Terms and Conditions – Gold Coast Women of the Year 2025

Particulars

Name of competition (Competition)
Gold Coast Women of the Year 2025 

Promoter
Queensland Newspapers Pty Limited (ABN 61 009 661 778) of Level 2 Seabank Building, 12-14 Marine Parade Southport QLD 4215. Telephone number (07) 5584 2000. 

Competition period starts
Saturday 23 August 2025 12:01am (AEST)

Competition period ends
Sunday 21 September 2025 5:00pm (AEST)

Nominator Eligibility requirements 
Must be residents of Australia.

Nominators under 18 years need consent of their parent or guardian.
Nominee Eligibility requirements 
Must be residents of Queensland, Australia.

The Young Women category is only available to persons aged less than 25 years as at 14 November 2025.

Nominees may self-nominate.

Nominators and nominees who self-nominate must provide a completed consent (in the form set out in Appendix 1) to the Promoter on request, which has been signed by the nominee.

Nominees must not have won any category in any previous years’ Gold Coast Women of the Year.

Limit on number of nominations which can be made by any one person
A person can nominate as many people as they like but they must do so by separate nominations for each person and each award category. Each nomination must state one and only one category in which the nominee is nominated.

Limit on number of categories that one person can be nominated for 
A person can be nominated in any and all categories that they are eligible for

How to enter
To enter the Competition, a person must be nominated either by themselves or someone else. If nominated by someone else they need to provide the nominator with consent in the form set out at Appendix 1 to these Terms and Conditions, which the nominator must provide to the Promoter on request. 

Nominations can be made by someone logging onto goldcoastbulletin.com.au or goldcoastbulletinwoty2025.splashthat.com and completing the online nomination form in accordance with the instructions on the website. The cost of accessing the Competition website will be dependent on the nominator’s individual Internet Service Provider.

Competition website
goldcoastbulletin.com.au or goldcoastbulletinwoty2025.splashthat.com

Prizes
Prizing varies per category. Prize pools up to the value of $25,000. 

Judges of entries to choose winners
Panel of judges consisting of Gold Coast business leaders, sponsor representatives & Gold Coast Bulletin editorial team.

Judging criteria
Judging Criteria will be based on the following for each award. 

Award 1 - Angels Among Us

Those selfless individuals who dedicate their time and energy to helping others, without seeking recognition or accolades.
Award 2 - Champions of Education 

Beyond their role as teachers, they passionately support and guide youth with knowledge and clear pathways for success.

Award 3 - Champions of Sport

These individuals are the backbone of local sports, offering support and pathways for athletes to excel from grassroots to elite levels - also open to athletes themselves.

Award 4 - Entrepreneurs, Innovation & Tech

Recognising outstanding women who drive innovation, leadership, and positive impact in technology. This award celebrates pioneers breaking barriers, advancing cutting-edge research, founding transformative companies and mentoring the next generation.

Award 5 - Professionals

These women have gone beyond just breaking the glass ceiling, they have smashed it with their innovation and influence, carving out their own empires. Industries of Legal, real estate, finance.

Award 6 - Wellness Warriors

These women are inspiring healthy and active lifestyles, either through their own influence or by means of their businesses, empowering women of all ages to prioritize their health and well-being.

Award 7 - Young Women

This category recognizes young women under the age of 25 who are already making a positive impact and driving change in our city. Nominees for this category must have been born after 01/01/2000.

Award 8 - Stars of Tourism

Innovating in tourism or tireless in keeping the Gold Coast top of mind as the tourism capital.

Award 9 - Champion Of The Arts

Encompassing all forms of the arts these women are the entertainers, the producers, and the artists.

Award 10 - Fashion Retail Stars

The retail and ecommerce stars of the gold coast retail sector

The overall Woman of the Year Winner will be judged out of the finalists of Awards 1-10, based on the 

above category criteria as well as the strongest and most engaging story.

Champion of Women

Advocating for and mentoring women on the Gold Coast. 

Trailblazer

Recognising fearless women who defy expectations, overcome obstacles, and blaze new trails to empower tomorrow's change makers and innovators.

People’s Choice

The Gold Coast community holds the power to determine this winner through their votes in October, making this a truly empowering opportunity for all to recognize and celebrate the exceptional individuals who are making a difference in our city.

Judging time/place

Judging will be managed by Gold Coast Bulletin of Level 2 Seabank Building, 12-14 Marine Parade Southport QLD 4215 and will be concluded by 13 October 2025
Winner notification website (for publication of winner details)
Winners of categories are notified on Friday 14 November 2025 at the Gold Coast Women of the Year Gala Dinner as well as published in the winners magazine (which should occur no later than Wednesday 3 December). 

Winner of the overall Gold Coast Woman of the Year award will be announced at the Gold Coast Women of the Year Gala Dinner on Friday 14 November 2025 and then published in each of the following websites: 

goldcoastbulletin.com.au or goldcoastbulletinwoty2025.splashthat.com 

Winner publication newspaper
Gold Coast Bulletin

Terms and conditions

General

The above Particulars and information on how to nominate and be nominated and prizes forms part of the terms of entry. In order to enter the Competition, a person must be first nominated through the online process in accordance with these Terms and Conditions.
Entry into the Competition is deemed acceptance of these terms and conditions. If there is any inconsistency between these terms and conditions and anything else that refers to this Competition, these terms and conditions prevail.

Who can enter?

Nominations are open to all persons who meet the eligibility requirements set out in the Particulars except that directors, contractors and employees (and immediate families) of the Promoter. Eligibility requirements must be met at the time of entry and at the time of determining prize winners in addition to any requirements set out in the Particulars.

All nominees must have provided consent in the form of Appendix 1 Where a nominee is under the age of 18, that consent must be obtained from their parent or legal guardian. Nominators under the age of 18 also require the consent of their parent or legal guardian to complete a nomination form for this Competition.  The Promoter may require the completed consent from a nominee to be provided to the Promoter at any time, particularly before a nominee is shortlisted as a finalist in the Competition. Failure to provide such consent will immediately invalidate the nominee’s participation in the Competition.  

The Promoter reserves the right at its sole discretion to request winners to provide proof of identity, proof of residency at the nominated prize delivery address and/or proof of entry validity in order to claim a prize. If a winner cannot provide suitable proof, the winner will forfeit the prize in whole and no substitute will be offered.

When to enter

Competition opens and closes as set out in the Particulars (Competition Period). Nominations must be received by the Promoter in the Competition Period.

All nominations are deemed received at the time of receipt by the Promoter not at the time of transmission by the nominator.

Promoter accepts no responsibility for any late, lost, misdirected, delayed, ineligible, incomplete or corrupted nominations or delays in the delivery of nominations due to technical disruptions, network congestion or for any other reason. 

How to enter and nominate

Nomination can only be completed online. To nominate yourself or another person, log onto one of the following websites (goldcoastbulletin.com.au or goldcoastbulletinwoty2025.splashthat.com) and register the nominee’s details (which may be your own if you are self-nominating) including (but not limited to) full name, suburb, telephone number and email address, along with details on why the nominee is being nominated in the Gold Coast Women of the Year awards to complete the nomination. Each nomination must state one and only one category in which the nominee is nominated. The cost of accessing the Competition website will be dependent on the nominator’s individual Internet Service Provider. 

Nominators must take full responsibility for their entry content and ensuring that their entry complies with these terms and conditions. “Entry content” includes any content that nominators submit, upload, transmit, publish, communicate or use in connection with their nomination for the Competition. Nominations must be the nominator’s original work.  The Promoter reserves the right to verify, or to require the nominator to verify, that the nomination is the nominator’s original work.  If a nomination cannot be verified to the Promoter’s satisfaction, the nomination will be deemed invalid.  The Promoter may, in its absolute discretion, edit, modify, delete, remove or take-down any part of a nominator’s entry.  A nomination must not include:

any image, audio-visual or voice file of any person; or

any content that has not been approved by or provided by the relevant nominee or which contravenes any law, infringes the rights of any person or is potentially insulting, inflammatory, defamatory, obscene, offensive, discriminatory, indecent or otherwise objectionable or inappropriate (which includes, without limitation, any content involving nudity, malice, excessive violence or swearing). 

The Promoter reserves the right to disqualify a winner if the Promoter becomes aware that the winner and/or the winner’s entry includes content as described in any of paragraphs (a) to (b) above.

Nominations can be self-nominated or nominated by another person. Nominees may be contacted by the Gold Coast Bulletin editorial team to be included in promotional content about the Competition and associated editorial content. All nominees who are being considered to be included as finalists will need to supply a completed consent form (in the form of Appendix 1) to the Promoter within a reasonably requested time period. Failure to comply with that request will cancel the nominee’s participation in the Competition. 

Nominators and nominees must not:
tamper with the Competition process;
engage in any unlawful or other improper misconduct calculated to jeopardise the fair and proper conduct of the Competition;
submit a nomination that is not in accordance with these terms and conditions; or
engage in conduct in entering the Competition which, in the opinion of Promoter, is fraudulent, misleading, deceptive or generally damaging to the goodwill or reputation of the Competition and/or Promoter.  

If entrant nominator or nominee is found to have breached these terms and conditions including this clause, the nominee will be disqualified so that they will have all their nominations invalidated, any claim to any prize will be invalidated and where such a nominee has already been awarded a prize before being found to have breached these terms and conditions, the nominee must immediately return any awarded prize to the Promoter.  

The Promoter has sole discretion to determine if these terms and conditions have been breached by any person. The Promoter reserves the right to request whatever documentation it deems necessary to confirm or deny its suspicions in this regard and any failure to provide such requested documentation to the Promoter on request gives Promoter the right to disqualify the nominee. The Promoter’s legal rights to recover damages or other compensation from any offender are reserved.

Number of Entries permitted    

A person can nominate as many people as they like. 
A person can nominate themselves and/or others. 
A person can be nominated more than one time and in more than one category. However, each nomination can only be for one nominee and for one category as described in clause 23 below. 

Judging and Notification of winner

All nominations will be reviewed by the Gold Coast Bulletin editorial team between 22/09/2025 and 23/09/2025 and up to three (3) finalists in each category will be shortlisted. 

A list of finalists will be published on the following websites (goldcoastbulletin.com.au) on Saturday 11 October 2025.

The determination of finalists and winners will be made in accordance with these terms and conditions and with the judging criteria set out in the Particulars. 

The winner of each of category will be the nominee whose nomination and consent meets all these terms and conditions and is judged by the Gold Coast Women of the Year judging panel to be the most deserving based on the judging criteria set out in the Particulars for each of those awards (as set out above) by Saturday 22 November.

All finalists will be automatically entered into the People’s Choice category, where
the general public will vote online at womenoftheyear.com.au to determine the winner. The winner will be the nominee that receives the highest number of eligible votes. Voting is open between 9:00am on Saturday 11 October and 11:59pm Saturday 8 November. Voting is open to residents of Australia only. The winner will be announced at the Women of the Year Awards on Saturday 22 November. 

One of the finalists will also be awarded the title of Gold Coast Bulletin Woman of the Year. The winner of the Gold Coast Bulletin Woman of the Year will be a finalist of the category awards which is  judged by the Gold Coast Women of the Year judging panel to  be the most deserving nominee overall based on the judging criteria set out in the Particulars for this award (as set out above) by Saturday 22 November.

This awards program is a game of skill. Chance plays no part in determining the winner. 

If any particular determination is scheduled on a public holiday, the determination will take place on the following business day. 

The Promoter’s decision is final and the Promoter will not enter into correspondence regarding the competition result or any other decisions the Promoter makes in connection with the Competition. 

Each nominee will be nominated for one of the award categories listed in the Particulars above. The Promoter has the right to change a nominee’s category if it reasonably believes that another category is better suited to the relevant nominee.

The winner/s will be announced at the Gold Coast Bulletin Women of the Year Event event on Saturday 22 November 2025 and published in the Gold Coast Bulletin and as set out in the Particulars.

Prizes will be awarded to the named nominee judged to be the winner except for any winner who is under 18 in which case the prize is awarded to their parent or guardian. 

Should a nominee’s contact details change during the Competition period, it is the nominee’s responsibility to notify the Promoter. A request to access or modify any information provided in a nomination should be directed to the Promoter. 

Prize on offer
Prizes are as set out in the Particulars.

Independent financial advice should be sought as tax implications may arise as a result of accepting the prize.

Prizes cannot be transferred, exchanged or redeemed for cash. 

All nominees agree that if they win the prize, they will not, and their companions will not, sell or otherwise provide their story and/or photographs in relation to the taking of the prize, to any media or other organisation, without the Promoter’s prior written consent. Photographs will be allowed to be taken only at the discretion of the Promoter and the prize provider.

Prize clauses

In order to receive any cash prizes, the name provided by the entrant in their entry must be the same as the name of an eligible bank account into which a payment can be made by EFT

Further Terms and Conditions

If for any reason this Competition is not capable of running as planned, including (without limitation) due to infection by computer virus, bugs, tampering, unauthorised intervention, fraud, technical failures or any causes beyond the control of the Promoter, including but not limited to vandalism, power failures, tempests, natural disasters, acts of God, civil unrest, strike, war, act of terrorism, epidemic or pandemic, or public health order, the Promoter reserves the right in its sole discretion to take any action that may be available, and (without limitation) to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the competition, subject to any direction given under State Regulation.

In consideration of the Promoter awarding the prize to each winner, each winner permits the winner’s submission, image and/or voice, as recorded, photographed or filmed during the winner’s participation in the awards event  to appear in connection with the Promoter or any of its related bodies corporate or the Competition in 2025 or subsequent years  or the advertising or marketing of any of them, in any media whatsoever throughout the world and the winner will not be entitled to any fee.

Copyright
The Promoter acknowledges that the nominator may own intellectual property rights (including copyright) in any material created or otherwise submitted to the Promoter in connection with the nomination made by them (Works). The nominator does not transfer their intellectual property rights to the Promoter by submitting an nomination. The nominator grants the Promoter a non-exclusive, irrevocable, perpetual, worldwide, sublicensable licence to use the Works (including modifying, adapting or publishing the Works, whether in original or modified form, in whole or in part, to use, modify, delete from, add to, publicly display and reproduce, the photo(s), including without limitation, in any online media formats and through any social media channels, pages or accounts) for the sole purpose of running the Competition, promoting and celebrating the Competition in this and future years  and agrees that the Promoter may assign and/or sublicense the Works to third parties for this same purpose.  Should the Promoter wish to use the Works for any other purposes, it will contact the nominator to discuss licensing opportunities. 

The nominator acknowledges and agrees that neither they nor any third party shall be entitled to any fee, royalty or other consideration in respect of such licence.  If the nominator holds, now, or at any time in the future, any so called “droit moral” or moral rights in connection with the Works, the nominator unconditionally and irrevocably consents, for the benefit of the Promoter and all of its assignees, licensees and sub licensees to minor alterations to the Works which may be required for print or display purposes such as resizing and minor colour correction notwithstanding that such conduct may amount to derogatory treatment of the Works for the purposes of the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) (Copyright Act). All nominators consent to attribution by either full name or social media handle in satisfaction of their right to attribution under the Copyright Act.

Limitation of Liability
The Promoter does not exclude any rights and remedies in respect of goods or services under the Australian Consumer Law in the Competition and Consumer Act (2010) (Australian Consumer Law) which cannot be excluded, restricted or modified.  However, the remainder of this clause will apply to the fullest extent permitted by law and the Promoter shall not be liable for any loss or damage whatsoever which is suffered (including but not limited to indirect or consequential loss) or for any personal injury suffered or sustained in connection with any prize/s (including without limitation due to attendance at an event or travel undertaken when there is any current health warning, epidemic or pandemic declared which would apply to or could be considered to impact, effect or apply to the relevant event or travel) except for any liability which cannot be excluded by law. 

The Promoter is not responsible for any incorrect or inaccurate information, either caused by entrant or for any of the equipment or programming associated with or utilised in this competition, or for any technical error, or any combination thereof that may occur in the course of the administration of this competition including any omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission, communications line or telephone, mobile or satellite network failure, theft or destruction or unauthorised access to or alteration of entries.

Entry details and privacy
The Promoter collects information about nominees and nominators, including for example their name and contact details which are provided when participating in this Competition and when registering or using Promoter’s services and may also collect information from data houses, social media services, Promoter’s affiliates and other public sources.  The Promoter may also conduct background searches (including police checks) on nominees who have consented to the same for the purpose of forwarding the consideration of their nomination in this Competition. The Promoter collects and uses that information to run this Competition, to promote and improve its goods and services, for the purposes described in the Promoter’s Privacy Policy and for any other purposes that were described at the time of collection.  The Promoter may disclose nominees’ information to its related companies, including those located outside Australia.  Any of those companies may contact nominees or nominators in relation to the Competition in any year (including by email and SMS) at any time.  The Promoter may also disclose collected personal information to its service and content providers (including prize providers and prize fulfilment and distribution/delivery service providers), including those located outside Australia.  If nominators and nominees do not provide the Promoter with requested information, the relevant nominations may not be able to proceed to be included in the Competition.  The Promoter may disclose personal information as required by law. Further information about how the Promoter handles personal information, how people can complain about a breach of the Australian Privacy Principles, how the Promoter will deal with a complaint of that nature, how people can access or seek correction of their personal information and the Promoter’s contact details can be found in the Promoter’s Privacy Policy at https://preferences.news.com.au/privacy. Despite the foregoing and despite anything in the Promoter's Privacy Policy to the contrary, we will not provide information about your entry into this competition to any of: Punters Paradise Pty Ltd or Racing Internet Services Pty Ltd. 

Appendix 1: Consent Form

GOLD COAST WOMEN OF THE YEAR 2025

NOMINEE CONSENT 

I, insert name___________________________________ confirm the following:

I consent to be nominated in the 2025 Gold Coast Women of the Year awards (“Competition”) being run by Queensland Newspapers Pty Limited (“Promoter”) and consent to the nominator providing information about me as part of the nomination process. 
I consent to the Promoter contacting me about the Competition including to ask me for further information about myself and my nomination and to advise me, as appropriate, in relation to my progress in the Competition.
I agree with and will comply with the Competition terms and conditions .
I understand that the Promoter’s Privacy Policy sets out important information about how the Promoter handles personal information, how people can complain about a breach of the Australian Privacy Principles, how the Promoter will deal with a complaint of that nature, how people can access or seek correction of their personal information and the Promoter’s contact details. I confirm that I have read that Privacy Policy. I understand that if I do not provide requested information about myself to the Promoter, I may not be able to continue to be included in the Competition.
I agree that the Promoter may conduct background checks on me including police checks if I am being considered as a potential finalist and will sign any necessary forms or consents in this regard, on request by the Promoter. 
I understand and agree that the Promoter might provide information which it obtains about me in the course of the Competition (including in the nomination form) to any of its journalists who may want to create editorial content about me and/or about the Competition and that such editorial content may then be published by the Promoter or any of its related companies. I further acknowledge that the Promoter will own copyright and all other intellectual property rights in such created content and I release the Promoter from any and all uses of such editorial content by the Promoter or any of its licensees. 
I acknowledge and agree that my name and image can be used for editorial and promotional purposes in relation to the Gold Coast Women of the Year awards this year and in future years, including in point of sale materials, brochures, websites, television and in newspapers. 

I make the above statements to my nominator and to the Promoter. The Promoter is entitled to rely on the contents of this letter. I make these statements in consideration for the Promoter including my nomination in the Competition and without any expectation of any other consideration, reward or prize.

Signed by Nominee 

Signature:______________________________________Date______________

Print name____________________________________

If the nominee is under 18 years of age then a parent or guardian of the nominee must also agree to these terms by signing this agreement on behalf of the nominee, and also agrees to ensure that the nominee complies with this agreement.

Signed by Parent/Guardian:_____________________________Date______________

Print name____________________________________