Golden Book Box: Official rules
Please read these rules before taking part. They form the full terms and conditions of the Vote for your School competition run by Inclusive Books for Children. By nominating a school or casting a vote, you agree to them.
If you would like a summary, here it is. Nominate a UK primary school you care about, share the link, and the school with the most votes when voting closes wins a bundle of inclusive children's books for its library. Taking part is free.
1. The promoter
This competition is run by Inclusive Books for Children ("IBC", "we", "us"), a charity registered in England and Wales, charity number 1201129, whose registered address is Suite 332, 56 Gloucester Road, London SW7 4UB.
The competition is administered using ShortStack, a third party campaign platform. ShortStack is not the promoter and has no responsibility for the competition or the prize.
2. Key dates
- Nominations open: Monday 7 September 2026 at 09:00 BST
- Nominations close: Monday 28 September 2026 at 22:00 BST
- Voting opens: Monday 14 September 2026 at 09:00 BST
- Voting closes: Wednesday 30 September 2026 at 23:59 BST
- Winner announced: Thursday 1 October 2026
All times are British Summer Time. Entries and votes received outside these windows will not count, however they were sent and whatever the reason for the delay.
3. Who can take part
Nominating and voting is open to anyone aged 18 or over, anywhere in the world. There is no charge and no purchase is required at any stage.
Employees and trustees of IBC, members of their immediate families and households, and anyone professionally connected with the running of this competition may not nominate a school or vote.
Schools that can be nominated must be a state-funded or independent primary school, infant school, junior school or middle school in the United Kingdom, teaching children in the 4 to 11 age range. Nurseries, secondary schools and home education settings are not eligible on this occasion. A school does not need to know it has been nominated in order to appear on the ballot, but we will always contact the school before confirming it as the winner.
4. How to nominate a school
Go to inclusivebooksforchildren.org/golden-book-box and complete the nomination form with the school's name, its town or city, and your own name and email address. You may nominate more than one school, but each school will only ever appear on the ballot once. Where the same school is nominated several times, the nominations will be merged.
We review every nomination before it appears on the ballot. We may decline a nomination that is incomplete, that names a school we cannot verify, that names an ineligible setting, or that we consider inappropriate. We may also remove a school from the ballot at any point at the request of that school's head teacher.
5. How to vote
Once voting opens, go to inclusivebooksforchildren.org/golden-book-box, find the school you want to support, and cast your vote. You will be asked for your name and email address so that we can verify your vote.
You may vote once. One vote per person, for one school, for the whole of the voting period.
6. Fair voting
This competition is meant to be a celebration of school communities, so we ask everyone to take part in good faith. We will not count votes that we reasonably believe to have been cast using automated software or scripts, multiple or disposable email addresses, bulk or purchased email lists, or any other method designed to inflate a school's total.
We reserve the right to verify the eligibility of any vote, to discount votes that fail verification, and to disqualify a school where we find evidence of a coordinated attempt to manipulate the result. Our decision on the validity of votes is final.
7. The prize
The school with the highest number of valid votes when voting closes will receive 100 inclusive children's books for its school library, with an approximate total retail value of £800. Titles will be selected by IBC from our recommended books, chosen to suit the age range of the winning school, and will be delivered directly to the school.
There is one prize. It is awarded to the school, not to the person who nominated it and not to any individual voter.
The prize is not transferable and there is no cash alternative. If any title becomes unavailable, we will substitute a book of equal or greater value and comparable quality.
8. How the winner is decided and announced
The winner is the eligible school with the highest number of valid votes at the moment voting closes. Votes are counted automatically by the campaign platform and checked by IBC.
If two or more schools finish with the same number of valid votes, the winning school will be drawn at random from those tied, by an independent person who is not connected with IBC or with any of the schools involved.
We will contact the winning school by telephone and email on Thursday 1 October 2026. If we cannot reach the school, or if the school declines the prize, within 14 days of our first attempt, we reserve the right to award the prize to the school with the next highest number of votes.
The result will be announced at inclusivebooksforchildren.org/golden-book-box and across IBC's social media channels on Thursday 1 October 2026. The award of the prize is subject to the winning school confirming that it accepts. The prize will be delivered within 30 days of the winner being confirmed.
The name and county of the winning school will be available for six weeks after the announcement. Write to us at contact@inclusivebooksforchildren.org if you would like it.
9. Your personal information
IBC is the data controller for the personal information you give us when you nominate a school or vote. We collect your name and email address in order to run the competition, verify votes and contact the winner. Our lawful basis for this is our legitimate interest in running a fair competition.
You will be subscribed to the IBC newsletter when you take part and you welcome to unsubscribe at any time.
Your information is processed on our behalf by ShortStack, our campaign platform. If you have a question about your information, or would like it removed, email contact@inclusivebooksforchildren.org.
10. Publicity
If your school wins, we would love to celebrate it properly. We will agree any photography, filming or quotes with the head teacher in advance, and we will not publish images of any child without the written consent of a parent or carer. The winning school is free to decline publicity and still receive the prize.
11. Things we cannot be responsible for
We take reasonable care to run this competition fairly, but we cannot accept responsibility for entries or votes that are lost, delayed, damaged or not received because of technical faults, network failures or anything else outside our reasonable control.
Nothing in these rules limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud, or for anything else that cannot be limited by law.
12. Changes and cancellation
If circumstances outside our control make it necessary, we may amend these rules, or suspend or cancel the competition. If we do, we will publish the change at inclusivebooksforchildren.org/golden-book-box and, where we hold your email address and the change affects you, we will tell you directly. We will always act reasonably and will not do this to the disadvantage of participants unless we have no practical alternative.
13. Social media
This competition is in no way sponsored, endorsed, administered by or associated with Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok, LinkedIn or any other social media platform. By taking part you release those platforms completely. Any questions, comments or complaints about the competition should come to IBC, not to the platform.
14. Law and complaints
These rules are governed by the law of England and Wales, and any dispute will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.
This competition is run in line with the CAP Code, the UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising and Direct and Promotional Marketing.
If something has gone wrong, please tell us at contact@inclusivebooksforchildren.org and we will look into it. We aim to respond within 5 working days.
Inclusive Books for Children, Suite 332, 56 Gloucester Road, London SW7 4UB. A registered charity in England and Wales, number 1201129. inclusivebooksforchildren.org.