1. Who we are

The Sovereign AI Awards are promoted by UKAI - UKAI Trade Organisation Limited ("UKAI"), a trade association for the UK's AI industry. For the purposes of UK data protection law (the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018), UKAI is the data controller for personal data submitted through the nomination form and the People's Vote forms.

2. What personal data we collect

When you make a nomination

• Your own details as the person making the nomination, including your name, email address and organisation.
• Details about the nominated company, including its name and other organisational information relevant to the nomination.
• The email address of a contact person at the nominee company, so that we can get in touch with them about the nomination if it is shortlisted.

Please only include personal data that is necessary for the nomination, and do not submit sensitive personal data (such as details about health, race, religion or similar) through the form.

Nominating someone else

If you provide us with the contact details of someone at the nominee company, you confirm that you are authorised to share that information with us and that you will, where practical, let them know they have been nominated and that their contact email will be used by UKAI for the purposes described in this notice. We will in any event aim to inform the nominee contact directly if their nomination is progressed, in line with our obligations under Article 14 of the UK GDPR.

When you vote in the People's Vote

• The details you enter on the voting form, such as your name, email address, organisation and job title.
• Your vote: the category and the nominee you chose.
• Technical data captured by the form itself: the time of your vote, your IP address and your device profile.

3. Why we use your data and our lawful basis

We use the personal data submitted through the nomination and voting forms to:

• administer and process nominations for the Sovereign AI Awards;
• share nominations with our judging panel for review and shortlisting;
• run and count the People's Vote;
• check that votes are genuine and meet the voting terms in section 9;
• contact nominators and nominee contacts about the status of a nomination, shortlisting, voting or the awards ceremony;
• maintain records of the awards process for administrative and audit purposes.

We rely on legitimate interests as our lawful basis for this processing: it is in our legitimate interest, and that of the wider UK AI industry, to run a credible, fair and well-administered awards programme that recognises achievement in the sector. Where we ever wish to use your data for a materially different purpose, such as direct marketing beyond the awards process, we will ask for your separate consent.

4. Who we share your data with

We use a third-party platform to host and manage the nomination and voting forms on our behalf. That provider processes the data strictly under our instructions, as our data processor, and under a written data processing agreement that requires it to keep the data secure and confidential.

We do not publish individual votes or voters' details. Published People's Vote results show totals only.

We do not sell personal data, and we do not share it with other third parties for their own marketing purposes. We may disclose personal data where required by law or to protect our legal rights.

International transfers

If any of our service providers store or process data outside the UK, we will ensure an appropriate safeguard is in place, such as the UK's International Data Transfer Addendum or a finding of adequacy, before the transfer takes place.

5. How long we keep your data

We retain nomination and voting data for the duration of the relevant awards cycle, including judging and the ceremony, and for a further 12 months afterwards for record-keeping and audit purposes. After this period, personal data is securely deleted unless we are required to keep it for longer by law.

6. Your rights

Under UK data protection law, you have the right to:

• ask us for a copy of the personal data we hold about you;
• ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data;
• ask us to delete your data, in certain circumstances;
• ask us to restrict or object to our processing of your data;
• ask for your data to be provided to you or another organisation in a portable format, where relevant;
• withdraw consent, where processing is based on consent.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at [email protected]. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk if you are unhappy with how we have handled your data.

7. Keeping your data secure

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against unauthorised access, loss, misuse or alteration, and we require our third-party processor to do the same.

8. Nomination terms

• Nominations must be submitted using the form provided and must, to the best of your knowledge, be accurate.
• Submitting a nomination does not guarantee shortlisting, judging review or any award.
• UKAI reserves the right to verify, amend, decline or withdraw a nomination at its discretion, including where information provided is incomplete, inaccurate or submitted without appropriate authorisation.
• UKAI reserves the right to amend the awards process, categories, timeline or these terms, and will publish any material changes on this page.
• If a nominee is shortlisted or wins an award, UKAI may publicise the nominee company's name and category in connection with the awards; this notice does not extend to using individuals' personal data for promotional purposes without separate agreement.

9. People's Vote terms

The People's Vote lets the public support shortlisted nominees. It runs alongside the independent judging panel's assessment and is one part of how the awards are decided, not the whole of it.

Key dates

• Voting closes on Friday 30 October 2026. Votes received after voting closes will not be counted.
• Winners will be announced on Monday 2 November 2026, at the awards ceremony at the Sovereign AI Summit.

Who can vote and how

• Anyone can vote, as long as they use their own name and their own email address.
• You can vote once in each category, and you are welcome to vote in every category.
• Votes are cast through the voting form on each category page. Votes sent any other way are not counted.
• Each vote must be cast by the person whose details are on the form. You may encourage others to vote, but you may not vote on their behalf.

Multiple voting

• Each email address can cast one vote per category.
• If the same email address votes more than once in a category, only the most recent vote is counted. Earlier votes from that address are set aside.
• Using more than one email address to vote more than once in the same category is not allowed.
• Submitting votes for other people, or using email addresses that do not belong to the person voting, is not allowed. Votes cast this way will be removed.

Checks on the voting data

We check the voting data regularly throughout the People's Vote to keep it fair for every nominee.

• We use only the data captured by the voting form itself. This may include the details you enter, the time of your vote, your IP address and your device profile.
• We look for patterns that suggest votes were not cast by separate individuals using their own details, such as many votes from one connection or device, or details that appear invented.
• Votes that break these terms will be removed from the count. Running totals shown on the voting pages are updated regularly and may change after checks are made.

Judges' decisions

• The judges are responsible for deciding whether votes meet these terms. They make these decisions in the interests of everyone taking part.
• Where we find a discrepancy affecting a nominee's votes, we will let that nominee know.
• Where votes that break these terms are found repeatedly for the same nominee, the judges may disqualify that nominee from the People's Vote. Voters who repeatedly break these terms may also have all of their votes removed. These decisions are at the judges' sole discretion.
• The judges' decision is final. We will not enter into debate or discussion about it, and there is no right of appeal.

10. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms from time to time, for example to reflect changes in our processes or the law. The date at the top of this page shows when they were last updated.

We may also pause, change or close the People's Vote if something outside our control affects it, or if we need to protect its fairness.

11. Contact us

If you have any questions about these terms or how your data is used, contact us at [email protected].