Voting & judging: Terms & conditions

The BBC Sports Personality of the Year will be named during a live awards show at the SSE Arena in Belfast on Sunday, 20th December 2015 (BBC One & BBC One HD).

The nominations processes, criteria and voting details (where applicable) for each award are outlined below.

MAIN AWARD - NOMINATION PROCESS & CRITERIA

This award goes to the sportsperson whose actions have most captured the public's imagination during 2015.

An expert panel (hereafter 'the Panel') will be convened in November 2015 in London to decide the shortlist of 12 sportspeople for the main BBC Sports Personality of the Year award. [Note: On 30 November 2015, the Panel decided to expand the shortlist from 10 to 12 sportspeople].

The BBC Sports Personality of the Year production team will provide the Panel with an extensive list of the top sportspeople from 2015, including information on their achievements. The Panel will be free to consider other potential candidates.

The Panel will comprise 12 members this year:

• Representatives from BBC Sport: Barbara Slater (Director, BBC Sport), Philip Bernie (Head of TV Sport) and Carl Doran (Executive Editor, BBC Sports Personality of the Year).

• Former nominees of an award: Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, Maggie Alphonsi and Dame Mary Peters.

• Representative from BBC TV Sport: Jermaine Jenas

• Pan-sports broadcaster/journalist: Hazel Irvine

• Representatives from national newspapers: Tim Hallissey (The Times), Ian Prior (The Guardian) and Cliff Hayes (The Sun)

• Representative from the UK sports industry: Baroness Sue Campbell

The Panel will select a short list of sportspeople for the main award on the basis of the following criteria:

• Reflects UK sporting achievements on the national and/or international stage;

• Represents the breadth and depth of UK sports; and

• Takes into account 'impact' over and beyond the sport or sporting achievement in question.

Sportspeople are eligible to win the main BBC Sports Personality of the Year award if they are UK citizens or all of the following criteria apply:

- they play a significant amount of their sport in the UK; and

- their core achievements that year were achieved in the UK, and not with a non-UK based team (in which case they would more likely qualify for the Overseas award); and

- they are residents in the UK.

Non-playing coaches or management are not eligible.

The Panel will endeavour to produce a shortlist based on reaching a consensus view. If a consensus view cannot be reached on all or some of the candidates, then the Panel will be asked to vote for the remaining candidates. In the event of a tied vote, the chairperson's decision (Director, BBC Sport) will be binding.

The shortlist of 12 contenders will be announced during 'The One Show' on 30th November 2015 (BBC One, 19:00 GMT) and will also appear on the BBC Sports Personality of the Year website.

The Panel will also:

• Undertake a back-up vote for the main award (in the unlikely event of voting difficulties on the night of the show).

• Determine the shortlist and winner for the Team of the Year award.

• Determine the shortlist and winner for the Coach of the Year award.

• Determine the shortlist for the Overseas Sports Personality of the Year award.

• Undertake a back-up vote for the overseas award (in the unlikely event of voting difficulties relating to this award).

The Panel reserves the right to amend elements of the awards such as the criteria or numbers shortlisted, should a consensus view be reached.

MAIN AWARD - PUBLIC VOTE

The public will decide the winner from the shortlist of 12 contenders during the live show with a vote. This will be overseen by an independent adjudicator.

In the unlikely event of:

• A tie in the public vote amongst the two contenders obtaining the highest number of votes, the award will be shared amongst those two. There will be no award the in the second place category and the third place category award will go to the contender scoring highest after the two in the tie.

• A tie in the public vote amongst the three contenders obtaining the highest number of votes, the award will be shared amongst the three and there will be no awards in the second and third place categories.

• A tie in the public vote amongst two contenders obtaining the second highest number of votes, the second place award will be shared amongst those two and there will be no award in the third place category.

• A tie in the public vote amongst two contenders obtaining the third highest number of votes, the third place award will be shared amongst those two.

• A full list of the number of votes polled by each contender will be available on the BBC Sports Personality of the Year website after the show.

MAIN AWARD VOTING TERMS AND CONDITIONS

1. Voting for the main award will be from a shortlist of 12 contenders presented during the live show on BBC One & BBC One HD on Sunday, 20 December 2015. Voting will be available by phone or via the BBC website. The number to call for each contender will be revealed during the programme. There is no voting via email, Red Button or by text. The telephone numbers will be available through Red Button and via the BBC website.

2. Telephone Vote: Voters in the UK can choose either to call from their landline using the long (11-digit) number for the contender(s) of their choice or from their mobile phones using the shortcode (7-digit) number for the contender(s) of their choice. Please note that callers from the Channel Islands and Isle of Man should call from their landlines using the long (11-digit) number to avoid higher mobile charges, as the short (7-digit) numbers are not available in the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man for reasons outside of the BBC's control.

Calls to the long (11-digit) number from landlines will cost 15p plus your network's access charge. To vote from your mobile in the UK, please call the short (7-digit) number, which will cost 15p. Calls from mobiles to the short (7-digit) number should cost less than calling the long (11-digit) number from your mobile so please, if you can, dial the short (7-digit) number from your mobile. You cannot text and you cannot dial the short (7-digit) number from a landline.

Online Vote: You can also vote online. In order to vote you will need to be registered with the BBC sign in system, BBC iD. You can register at any time. If you are already registered with a BBC iD, you do not need to do anything but will have to sign-in in order to vote on the night. Please check your broadband or mobile contract to check the cost of using data services. Online votes will be limited to one vote per BBC iD account.

The online vote will be open during the same period as the telephone lines. The results of the telephone vote and the online vote will be aggregated prior to any announcements.

3. If you are watching BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2015 on BBC iPlayer, following through a website or any other time shift or catch-up or on demand service you should not vote since the lines will have closed.

4. Voting is only open to individuals as consumers from the UK, and not to any agencies, businesses and/or companies. Please note that BBC employees who are in any way connected to the vote, their close relatives or anyone directly connected in any way with the production of the programme or the provision of telephony services to the programme are not eligible to vote.

5. You must obtain the phone bill payer's permission before voting.

6. Opening and closing times will be specified on the programme.

7. Please be sure you carefully dial only the number of the contender for which you wish to vote for.

8. Please do NOT call before the lines open, or after the lines have closed, as your vote will not be counted, but you may still be charged. The winner will be announced live on the programme.

9. The BBC reserves the right to disqualify votes if it has reasonable grounds to suspect that fraudulent, excessive or suspicious patterns of voting have occurred or if it considers there has been any attempt to rig the voting.

10. All voting will be overseen by an independent verification service.

11. The BBC reserves the right to cancel or suspend voting at any time. In the event of any such cancellation or suspension, a technical failure or any other malfunction with the vote, the BBC reserves the right to arrange for the winner to be decided by a contingency arrangement from the votes cast by a pre-agreed contingency panel. This panel will be the same as one which devised the shortlist - see above for details.

12. For purpose of verifying any claim for refunds (where offered) or investigating possible voting irregularities, the BBC may need to request the telephone service provider to disclose the telephone number from which you are voting. Please note that this will still be required where you have originally opted not to disclose your telephone number (caller's line identification barring). If you do not agree to this, you should not vote by telephone. For the purpose of investigating possible voting irregularities when voting on bbc.co.uk, the BBC may use cookies (to log IP addresses, or analyse the information from your BBC iD account).

The BBC will not publish this information or provide it to anyone without permission, except where required for enforcement of these terms. Please see the BBC's Privacy and Cookies Policy for more information at http://www.bbc.co.uk/privacy

Where such investigations are required, the BBC will only ever use your personal information for the purposes of running the vote (including processing refunds or investigating possible voting irregularities) and in accordance with the BBC's Privacy and Cookies Policy. The BBC will not publish or provide your personal information to anyone without permission, except where required for enforcement of these terms. You can read more about the BBC Privacy and Cookies Policy here.

13. The BBC, its sub-contractors, subsidiaries and/or agencies cannot accept any responsibility whatsoever for any technical failure or malfunction or any other problem with any telephone network or line, system, server, provider or otherwise which may result in any vote being lost or not properly registered or recorded.

14. The voting in this programme accords with the BBC's Code of Conduct for Competitions and Voting, details of which can be found here.

15. These Terms and Conditions are governed by the laws of England and Wales.

OVERSEAS SPORTS PERSONALITY OF THE YEAR AWARD

This award goes to the overseas sportsperson who has most captured the UK public's imagination during 2015.

The award is not open to those sportspeople that qualify for the main BBC Sports Personality of the Year award under its qualification criteria (see above).

The Panel responsible for choosing the shortlist for the main BBC Sports Personality of the Year award will decide a shortlist of six for the Overseas Sports Personality of the Year then after which the public will be able to vote for their winner.

1. The short list will be announced on the BBC Sport website on 27th November.

2. You will be able to vote online for your winner by accessing the vote at http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/sports-personality. You can register your vote by clicking on the box beside the option you wish to vote for.

3. To vote online you will need to log into the page with your BBC iD. More information on BBC iD can be found at https://ssl.bbc.co.uk/id/info

4. The vote will open at 12:00 GMT on Friday 27th November 2015 and will close at 12:00 on Friday 11th December 2015. Any votes registered outside this vote window will not count.

5. You can only vote once and the vote is restricted to the UK only.

6. The BBC reserves the right to disqualify entries or suspend voting if it has reasonable grounds to suspect that fraudulent voting has occurred or if it considers there has been any attempt to rig the voting. The BBC has the right to substitute an alternative selection method at its absolute discretion. For the purposes of investigating possible voting irregularities when voting on bbc.co.uk, the BBC may use cookies. The BBC will not publish this information or provide it to anyone without permission, except where required for enforcement of these terms. For more information please see: BBC Privacy Policy at http://www.bbc.co.uk/privacy

7. If, for any reason, the online voting system fails, the vote may be suspended or a contingency plan may be actioned. As a contingency the panel will undertake a back up vote.

8. The BBC reserves the right to change, cancel or suspend this event at any time.

9. The BBC cannot accept any responsibility whatsoever for any technical failure or malfunction or any other problem with any on-line system, server, provider or otherwise which may result in any vote being lost or not properly registered or recorded.

10. Please note that any BBC employee, close relation or anyone associated with the vote is not eligible to vote.

11. The voting in this programme accords with the BBC's code of conduct for voting: BBC Code of Conduct Voting at http://www.bbc.co.uk/editorialguidelines/page/guidelines-appendices-appendix-2-competitions

12. The BBC will only use your personal data for purposes of running this event. The BBC complies with the Data Protection Act 1998. For more information on how the BBC uses your information please refer to: BBC Privacy Policy at http://www.bbc.co.uk/privacy

13. These Terms and Conditions are governed by the laws of England and Wales.

COACH OF THE YEAR AWARD

This award goes to the coach who has made the biggest impact on sport in the UK during 2015.

For the purpose of this award, the term 'coach' includes roles such as managers, coaches, trainers and performance directors.

The expert panel responsible for choosing the shortlist for the main BBC Sports Personality of the Year award will decide the shortlist and the overall winner for the Coach of the Year award based on reaching a consensus view. If a consensus view cannot be reached on the shortlist or the overall winner, then the Panel will be asked to vote. In the event of a tied vote, the chairperson's decision will be binding.

The winner will be announced during the BBC Sports Personality of the Year programme, with full details on the BBC website.

TEAM OF THE YEAR AWARD

This award goes to the team in a sporting discipline, individual sport or sporting event that has achieved the most notable performance during 2015.

The team must have significant UK interest or involvement.

The expert panel responsible for choosing the shortlist for the main BBC Sports Personality of the Year award will decide the shortlist and the overall winner for the Team of the Year award based on reaching a consensus view. If a consensus view cannot be reached on the shortlist or the overall winner, then the Panel will be asked to vote. In the event of a tied vote, the chairperson's decision will be binding.

The winner will be announced during the BBC Sports Personality of the Year programme, with details on the BBC website.

YOUNG SPORTS PERSONALITY OF THE YEAR

This award goes to the outstanding young sportsperson aged 17 or under on 1 January 2015, selected from nominations made to the BBC and by sports governing bodies via the Youth Sport Trust. Nominations close on 13th November 2015.

Young sportspeople are eligible to win the award if they are citizens of the UK or all three of the following criteria apply:

- they play a significant amount of their sport in the UK; and

- their core achievements that year were achieved in the UK, and not with a national team (in which case they would more likely qualify for the Overseas Sports Personality award); and

- they are residents in the UK.

Judging panel

BBC Sport's John Inverdale chairs a panel which includes three representatives of the Youth Sport Trust, former winner of the award Amber Hill, Blue Peter presenter Radzi Chingyanganya, a Blue Peter Sport Badge 2015 winner, Radio 1's Tina Daheley, Former England Footballer Jermaine Jenas, former YSPOTY Winner Josef Craig and the executive editor of BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

The panel meet to decide the top 10 contenders from the list of nominations collected by the Youth Sport Trust and the BBC. They will select the winner by secret ballot and the final vote will be independently verified.

The top three will be announced on Blue Peter and invited to the live event at the SSE in Belfast. The other top seven contenders will be notified out of courtesy that they have not made the final shortlist.

The winner will be announced live on the BBC Sports Personality of the Year programme and the BBC Sport website on Sunday, 20th December 2015.

By way of explanation the young judge selected by Blue Peter will be done so using the following criteria:

• The applicant will have been successful in their application for a Blue Peter Sport Badge 2015 and the quality of the Sport Badge application may also be taken into consideration.

• The quality of the answer to the question, "Why would you be a great judge for Young Sports Personality of the Year 2015?" will be assessed. The answer must demonstrate a passion for sport, show why they are good at making decisions and be all their own work. If there is any reasonable doubt about this, the application will not be considered.

• In a phone interview the candidates will be assessed on their suitability for the role, confidence in a judging situation and ability to deal with the task and appearing on camera.

• Being part of the panel that decides who wins Young Sports Personality of the Year 2015 is a responsible role, the young judge will need to be confident working with adults and making informed decisions.

HELEN ROLLASON AWARD

This is a special BBC award recognising outstanding achievement in the face of adversity. It is decided by senior management in BBC Sport.

The award will be presented live on the BBC Sports Personality of the Year programme on Sunday, 20 December 2015.

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

This award honours someone who has made a major impact on the world of sport during their lifetime. It is decided by senior management in BBC Sport. The award will be presented live on the BBC Sports Personality of the Year programme on Sunday, 20 December 2015.

GET INSPIRED UNSUNG HERO AWARD

1. Any UK resident (including the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man) aged 18 or over on 1 January 2015 is eligible to be nominated, except previous winners of the BBC Get Inspired Unsung Hero Awards, BBC employees or any person connected to the Awards and their close relatives. Proof of age, identity and eligibility may be requested.

2. The nominee must:

(i) either be an individual, or no more than two people, who are both involved in the same sporting activity

(ii) help amateurs participate in a sports activity

(iii) offer help that does not form part of their job or take place at their place of work

(iv) help voluntarily with no financial reward

(v) in the opinion of the person nominating (not nominator) be deserving of a BBC Award

(vi) not bring the BBC into disrepute (in the BBC's sole discretion)

(vii) have consented to be nominated

3. Nominations can be made via bbc.co.uk/unsunghero from Monday 17 August 2015 and must be received no later than 11.59pm on Thursday 22nd October 2015.

4. Only one nomination is permitted per person and it should be on an official BBC form. Persons nominating (not nominators) should declare any professional or personal relationship with the person or people nominated.

5. The BBC will appoint a representative in each of its 12 English Regions plus Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland who will each shortlist no more than 10 nominees for their regional (delete) voting panel. The shortlisting criteria will be

(i) The extent of the nominee's' contribution at the grassroots level of their sport

(ii) the range and number of people helped

(iii) the impact on their local community

(iv) the personal sacrifices or commitment made.

6. Regional judging panels consisting of BBC staff and non-BBC members will meet to select a BBC Get Inspired Unsung Hero Award for their respective area - delete from those shortlisted and based on the criteria above. The 15 regional winners become eligible for the overall BBC Get Inspired Unsung Hero 2015 Award.

7. Persons nominated may be asked to disclose details of any, and all criminal and civil actions pending against them, or served against them plus any unspent convictions. Persons nominated asked for this information must keep the BBC informed of any changes to that disclosed up to the point the winner is announced. This information will be handled in the strictest confidence and, as with all personal information, in accordance with the BBC Privacy Policy.

8. Following standard industry practice the BBC may undertake background checks of the shortlisted finalists. Information discovered or that may have been disclosed by the entrants themselves will inform the decision as to the selection of the regional winners and overall winner.

9. A national judging panel will then meet to select the overall winner from the 15 regional winners based on the aforementioned criteria, any supporting documentation and a short BBC film about each of them. It is intended that the panel will consist of representatives from the BBC, leading sports figures and a previous BBC Unsung Hero winner dependent on availability. The judging process will be overseen by an independent verifier.

10. The overall winner will be announced live on BBC ONE's Sports Personality of the Year 2015 programme, to be held in Belfast on Sunday 20 December and to which all regional winners and their guest are invited to attend.

11. The judges' decision as to the winner is final. No correspondence relating to the awards will be entered into.

12. The regional winners will each receive a regional BBC Get Inspired Unsung Hero Award 2015 trophy and the national winner will receive the national BBC Get Inspired Unsung Hero Award 2015 trophy. There are no cash alternatives and the award cannot be sold or transferred in any circumstances.

13. All winners (not nominees) must agree to take part in any post-award publicity if required.

14. The BBC reserves the right to:

(i) vary the opening and closing times for making nominations and to vary the date of the announcement of the awards;

(ii) disqualify any nominee who breaches the rules or has acted fraudulently in any way

(iii) cancel or vary the awards or any of the selection processes or criteria, at any stage, if in its opinion it is deemed necessary or if circumstances arise outside its control.

15. The BBC, its sub-contractors, subsidiaries and/or agencies cannot accept any responsibility whatsoever for any technical failure or malfunction or any other problem which may result in any nomination not being properly registered.

16. The BBC will only use personal details for the purposes of administering this award and will not publish or provide them to anyone without permission. You can read more about the BBC's Privacy Policy at bbc.co.uk/privacy

17. Nominators and nominees will be deemed to have accepted these rules and agree to be bound by them.