Entrant content & copyright.

Last updated: 11 October 2026

These terms are part of our Terms of Use and Contest Rules. They apply to everything you submit to a challenge: your edited photo, and any text such as your “why I edited it this way” note (together, your “entry”).

1. What you confirm when you enter

When you submit an entry, you confirm that:

• the edit is your own work: you made it yourself from that challenge’s file;
• you have the right to use the challenge file for the edit. We give you that right for the challenge (see section 5), so you don’t need anything more unless your edit adds other material;
• if your edit includes anything else (for example textures, overlays, graphics, fonts or parts of other photos), you have the right to use it, and using it in your entry doesn’t break anyone else’s copyright, trademark or other rights;
• your entry doesn’t break any law and follows the content rules in section 4;
• you are allowed to give us the permission (licence) in section 3.

2. You keep your copyright

You keep all the copyright and other rights you have in your edit. Entering doesn’t transfer ownership of your work to us. (The original challenge file itself remains owned by its creator; see section 5.)

3. The permission you give us

By entering, you give us a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to:

• store, copy and resize your entry (for example to make the web version and thumbnail);
• display it publicly on this website, in the voting gallery, the results and the archive of past challenges;
• share and promote it, credited to you, in announcements and on social media (such as Instagram stories and posts, including winners’ story images), and in emails about the challenge;

for the purpose of running that challenge, announcing and showing its results, and promoting The Creative Room challenges.

• Credit. We credit your entry with your first name and your Instagram handle, or only your first name if you chose to keep your handle private.
• Your “why” text is only shown publicly if you finish in the top three and ticked the box allowing it.
• How long. Your entry stays in the public archive of past challenges until you ask us to remove it. The licence lasts until then. To ask, email [email protected] from the email address you entered with, with the subject “Remove my entry” and the challenge number. We will then remove it from the site, stop using it in new posts, and delete our own social media posts of it where practical. We can’t recall copies that other people have already shared.
• We won’t sell your entry, license it to anyone else, or use it in paid advertising without asking you first.
• We may make small technical changes (resizing, cropping for a story format, compressing, or removing hidden photo data such as GPS location), but we won’t otherwise alter your edit.

4. What you must not upload

Your entry must not contain or link to anything that is:

• illegal, or that encourages illegal activity;
• hateful, harassing, threatening or discriminatory, or that targets people because of who they are;
• sexually explicit, or that sexualises anyone under 18;
• violent or graphic in a way that is not appropriate for a general audience;
• infringing: anything that copies other people’s work or uses it without permission, or that breaks a trademark, privacy or publicity right;
• personal information about other people, or a recognisable person who has not agreed to appear (other than what is already in the challenge file);
• spam, advertising, or malicious files.

5. Using the challenge file

The challenge files (RAW and JPEG) are owned by Kessy.mp4. You may download and edit each file to enter that challenge, and share your own edit of it on your own social media or portfolio, crediting The Creative Room challenge. You may not share or sell the original file, or sell or use your edit commercially, without asking first. Everything not mentioned here stays reserved by the owner.

6. Our right to remove entries

We may remove, hide or disqualify any entry at any time, with or without notice, if we reasonably believe it breaks these terms, the Terms or the law, or if we receive a rights complaint about it. Where we remove an entry because of a complaint or a rules breach, we will tell the entrant by email and give a short explanation, unless the law or a safety reason prevents it. If you think we got it wrong, reply to that email and we will look at it again.

7. Reporting copyright or other rights problems (notice and takedown)

If you believe something on this site infringes your copyright or other rights, or is illegal, please email [email protected] with the subject “Takedown request”, and include:

1. your name and email address;
2. a link to the page or entry you are reporting (or the challenge number and entrant’s first name);
3. what the problem is, and why you believe it infringes your rights or is illegal (for copyright: a description of, or link to, your original work);
4. a statement that the information in your notice is accurate and given in good faith, and, if you are acting for the rights holder, that you are authorised to do so.

What we will do: we will confirm we have received your notice, review it promptly, and review it within 5 working days. If the notice is clear and well-founded, we will remove or hide the content quickly (and sooner for clearly illegal content). We will tell the entrant what was removed and why, and give them a chance to respond. If the entrant shows the complaint was mistaken, we may put the content back.

Entrants can ask for their own entry to be removed at any time by emailing the same address from the email address they entered with.

Please don’t send false or abusive reports. Knowingly false notices may be ignored, and may have legal consequences.