1. Introduction
This privacy notice explains how RTÉ processes personal data in connection with the This Is Art competition.
RTÉ is committed to protecting your personal data and processing it in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and applicable Irish data protection law.
This notice should be read together with RTÉ's general Privacy Policy.
2. Who is responsible for your personal data?
RTÉ is the controller of personal data processed in connection with the This Is Art 2026 competition.
Contact details: Data Protection Officer, RTÉ, Donnybrook, Dublin 4
Email: dpo@rte.ie
3. Personal data we collect
Depending on your involvement in the competition, we may collect:
- your full name, first name, age and date of birth;
- your contact details, including email address, telephone number and home address;
- your parent or guardian's name and contact details, where applicable;
- your teacher's name and contact details and school details, where applicable;
- your town, county and country of residence;
- your artwork, the title of the artwork and your artist statement;
- copyright information and information provided with your entry;
- judges' scores or opinions relating to your entry;
- a photograph of you with your artwork and confirmation of proof of identity, where required for verification;
- messages you send to us about the competition or technical issues; and
- technical and browsing information when you use the website, such as your IP address, browser type, pages visited, referral source, visit duration and cookie information.
4. How we use your personal data
Competition administration
Purpose: To administer the competition, confirm that entrants meet the entry requirements, review and judge entries, contact entrants, notify winners and highly commended entrants, display selected entries, and manage exhibitions and promotion connected with the competition.
Legal basis: Performance of a contract under Article 6(1)(b) GDPR. This processing is necessary to administer your participation in the competition in accordance with the Terms and Conditions. Where the entrant is a child, the contract is entered into by their parent or guardian on their behalf.
Identity and eligibility verification
Purpose: To verify an entrant's identity, eligibility and the authenticity of an entry.
Legal basis: Performance of a contract under Article 6(1)(b) GDPR. Verification may be necessary to confirm that the competition entry requirements have been met.
Competition enquiries and technical support
Purpose: To respond to questions and resolve technical issues relating to the competition.
Legal basis: RTÉ's legitimate interests under Article 6(1)(f) GDPR in responding to competition enquiries and resolving issues affecting the operation of the competition.
Website operation and use
Purpose: To operate, secure, maintain and improve the competition website and understand how visitors use it.
Legal basis: RTÉ's legitimate interests under Article 6(1)(f) GDPR in operating, securing and improving the website. Where consent is required for cookies or similar technologies, we will ask for your consent through the website's cookie controls.
Future opportunities and updates
Purpose: Where you choose to opt in, to contact you about similar opportunities or updates in the future.
Legal basis: Your consent under Article 6(1)(a) GDPR. This is optional and you may withdraw your consent at any time without affecting your competition entry.
5. Who can access your information?
Access to personal data is limited to people who need it for the competition. Authorised super administrators may access the full entry information. General administrators and judges will only have access to the information needed to review, judge or administer entries.
Information displayed on the website will be limited to appropriate information connected with the entry, such as the entrant's first name, age, county, artwork and artist statement.
6. Disclosure of Personal Data
We may share your personal data with the following categories of third parties:
Service providers: We will share your personal data with service providers who provide services on our behalf. Where you access the site, personal data may be shared with our website hosting and technology service providers. Where you enter the This Is Art competition, relevant personal data may be shared with external judges for the purpose of assessing competition entries. These service providers and recipients process competition data only within Ireland and the United Kingdom. Personal data processed in the United Kingdom is protected by the European Commission's adequacy decision for the United Kingdom.
Legal and regulatory authorities: We may share your personal data with law enforcement authorities, regulators or other government agencies where required by law or where disclosure is necessary to protect our rights or the rights of others.
7. How long we keep personal data
Entrants who are not winners or highly commended
Personal data relating to entrants who are not selected as winners or highly commended will be deleted once the competition has concluded.
Winners and highly commended entrants
RTÉ will retain a limited record consisting of the entrant's name, age, contact details and published artwork for up to two years after the competition has concluded. Other entry information will be deleted when it is no longer required for the competition.
Published and exhibited entries
Where an entry is published or exhibited under the This Is Art 2026 Terms and Conditions, that entry and the limited personal data displayed with it (such as the entrant's first name, age and county) will remain available for as long as it continues to be published or exhibited, which may be after the retention periods above have ended.
Verification information
Photographs and proof of identity information collected for verification will be deleted once verification has been completed, unless the entrant is a winner or highly commended entrant and the information is required for the administration of the competition. It will not form part of the limited record retained for two years.
Competition enquiries
Messages relating to the competition or technical issues will be retained until the query has been resolved and the competition has concluded.
Website information
Technical and browsing information will be retained only for as long as necessary for the website, security or cookie purpose for which it was collected, or as required by law. It will then be deleted or anonymised.
8. Publication and use of entries
Selected, highly commended and winning entries may be displayed on the competition website and may be used in exhibitions, publications, social media and other media connected with the competition and its promotion, in accordance with the This Is Art 2026 Terms and Conditions. Personal data published with an entry will be limited to what is appropriate for those purposes.
9. Your rights
Depending on the circumstances, you may have the following rights in relation to your personal data:
- the right to access your personal data;
- the right to have inaccurate or incomplete personal data corrected;
- the right to have personal data deleted in certain circumstances;
- the right to request restriction of processing in certain circumstances;
- the right to receive certain personal data in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format where the right to data portability applies;
- the right to object where processing is based on legitimate interests; and
- the right to withdraw consent at any time where processing is based on consent.
These rights are not absolute and may be subject to conditions or exceptions under data protection law. To exercise your rights or ask a question about how your personal data is used, contact the RTÉ Data Protection Officer at dpo@rte.ie.
10. Complaints
If you believe that your data protection rights have been infringed, you may lodge a complaint with the Data Protection Commission. Information about making a complaint is available at www.dataprotection.ie.
11. Changes to this Privacy Notice
We may update this Privacy Notice from time to time. The current version will be published on the This Is Art website. Where appropriate, we will notify you of significant changes.
Effective date: 22 September 2026