Terms of the “Witacz of the Year 2026” contest

§ 1. General provisions

1. The “Witacz of the Year 2026” contest (the “Contest”) is organised by the Dożynki.pl website (the “Organiser”). The Organiser runs the Contest on the /en/witacze/contest page.
2. The aim of the Contest is to document and promote the tradition of harvest witacze: figures, gates and compositions greeting visitors at the entrance to Polish villages.
3. Taking part in the Contest (submitting witacze and voting) is free of charge and requires no account.
4. In matters not covered by these terms, the website terms and Polish law apply.

§ 2. Submissions and participation

1. A witacz is entered into the Contest through the submission form at /en/witacze/submit, under the rules described in the form (including the licence declaration concerning the photo).
2. The submission may name the makers of the witacz (e.g. a rural housewives’ circle or the village council). Naming the makers is optional; the main prize goes to the makers and an additional prize to the submitter (§ 5(3) and (4)).
3. The Contest includes all submissions for the year 2026 confirmed by email by the submitter and approved by moderation, including those sent before the Contest was announced.
4. One person may submit more than one witacz. The same witacz may be submitted only once: if more than one person submits it, the earlier submission stays in the Contest, unless a later one differs substantially in framing or scope. If a duplicate is mistakenly admitted to the Contest, the Organiser removes it from the ranking and adds the votes cast for it to the submission that stays in the Contest, counting each email address once.
5. The Organiser may refuse Contest participation to a submission that violates the law, personal rights, third-party copyright or the website terms.

§ 3. Schedule

1. Witacz submissions: until 30 September 2026, 23:59 (Polish time).
2. Public voting: until 8 October 2026, 23:59 (Polish time).
3. Results announcement: 15 October 2026, on the Contest page.
4. The Organiser may change the dates for important reasons (e.g. a website outage). The Organiser announces changes on the Contest page with reasonable notice; a change may not invalidate votes already validly cast.

§ 4. Voting

1. Anyone with an email address may vote. A vote is cast on the Contest page by providing an email address and confirmed by clicking the link sent to that address. A vote not confirmed within 48 hours does not count. An address confirmed in a given browser needs no further confirmation: subsequent votes cast from that browser count right away (§ 6(3)). An approved witacz submission counts as the first vote for that witacz, recorded for the submitter’s email address.
2. One email address may cast one vote per witacz. You may vote for any number of different witacze.
3. The Contest ranking is decided by the number of confirmed votes. In a tie, the witacz submitted earlier ranks higher.
4. The order of witacze in the ranking is visible on the Contest page throughout the voting period. The page shows the exact number of votes next to a witacz once it has gathered at least 10 votes.
5. Casting votes artificially is prohibited, in particular using bots, mass-created or disposable email addresses, or buying and selling votes. The Organiser may cancel votes cast in breach of this provision and, in cases of gross violations, exclude a submission from the Contest.

§ 5. Prizes

1. Main prizes go to the three witacze with the most confirmed votes. The Organiser publishes the current prize list on the Contest page; as of the date these terms take effect, the prizes are chocolate workshops at the Chocolate Museum in Toruń: for 3 people for 1st place, 2 people for 2nd place and 1 person for 3rd place.
2. The Organiser may extend the prize list during the Contest with prizes from further partners. Extensions do not change how the winners are selected.
3. A main prize goes to the makers of the witacz. The submitter names the makers in the submission; if they are not named, the Organiser identifies the makers together with the submitter. If the makers cannot be identified, the main prize passes to the next witacz in the ranking and the submitter keeps the additional prize. The next witacz in the ranking means the highest-ranked witacz that is outside the awarded places and to which no main prize has passed before; if there is no such witacz, the main prize lapses.
4. The person who submitted an awarded witacz receives a separate additional prize, independent of the main prize for the makers. The Organiser announces the additional prizes on the Contest page.
5. The Organiser contacts the winners about the prizes at the email address given in the submission within 7 days of the results announcement. No reply within 14 days of the message being sent counts as declining the prizes: the main prize then passes to the next witacz in the ranking (item 3) and the additional prize lapses.
6. Prizes cannot be exchanged for cash or transferred to another person without the Organiser’s consent. The Organiser agrees the details of a prize (e.g. the workshop date) with the winner and the partner providing the prize.

§ 6. Personal data

1. The data of people submitting witacze is processed as described in the privacy policy.
2. When voting, the email address is used solely to send the confirmation link and is not stored in plain form. The Contest database keeps only its irreversible hash (as with the IP address hash), used to ensure one vote per address and to limit abuse.
3. After a vote is confirmed, the website stores a cookie in the browser containing only the irreversible hash of the email address, valid until the end of voting. Thanks to it, further votes from that browser need no repeated confirmation (§ 4(1)).
4. Voters’ data is not published or used for marketing purposes.

§ 7. Complaints

Complaints about the Contest may be sent to kontakt@dozynki.org.pl during the Contest and up to 14 days after the results announcement. The Organiser replies within 14 days of receiving a complaint.

§ 8. Final provisions

1. The Organiser may amend these terms for important reasons. An amendment may not worsen the position of participants who have already submitted witacze or cast votes. The current version of the terms is always available on this page.
2. These terms take effect on the day of publication.