Your story.
Your choice.

The story submission page is operated by [[FULL REGISTERED COMPANY NAME]], registration number [[COMPANY REGISTRATION NUMBER]], trading as “Aqua Rush” (“Aqua Rush”, “we”, “us” or “our”).

Our address is [[PHYSICAL ADDRESS]]. You may contact us at [[STORY EMAIL]].

You may submit content only if you are 18 years or older and legally able to agree to these terms.

By checking the form box confirming that you have read and accepted these Story Submission Terms and the Privacy Notice, and then submitting the form, you agree to be bound by these terms.

We use an 18+ rule because stories and uploaded media can contain personal information, and publishing content submitted by children requires additional consent and privacy safeguards.

You may submit an original written story and, where the form allows it, original photographs, videos, audio or other media connected to that story.

Your submission must not:

• contain another person’s private details without permission;
• include identity numbers, bank details, private addresses or confidential business information;
• infringe copyright, trade marks, privacy, dignity or other rights;
• contain defamatory, hateful, threatening, pornographic or unlawful material;
• encourage dangerous behaviour, excessive energy-drink consumption or mixing energy drinks with alcohol;
• pretend to be another person or deliberately mislead readers about a material fact; or
• advertise an unrelated business, product, political party or campaign.

Remove unnecessary identifying details and use a changed name where a story could expose another person.

By submitting content and accepting these terms, you confirm that:

• the submission is your own work or you have all necessary permission to submit it;
• you have permission from each identifiable person shown or discussed where permission is legally required;
• the submission does not violate another person’s legal rights;
• the information you provide to us is accurate to the best of your knowledge;
• Aqua Rush may contact you about reviewing, editing, verifying or publishing the submission; and
• you understand that publication and thank-you gifts are not guaranteed.

Do not submit a photograph, video, voice recording or private story involving someone else merely because you know them. You must have the right to let us publish it.

You keep ownership of your original work.

By submitting the form, you allow Aqua Rush to receive, store, review and internally assess your submission.

If you also check the publication permission box stating that Aqua Rush may feature your story, name and submitted media, you give Aqua Rush a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to reproduce, format and publish the submission:

• on the Aqua Rush website;
• on Aqua Rush’s own organic social-media pages;
• in posts introducing or linking to the story; and
• in an archive of previously featured stories.

The publication licence lasts for [[THREE YEARS / OTHER PERIOD]] from submission, subject to the removal process below.

If you do not select the publication permission box, we may still review your submission and contact you about it, but we will not publish your story, name or submitted media unless you later give us separate permission.

We may correct spelling and grammar, shorten a story, crop or resize media, add captions, and adapt formatting to suit a website or social-media platform.

We will not knowingly change the central meaning of your story. If a proposed change materially alters its meaning, we will seek your approval before publication.

If you give publication permission, we may identify you using the name supplied with your submission. You may ask us before publication to use only your first name, a display name or no name.

We may use less identifying information where we believe that doing so better protects someone’s privacy or safety.

Aqua Rush may choose stories that fit its brand, values, audience and available publishing schedule. This is an editorial decision, not judging for a competition.

We will publish a submission only where publication permission has been given through the form or later in writing.

We may publish any number of permitted stories or none at all. We are not required to publish a submission, explain our decision or publish submissions in the order in which they were received.

Submission does not create an employment, sponsorship, ambassador, partnership or agency relationship with Aqua Rush.

From time to time, Aqua Rush may decide to contact a contributor and offer them a product, voucher, experience or other thank-you gift.

Any such gift is entirely voluntary and discretionary. It is not a prize, payment, royalty or guaranteed reward for submitting or being published.

• No purchase is required to submit a story.
• There is no draw, ranking, scoring system or winner.
• Submitting more stories does not create a greater entitlement to a gift.
• Being featured does not guarantee a gift.
• Receiving a gift does not require additional publicity or positive statements about Aqua Rush.

If we offer you a gift, we will explain what it is and any practical delivery, collection, availability or expiry conditions before you accept it.

The responsible party is [[FULL REGISTERED COMPANY NAME]] at [[PHYSICAL ADDRESS]]. Privacy enquiries may be sent to [[PRIVACY EMAIL]].

We use submitted information to:

• receive and review submissions;
• contact contributors about verification, editing, publication or a possible thank-you gift;
• publish selected content where publication permission has been given;
• protect the website and prevent abuse;
• respond to removal, correction or privacy requests; and
• contact a contributor if we choose to offer a thank-you gift.

We may share information with service providers that host the website, store submissions, manage social-media publishing or deliver an accepted gift. They may process it only for the relevant service and subject to appropriate safeguards.

Unselected submissions will ordinarily be deleted or de-identified after [[12 MONTHS / OTHER PERIOD]]. Published submissions may be retained for the licence period or longer where lawfully required to resolve a complaint or protect legal rights.

You may ask what personal information we hold, request correction or deletion, or object to particular processing by emailing [[PRIVACY EMAIL]]. More detail must be included in the Aqua Rush Privacy Notice.

Permission to contact you about your submission is not permission to send general marketing. Submitting a story does not automatically subscribe you to marketing. The “Send me Aqua Rush news and promotions” checkbox is separate and optional, and you may unsubscribe at any time.

You may ask us not to publish an unpublished submission, or ask us to remove a published story from channels we control, by emailing [[STORY EMAIL]].

We will consider and action valid requests as soon as reasonably practicable. Removal from our own website and social-media pages may not remove:

• copies already shared, downloaded or reposted by third parties;
• temporary cached or backup copies;
• records we must retain for legal or dispute-resolution purposes; or
• material incorporated into content where removal is technically impossible or disproportionate.

We will not deliberately republish withdrawn content in a new post after accepting a valid withdrawal request.

We may reject, redact, restrict or remove a submission where we reasonably believe it is unlawful, unsafe, misleading, infringing, abusive, inappropriate for the platform or inconsistent with these terms.

You remain responsible for the material and factual claims you submit. To the extent permitted by law, Aqua Rush is not responsible for a submission that is lost, corrupted or not received because of a device, internet, telecommunications or hosting failure outside our reasonable control.

Nothing in these terms excludes any right or liability that South African law does not allow us to exclude.

We may update these terms to reflect changes to the submission process, publishing channels or applicable law. The date at the top will show when the terms were last updated.

Material changes will apply to new submissions from the updated date. We will not materially expand the use of an existing submission without an appropriate legal basis or additional permission where required.

Questions, complaints and removal requests may be sent to [[STORY EMAIL]].