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Who We Are
Web Guru Awards Ltd. is generally the data controller for personal information processed for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy.
Overview
Web Guru Awards Ltd. ("Web Guru Awards", "WGA", "we", "us" or "our") respects your privacy and is committed to protecting personal information.
This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, retain and protect personal information when you visit or use https://www.webguruawards.com and when you submit a website, create an account, participate in voting, purchase a service, subscribe to communications, use our jobs or advertising services, or otherwise interact with the Web Guru Awards Platform.
This Privacy Policy should be read together with our Terms & Conditions, Cookie Policy, Legal & Compliance page and any additional privacy notices provided at the point where information is collected.
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Our Commitment to Privacy
We aim to:
- Collect only information that is reasonably necessary for our stated purposes
- Explain how personal information is used
- Use appropriate security measures
- Respect applicable privacy and data-protection rights
- Provide appropriate choices where consent is required
- Work with reputable service providers
- Retain information only for as long as reasonably necessary
- Be transparent about third-party services used by the Platform
We do not sell your personal information.
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Information We Collect
The information we collect depends on how you interact with Web Guru Awards.
3.1 Information You Provide Directly
- Name
- Email address
- Telephone number, where provided
- Company or organisation name
- Job title or role
- Country
- Website URL
- Website title
- Website description
- Social media links
- Portfolio information
- Profile information
- Photographs or profile images
- Website screenshots and other uploaded assets
- Categories and tags
- Colour selections
- Submission information
- Voting-related information
- Account information
- Job-posting information
- Advertising information
- Contact-form information
- Newsletter subscription information
- Payment-related information
- Communications with WGA
- Any other information you voluntarily provide
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Website Submission Information
When you submit a website to Web Guru Awards, we may collect information necessary to process and review the submission.
- Submitter name
- Email address
- Website owner or agency information
- Website URL
- Website title
- Country
- Category
- Tags
- Website description
- Social-media links
- Colour information
- Screenshots
- Logos
- Other uploaded assets
- Communications relating to the submission
We use this information to process your submission, review and evaluate the website, communicate with you, publish nominee or winner information, administer awards, provide certificates and badges, maintain award records, and operate and improve the Platform.
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Public Nominee and Winner Information
Web Guru Awards is a public awards and showcase platform. If a submitted website becomes a nominee or winner, certain information may be published publicly as part of the awards and showcase experience.
- Website name
- Website URL
- Designer or developer name
- Agency or company name
- Country
- Category
- Website description
- Website screenshots
- Logo
- Award status
- Award date
- Voting information
- Public rankings
- Public profile information
- Other information associated with the award
Because these pages are designed to be publicly accessible, information published there may be accessible globally and may be indexed by search engines or referenced by third parties.
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User Accounts
Where account functionality is available, we may collect information required to create and manage your account.
- Name
- Email address
- Login credentials
- Profile information
- Account preferences
- Submission history
- Award history
- Voting activity
- Service history
- Technical information associated with account access
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Voting and Awards Data
When you participate in voting, we may process information necessary to record your vote, maintain voting records, prevent duplicate voting, detect automated activity, protect the integrity of awards, investigate potential manipulation, and maintain accurate rankings and results.
- IP address
- Browser information
- Device information
- Session information
- Timestamp
- Account information, where applicable
- Interaction information
- Other security signals
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Fraud, Security and Bot Prevention
We use technical and organisational measures to protect the Platform against abuse.
- Google reCAPTCHA
- Bot detection
- Fraud detection
- Rate limiting
- Security monitoring
- Authentication controls
- Session controls
- Voting safeguards
- Technical logs
- Other security technologies
We use these technologies to protect accounts, protect forms, prevent spam, prevent automated submissions, protect voting, detect abuse and maintain Platform security.
Where a security technology is strictly necessary for a service requested by the user, applicable cookie/storage rules may provide an exemption from consent. The precise classification depends on the implementation.
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Technical Information
When you access our Platform, certain technical information may be automatically collected.
- IP address
- Browser type
- Operating system
- Device type
- Device characteristics
- Screen information
- Language settings
- Referring website
- Pages visited
- Date and time of access
- Session information
- Approximate location derived from technical information
- Error and diagnostic information
- Other technical information generated through use of the Platform
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Google Analytics
We use Google Analytics to understand how visitors use the Web Guru Awards Platform. Depending on our configuration and your consent choices, Google Analytics may process information such as pages viewed, website interactions, traffic sources, device and browser information, approximate geographic information, session information, usage events and other analytics information.
We use Google Analytics to understand website usage, measure Platform performance, identify usability issues, improve content and functionality, and understand how visitors interact with the Platform.
Where required by applicable law, non-essential analytics technologies are activated only after the appropriate consent has been obtained. Further information is provided in our Cookie Policy.
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PostHog
We use PostHog for product and Platform analytics.
- Page views
- Clicks and interactions
- Navigation
- Feature usage
- Events
- Device and browser information
- Session information
- User or account identifiers, where applicable
- Other Platform interaction information
We use PostHog to understand how users interact with the Platform, improve functionality, identify usability problems, measure feature performance, understand user journeys, diagnose technical issues and improve the overall user experience.
Where PostHog session analysis or replay functionality is enabled, interaction information may be captured to help us understand how users interact with pages and features. We configure such functionality to reduce the collection of unnecessary information and will not intentionally use session analytics to collect sensitive personal information.
Where applicable, non-essential PostHog technologies are controlled through our cookie/consent mechanism.
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Payment Information
Web Guru Awards offers paid submission plans and other paid services. Payment processing may be provided by Stripe or another payment provider specified at the time of purchase.
- Name
- Email address
- Billing information
- Transaction reference
- Amount
- Currency
- Payment status
- Purchase details
- Other information required to provide the purchased Service
Payment card details may be collected and processed directly by the payment provider. We do not intend to store full payment-card information on WGA's own systems.
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Contact Forms and Customer Support
If you contact WGA, we may collect name, email address, contact information, subject, message, attachments and other information you provide.
We use this information to respond to enquiries, provide support, investigate complaints, resolve disputes, manage submissions, provide services and maintain appropriate business records.
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Jobs and Recruitment Services
Where you interact with WGA's job or recruitment-related services, we may collect information from employers and applicants. Where an applicant submits information directly to an employer, the employer may become the controller of that information. You should review the employer's own privacy information before providing sensitive or detailed personal information.
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Advertising Services
WGA may provide advertising and featured-placement services. Information provided by advertisers may include name, company, email, contact information, advertising materials, website URL, campaign information, billing information and communications relating to advertising.
WGA does not currently use Meta Pixel, Google Ads, LinkedIn Insight Tag or TikTok Pixel for advertising tracking on the Platform.
If this changes, we will update our privacy and cookie information before introducing the relevant technologies where required.
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How We Use Personal Information
- Provide and operate the Platform
- Process website submissions
- Evaluate websites
- Administer awards
- Publish nominee and winner information
- Administer public voting
- Maintain leaderboards
- Detect fraudulent activity
- Protect Platform security
- Create and manage accounts
- Process payments
- Provide customer support
- Send service communications
- Send newsletters and permitted marketing
- Provide job and advertising services
- Analyse Platform usage
- Improve Platform functionality
- Diagnose technical problems
- Maintain business and financial records
- Comply with legal obligations
- Establish, exercise or defend legal claims
- Protect the rights, property and security of WGA and its users
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Lawful Bases for Processing
| Purpose | Typical lawful basis |
|---|---|
| Creating and managing an account | Contract / legitimate interests |
| Processing website submissions | Contract / legitimate interests |
| Administering awards | Contract / legitimate interests |
| Publishing nominee/winner information | Contract / legitimate interests |
| Processing votes | Legitimate interests / contract where applicable |
| Preventing fraud and abuse | Legitimate interests / legal obligation where applicable |
| Platform security | Legitimate interests / legal obligation where applicable |
| Processing payments | Contract / legal obligation |
| Customer support | Contract / legitimate interests |
| Financial and accounting records | Legal obligation |
| Analytics | Consent where required |
| PostHog analytics/session analysis | Consent where required |
| Optional cookies | Consent where required |
| Newsletter/marketing communications | Consent or another lawful basis permitted by applicable law |
| Responding to legal requests | Legal obligation |
| Establishing or defending legal claims | Legitimate interests / legal obligation |
Where we rely on legitimate interests, those interests may include operating and improving the Platform, maintaining security, preventing fraud, administering awards, communicating with users and protecting our legal and business interests.
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When Providing Information Is Required
Some information is necessary to provide particular Services. For example, we may require an email address to create an account, website information to process a submission, payment information to process a paid purchase, contact information to respond to an enquiry, or security information to protect the Platform. If you do not provide required information, we may not be able to provide the relevant Service.
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Publicly Available Information
Some information displayed on the WGA Platform is intentionally public. Nominee and winner pages may display website name, website URL, designer/agency name, country, category, website description, award information, voting information, images, public profile information and other award-related information.
Because these pages are designed to be publicly accessible, information published there may be accessible globally and may be indexed by search engines or referenced by third parties. Please consider this before submitting personal information for publication.
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International Data Transfers
Web Guru Awards operates an international Platform and may use service providers located outside the United Kingdom. Some third-party providers may process personal information in countries outside the UK.
Where applicable, we will use appropriate legal mechanisms and safeguards for international transfers, in accordance with applicable data-protection law. These safeguards may include adequacy regulations or decisions, appropriate contractual safeguards, international data-transfer agreements, standard contractual clauses where applicable, or other legally recognised transfer mechanisms.
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Data Retention
We retain personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, including to provide Services, maintain accounts, administer awards, maintain award records, process payments, meet legal and accounting obligations, resolve disputes, prevent fraud, maintain security, and establish or defend legal claims.
Examples
- Account information — generally retained while your account remains active and for an appropriate period afterwards where necessary for legal, security or business purposes
- Submission and award information — may be retained as part of WGA's historical awards archive
- Payment and financial records — retained for periods required by applicable accounting, tax and legal obligations
- Security and fraud-prevention information — retained for as long as reasonably necessary to investigate, prevent or detect abuse and protect the Platform
- Analytics information — retained according to the configuration and retention settings of the relevant analytics service
- Cookie consent records — retained for an appropriate period to demonstrate and manage consent
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Your Privacy Rights
Your rights depend on the particular lawful basis and circumstances.
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Marketing Communications
Where we send marketing communications, we will comply with applicable electronic-marketing requirements. You can opt out of marketing emails using the unsubscribe mechanism provided. You may also contact us at info@webguruawards.com.
Opting out of marketing communications does not necessarily stop essential service messages, such as account notifications, submission updates, payment confirmations, security notifications or award notifications.
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Automated Decision-Making and Profiling
Web Guru Awards may use automated technical processes for purposes such as bot detection, fraud detection, security, spam prevention, voting-abuse detection and technical risk assessment.
These processes may use technical signals such as IP address, device information, browser information and interaction patterns.
We do not intend for these security processes to make decisions about individuals that produce legal or similarly significant effects without an appropriate legal basis and safeguards.
Award selection itself may involve human evaluation and published award criteria rather than being determined solely by automated processing.
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Children's Privacy
Web Guru Awards is not directed specifically at children. We do not knowingly seek to collect personal information from children where there is no appropriate legal basis to do so.
If we become aware that we have collected personal information from a child in circumstances where it should not have been collected, we will take reasonable steps to delete it.
Where a child is permitted to use a Service under our Terms & Conditions, any processing of their personal information will remain subject to applicable data-protection requirements.
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Security
We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal information against unauthorised access, unauthorised disclosure, loss, misuse, alteration and destruction.
- Secure connections
- Authentication
- Access controls
- Monitoring
- Security logging
- Bot protection
- Fraud detection
- Infrastructure security
- Backup procedures
- Other appropriate safeguards
No internet-based system can guarantee absolute security. You are responsible for keeping your account credentials confidential and notifying us if you believe your account has been compromised.
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Third-Party Websites
The WGA Platform may contain links to third-party websites, including submitted websites, social-media platforms, advertisers, employers and service providers. Once you leave the WGA Platform, the third party's own privacy policy and terms may apply. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of third-party websites that we do not control.
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Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time when our Platform changes, new Services are introduced, new third-party providers are added, analytics or security technologies change, data-protection requirements change, or our processing activities change.
When we update this Policy, we will change the Last Updated date. Where required, we will provide additional notice of material changes.
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Complaints
If you have concerns about how we process your personal information, please contact us first at info@webguruawards.com. We will review your concern and respond appropriately.
If you remain dissatisfied, you may have the right to complain to the relevant data-protection supervisory authority. For the United Kingdom, this is the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). Web Guru Awards Ltd. is registered with the ICO under ZC169726.
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