Essex ‘Parks Pup Stars’ Competition 2026

1. Belhus Woods Country Park, South Ockendon
2. Cudmore Grove Country Park, East Mersea
3. Danbury Country Park, near Chelmsford
4. Great Notley Country Park, Braintree District
5. Hadleigh Country Park, Castle Point
6. Marsh Farm Country Park, South Woodham Ferrers
7. Thorndon Country Park, Brentwood
8. Weald Country Park, Brentwood

To enter simply send your photo/s along with, dog name, park, and reason why your dog loves to visit to: explore.essex@essex.gov.uk

• Send up to 10 photos of your dog/s enjoying the park
• State the name of your dog/s, as well as your own.
• And the name of the Essex Country Park from the list above.
• Please also include the reason why your dog loves this park.

Please try to make sure that they aren’t too large, or too small!

We’d recommend around 500kb minimum to 1mb maximum as being ideal for each image – although we may require higher resolution if they are selected for the calendar.

By entering this competition, you are agreeing for your images to be shared on Explore Essex and Essex Country Parks social media channels.

If your photos contain other family members or friends whose image you’d rather not be shared widely in the way please let us know and/or crop your images before you send them in.

Essex Parks ‘Pup Star’ Full Terms and Conditions

1. This competition is organised by Explore Essex, part of Essex County Council (ECC), County Hall, Market Road, Chelmsford, Essex CM1 1QH.

2. By entering the competition, you are agreeing to be bound by these terms and conditions.

3. Entry is free and no purchase is necessary to enter the competition.

4. A winner will be selected by the Explore Essex marketing team each month after the last day of each month from January 2026 to and including December 2026.

5. ECC accepts no responsibility for entries not received for whatever reason. ECC will not accept:

(a) responsibility for competition entries that are lost, mislaid, damaged or delayed in transit, regardless of cause, including, for example, as a result of any postal failure, equipment failure, technical malfunction, systems, satellite, network, server, computer hardware or software failure of any kind; or

(b) proof of posting or transmission as proof of receipt of entry to the competition.

ELIGIBILITY

6. Entrants must be UK residents and aged 18 years (parents can enter on behalf of their child).

7. Physical prizes must be collected from the closest participating Essex Country Park or Cressing Temple Barns where possible.

8. Competitions are not open to Explore Essex or Essex Outdoors employees, or to any immediate family of those employees.

9. In entering the competition, entrants confirm that they are eligible to do so and eligible to claim the prize. ECC may require proof of eligibility.

10. Competition entries that are not submitted in accordance with:

• these terms and conditions; and
• the advertised competition entry procedure

will be automatically disqualified.

11. ECC will not accept competition entries that are:

(a) automatically generated by computer;

(b) completed by third parties or in bulk;

(c) illegible, have been altered, reconstructed, forged or tampered with;

(d) photocopies and not originals; or

(e) incomplete.

12. There is no limit to the competition per entrant.

13. ECC reserves all rights to disqualify any competition entry where:

(a) the entrant’s conduct is contrary to the spirit or intention of the prize competition;

(b) the entrant uses false information; or

(c) it has reasonable grounds to believe that the entrant has breached any of these terms and conditions.

14. ECC reserves the right to implement any age requirements or any other eligibility criteria where necessary.

THE PRIZE

15. There is one prize for each winner and each winner will receive a prize to the same value.

16. No cash alternative is available. ECC reserve the right to substitute the advertised prize for another of equal or greater value should the original prize become unavailable.

17. The prize is not negotiable or transferable.

CLAIMING THE PRIZE

18. Winners will be notified of their win via an email.

19. Winners must claim the prize within 7 working days of the date of the notification email.

20. If a prize is not claimed within 7 days, the winner will be disqualified, and an alternative winner will be selected at random from the correct entries that were received.

21. ECC reserves the right to re-draw the prize if the winner cannot be contacted within 7 working days or the notification email is returned as undeliverable.

22.The prize may not be claimed by a third party on winner’s behalf.

23. ECC does not accept any responsibility if the prize is not claimed within the specified time limit or the winner is not able to take up the prize.

Liability

24. Insofar as is permitted by law, ECC, its agents or distributors will not in any circumstances be responsible or liable to compensate the winner or accept any liability for any loss, damage , personal injury or death occurring as a result of taking up the prize except where it is caused by the negligence of ECC, its agents or distributors or that of their employees. Your statutory rights are not affected.

Data Protection and Publicity

25. ECC will only process your personal information as set out at https://www.essex.gov.uk/privacy-notices/Pages/Default.aspx.

26. In the event that you win this competition and accept the prize, you agree to:

(a) grant ECC the right to use your name and likeness for advertising and publicity purposes without additional compensation; and

(b) the use of any photographs or video footage to be featured on ECC’s web pages or social media sites.

27. Entrants will only be contacted regarding the specific competition they have entered.

GENERAL

28. If there is any reason to believe that there has been a breach of these terms and conditions, ECC may, at its sole discretion, reserve the right to exclude any entrant from participating in the competition.

29. ECC reserves the right to hold void, suspend, cancel, or amend the competition where it becomes necessary to do so.

30. The Promoter claims rights to the photograph

31. In the event of any dispute regarding the competition, the final decision of ECC shall be final and binding and no correspondence or discussion shall be entered into.

32. These terms and conditions shall be governed by English law, and the parties submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.