Qantas Spirit of Youth Awards SOYA365 competition

Today Arts Law wrote to congratulate Qantas Spirit of Youth Awards (SOYA) on the fairness of the SOYA365 terms and conditions!

As one of its advocacy concerns, Arts Law is committed to encouraging best practice in competitions and prizes, and ensuring that the rights of artists are not removed unnecessarily. Arts Law often contacts competition organisers urging them to amend their terms and conditions to be fairer to entrants, especially where copyright and moral rights are affected.

We congratulate SOYA on clearly stating copyright remains with the entrants and only asking for a non-exclusive licence to use entrants’ materials for SOYA and any promotional/archival purposes of SOYA. 

The only term we queried was why the non-exclusive licence granted needed to be “in perpetuity”? 

Surely SOYA won’t want to use work submitted in 2013 in 70 years time!  In addition, if winning a SOYA category becomes the springboard for an entrant to achieve commercial success, it is logical that future agents/distributors/publishers would be looking to retain an exclusive licence over that artist’s work.  The licence entrants give to SOYA would make any exclusive licence of the submitted work impossible and thus may limit entrants’ future earning capacity.

Arts Law suggested it would be more reasonable for SOYA to request a 5 year licence from entrants rather than in perpetuity.

We hope SOYA will consider making the recommended amendment but we give the SOYA365 competition 4 / 5 stars for its terms and conditions anyway!

For more information about what to look out for in competition terms and conditions see:

Arts Law's Competition conditions  information sheet

Arts Law's Film competitions information sheet

4 Stars