laws and regulations. 
  • iii. Applicants shall be entitled at any time to access or amend or delete their personal data held by Leonard Cheshire and the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation by the means of an e-mail or letter addressed to the Leonard Cheshire and the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation.
  • iv. All prize-winners understand and agree that information about their company will be made publicly available and can be shared by Leonard Cheshire and the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation across any and all media channels.
  • v. Leonard Cheshire and the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation will not pass on the applicants’ personal data to third parties – with the exception of the independent judging panel and Sir Stelios’ final judging panel- without the applicants’ prior written consent.

8. Judging

The Judging Process for the 2023 awards will be carried out internally by The Stelios Philanthropic Foundation.

The process

  • i. Judging is organised by the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation. The finalists judging panel will be headed by Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou. 
  • ii. Finalists will be asked to attend a 45 minute online interview with Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, trustees of the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation, and representatives of Leonard Cheshire. 
  • iii. Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou will select the three winners.
  • iv. The winners will be announced at an online event held via Zoom on Thursday 18 May 2023, from 13.00 to 14.00 British Summer Time.
  • v. The Stelios Philanthropic Foundation shall pay (or shall procure the payment of) all applicable amounts into the UK bank account(s) nominated by the winners within 30 days of the winner of the relevant prize being announced. 
  • vi. Where the prize is payable to more than one shareholder, the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation will pay the amount due into the UK bank account nominated on the application form, and will have no responsibility for dividing such amount between shareholders.
  • vii. In the event that a prize-winner refuses a prize, the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation will decide (at its discretion) how the prize money will be distributed (if at all) and neither the prize-winner nor the prize-winner’s company will have any rights in respect of the prize money or its distribution.  

9. Liability and Termination

  • i. Nothing in these terms and conditions shall be deemed to limit or exclude the liability of any party for death or personal injury caused by that party’s negligence, fraud, or any other liability which cannot by law be validly limited or excluded. 
  • ii. Subject to clause 6i, Leonard Cheshire and the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation shall have no liability (howsoever arising) for any indirect or consequential loss or damage. 
  • iii. An applicant may at any time withdraw an application from the Stelios Awards on written notice to Leonard Cheshire and/or the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation. When an application has been submitted by more than one person, an application shall not be deemed to be withdrawn unless and until each applying person has notified Leonard Cheshire and/or the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation in writing. Email:  tracy.ghori@stelios.com. 
  • iv. Without prejudice to any other right or remedy which it may have, Leonard Cheshire and the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation shall be entitled, at their absolute discretion and on written notice, to terminate the participation of an applicant to the Stelios Awards for breach of these terms and conditions or for bringing into disrepute Leonard Cheshire, the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation and/or the Easy group of companies. 

For the purposes of clarity: 

•    ‘Stelios Awards’ refers to the Stelios Awards for Disabled Entrepreneurs UK 2023. 

•    ‘Applicants’ refers to anyone who enters the competition to win an award.

•    ‘Application’ refers to the form filed with Leonard Cheshire to enter the Awards' competition.