ADS Awards is an international advertising awards program operated by Farmani Group Limited, a Hong Kong company with its registered address at 20F Euro Trade Centre, 21-23 Des Voeux Road Central, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR. For the purpose of the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679, Farmani Group Limited is the data controller for personal data collected through the website and awards platform, unless otherwise stated. In Hong Kong, Farmani Group Limited is the data user for the purposes of the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance (Cap. 486).

Data processors. To operate the awards internationally, Farmani Group Limited engages independent third-party service providers and independent affiliated entities as data processors. In particular, Farmani Group Inc., a California corporation, may act as a data processor for certain operational, judging, or promotional activities. Any such processing is carried out under written data-processing terms consistent with GDPR Article 28 and, where personal data is transferred outside the EEA or Hong Kong, subject to the safeguards described in section 8 below.

The “processor” relationship described in this section is a data-protection concept only. It does not make Farmani Group Inc. or any other service provider an agent, representative, or contracting party of Farmani Group Limited for any commercial, tax, or contractual purpose, and no such service provider is authorised to enter into commitments on behalf of Farmani Group Limited or in its name.

Our representative in the European Union for the purposes of Article 27 of the GDPR is Proawards Group Kft., 1111 Budapest, Lágymányosi utca 7., Hungary (tax identification number HU27522974). Data subjects in the EU may contact our EU representative on any matter related to the processing of their personal data.

For privacy questions, requests, or complaints, please contact: team@adsawards.eu.

This policy is intended as a practical GDPR- and PDPO-oriented website policy. It should be reviewed by legal counsel before publication.

We may collect the following categories of personal data:

• Contact information, including name, email address, phone number, company, agency, job title, country, and billing details.
• Account and submission information, including username, password, entry forms, campaign title, credits, client name, project description, categories, uploaded files, images, videos, PDFs, URLs, and supporting materials.
• Payment and transaction information, including order records, invoices, payment status, currency, tax information, and payment processor confirmations. We do not store full credit card numbers.
• Marketing and communication preferences, including newsletter subscriptions, opt-ins, opt-outs, and correspondence with our team.
• Technical information, including IP address, browser type, device information, pages visited, referring URLs, approximate location, cookies, analytics identifiers, and website usage data.
• Jury and professional profile information, where applicable, including biography, professional affiliation, headshot, website, social links, and award-related role.

We process personal data to:

• Operate the ADS Awards website and entry platform.
• Create and manage entrant accounts.
• Receive, review, process, and administer award submissions.
• Process entry fees, invoices, receipts, and refunds where applicable.
• Communicate about entries, deadlines, judging, results, certificates, trophies, events, and related services.
• Enable judges to review and score eligible submissions.
• Publish shortlisted, finalist, and winning work, including entrant names, company names, credits, images, videos, descriptions, and related materials.
• Promote ADS Awards, winners, entrants, jurors, partners, and related creative work through websites, newsletters, social media, press releases, exhibitions, publications, and events.
• Improve website performance, security, user experience, and awards operations.
• Comply with legal, accounting, tax, fraud prevention, and regulatory obligations.

Where GDPR applies, we rely on one or more legal bases for processing personal data:

• Contract: to provide the awards services requested by entrants and account holders.
• Consent: for optional marketing communications, certain cookies, and other activities where consent is required.
• Legitimate interests: to administer the awards, prevent fraud, maintain security, communicate with entrants, promote submitted and winning work, and improve services.
• Legal obligation: to comply with tax, accounting, regulatory, and legal requirements.

By submitting work to ADS Awards, entrants understand that submitted materials and related credits may be reviewed by the jury and administrative team. If an entry is shortlisted, selected as a finalist, awarded, or otherwise featured, ADS Awards may publish selected information and submitted assets for promotional, archival, editorial, educational, exhibition, and awards-related purposes.

Entrants should not upload confidential, unpublished, restricted, or third-party material unless they have all rights and permissions required for submission, judging, publication, and promotion.

We use cookies, local storage, and similar technologies to operate the website, remember your preferences, keep you logged in, process your entry submissions, and — with your explicit consent — measure marketing effectiveness through third-party pixels.

Essential cookies and storage. These are required for the site to work. They include your login session on the entry platform, your competition selection, your submitted entry data, and a small item in your browser's local storage that remembers your cookie consent choice (ads-awards-cookie-choice, retained for up to 12 months). Essential storage does not require consent under GDPR / ePrivacy rules.

Marketing cookies (consent-based). When you click Accept in our cookie banner, we load the Meta Pixel provided by Meta Platforms Ireland Ltd. The Meta Pixel sets cookies including _fbp and _fbc (retention up to 90 days), and is used to measure the effectiveness of our advertising, build custom audiences, and retarget users on Facebook and Instagram with information about ADS Awards. Meta may combine this data with your other activity on Meta services. The Meta Pixel is loaded only after you accept and is not loaded if you reject or ignore the banner.

Withdrawing consent. You can change your choice at any time by clicking Cookie Settings in the site footer, which reopens the banner. Rejecting after a previous acceptance stops any further loading of the Meta Pixel on subsequent page views. Data that Meta already received is retained by Meta according to its own retention policy — see Meta's Privacy Policy.

You can also block or delete cookies directly through your browser settings. Doing so may affect your login session or the ability to submit an entry.

We may share personal data with trusted service providers and partners who help us operate ADS Awards, including:

• Affiliated Farmani Group entities, in particular Farmani Group Inc. (United States), acting as data processors for operational, judging, promotional, and archival activities of the awards program.
• Website hosting, cloud storage, security, and IT providers.
• Awards management and entry platform providers.
• Payment processors, accounting, tax, and invoicing providers.
• Email, newsletter, CRM, and customer support providers.
• Meta Platforms Ireland Ltd. (and its US affiliate Meta Platforms, Inc.), for marketing measurement, custom audience building, and retargeting on Facebook and Instagram — only when you have accepted marketing cookies in our cookie banner.
• Judges, jury coordinators, curators, publishers, event partners, trophy suppliers, and production partners where necessary for awards administration.
• Legal, regulatory, government, or law enforcement authorities where required by law.

We do not sell personal data.

ADS Awards is international. Personal data may be processed in countries outside the European Economic Area and outside Hong Kong, including by service providers, jurors, partners, or affiliated organizations. Where required, we use appropriate safeguards such as contractual protections, EU Standard Contractual Clauses, or equivalent measures to protect personal data.

Transfers from the EEA to Hong Kong. The controller, Farmani Group Limited, is established in Hong Kong. Data collected from users in the European Economic Area is transferred to Hong Kong to be processed by the controller. Hong Kong is not the subject of a European Commission adequacy decision at the date of this policy; the transfer therefore relies on the EU Standard Contractual Clauses (Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2021/914) between the EU representative and Farmani Group Limited, supplemented where necessary by additional technical and organizational measures.

Transfers to Farmani Group Inc. (United States). Where personal data is transferred to Farmani Group Inc. in the United States as a processor for the awards program, the transfer is covered by the EU Standard Contractual Clauses between Farmani Group Limited and Farmani Group Inc., together with the EU-US Data Privacy Framework where applicable to the receiving entity.

Transfers to Meta (United States). When you have accepted marketing cookies, technical data collected by the Meta Pixel (including IP address, browser identifiers, referring URL, and interactions with our pages) is transferred to Meta Platforms in the United States. Meta relies on the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, and on Standard Contractual Clauses as an additional safeguard, to protect this data.

We keep personal data only as long as necessary for the purposes described in this policy, including awards administration, legal compliance, accounting, dispute resolution, fraud prevention, archival records, and winner promotion.

Awards records, winner information, credits, images, and public-facing archives may be retained for a longer period as part of the historical record of the competition.

We use reasonable technical and organizational measures designed to protect personal data against unauthorized access, loss, misuse, alteration, or disclosure. No online system can be guaranteed to be completely secure.

Depending on your location and applicable law, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, restrict, object to, or receive a copy of your personal data. Where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw consent at any time.

To exercise your rights, contact team@adsawards.eu. We may need to verify your identity before responding.

You may also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.

We may send newsletters, deadline reminders, awards announcements, event invitations, and related communications where permitted by law. You may unsubscribe from marketing emails using the link provided in the email or by contacting us.

Transactional and administrative messages related to entries, payments, judging, results, certificates, or account activity may still be sent where necessary.

ADS Awards is intended for professionals, agencies, companies, studios, students, and adult entrants. The website is not directed to children under 16. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children without appropriate consent.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The updated version will be posted on this page with a revised effective date. Continued use of the website after updates means the revised policy applies.