Share your story

Terms & Conditions

General

1. The promoter is Hay Festival Global (“Hay Festival”, “the Promoter”, “we”, “us”). Information on how to submit forms part of these terms. By submitting, you accept these terms.
2. Submissions are open to anyone aged 18 or over. Memories from childhood are welcome, but the person submitting must be 18 or over.
3. Submissions will be accepted from 00:00 14/10/2026 on until 00:00 on 31/01/2027 (the “Promotion Period”).

Your submission

4. Submissions must be your own memories, written in your own words. You may submit more than one story, but each person can only be entered into the prize draw once (see clause 15).
5. You may upload up to 1 image per submission, no larger than 2MB. You must own the image or have permission from the person who took it to share it. Please do not upload images copied from elsewhere, including newspapers, magazines or other websites.
6. If your image shows other people who could be identified, you confirm they have agreed to the image being shared. If an image shows anyone under 18, you confirm you have permission from their parent or guardian.
7. You keep ownership of your story and images. By submitting them, you grant Hay Festival a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide licence to use, reproduce, edit (for length and clarity), publish and display your submission, along with your name and the year of your memory. This covers our website, the Festival site, our social media channels, print and exhibitions, as part of the people’s timeline of the Festival and related materials. We may also keep your submission in the Hay Festival archive.
8. Your name will appear alongside any published submission. If you would prefer to appear by first name only, or anonymously, please say so in your submission. Your email address will never be published.
9. No payment or other compensation will be given for submissions, whether or not they are published.
10. Submitting a story does not guarantee it will be published. We may choose not to publish any submission at our discretion, including any we consider offensive, defamatory or inaccurate, or that infringe someone else’s rights.
11. Where you tag a writer or speaker, your submission must not contain anything untrue or damaging about them. We may remove the tag or edit the submission before publishing.
12. If you would like your submission removed after it has been published, contact our team and we will remove it from our website and future materials within a reasonable time. We cannot recall printed materials already produced.

Prize draw

13. Entry to the prize draw is open to residents of any country aged 18 or over. Directors, management and employees (and the immediate families of directors, management and employees) of the Promoter or the agencies or companies associated with this promotion are ineligible to enter.
14. No purchase is necessary. Each valid submission received during the Promotion Period will automatically be entered into the prize draw.
15. Each person will be entered into the prize draw once only, regardless of how many stories they submit.
16. The prize is one Golden Ticket to Hay Festival 2027. The Golden Ticket includes five pairs of tickets to events of the winner’s choice, subject to availability. Any costs not listed are the winner’s responsibility, including travel, meals, and spending money.
17. One winner will be selected at random from all valid entries within 14 days of the end of the Promotion Period. The prize draw is separate from, and not influenced by, the selection of stories for publication.
18. The winner will be notified by email within 7 days of the draw and must respond within 14 days to claim the prize. If the winner does not respond, the Promoter reserves the right to select an alternative winner.
19. The prize is not transferable or exchangeable and cannot be redeemed for cash or any other form of compensation. In the event for any reason the prize winner does not take an element of the prize at the time stipulated by the Promoter, then that element of the prize will be forfeited by the winner and neither cash nor any other form of compensation will be supplied in lieu of that element of the prize. If for any reason a prize is not available, the Promoter reserves the right to substitute another prize for it, in its sole discretion, of equal or higher value.
20. If the Festival is cancelled or postponed for reasons beyond the Promoter’s control, the Promoter will transfer the prize to the rescheduled dates.
21. If any winning entry is deemed not to comply with these terms, the entry will be discarded and a new winner will be determined by the Promoter.
22. The Promoter reserves the right to publish the name and county of residence of the prize winner.

Other

23. Hay Festival accepts no responsibility for late, incomplete, incorrectly submitted, corrupted or misdirected submissions, network failure or delay.
24. The Promoter and its associated agencies and companies will not be liable to any entrant or prize winner for any loss (including, without limitation, indirect, special or consequential loss or loss of profits), expense or damage which is suffered or sustained (whether or not arising from any person’s negligence) in connection with this promotion or accepting or using any prize, except for any liability which cannot be excluded by law (including personal injury, death and fraud) in which case that liability is limited to the minimum allowable by law.
25. No warranty or guarantee is given by the Promoter in relation to any prize.
26. If for any reason any aspect of this promotion is not capable of running as planned the Promoter may in its sole discretion cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the promotion, or invalidate any affected entries (this includes, without limitation, by reason of infection by computer virus, network failure, bugs, tampering, unauthorised intervention, fraud, technical failures or any cause beyond the control of the Promoter which corrupts or affects the administration, security, fairness, integrity or proper conduct of this promotion).
27. In all aspects of this promotion the Promoter’s decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into regarding the promotion.
28. Personal data supplied with submissions will be used to administer this promotion and the people’s timeline in line with the Promoter’s privacy policy. Entrants will only receive marketing emails if they have opted in.
29. This promotion shall be governed by English law.