Dear Santa letter and prize draw

Chance to win one of ten £10 National Book Tokens.

Oxfordshire Recycles have put together a 'Dear Santa' activity for any Oxfordshire resident.

Residents can email or send us a letter to let us know why they should be on the nice list, telling us what reuse and recycling activities they have undertaken in 2024 and how they are going to continue with these actions over the festive period. 

Oxfordshire residents have a chance to win one of ten £10 book National Books Tokens we have up for grabs. We’ll draw ten entrants at random from all entries to receive a £10 book token. 

The prize draw opens on 2 December and closes at midnight on 30 December (for emails) and 6 January 2025 (for postal entries).

How to enter

Email or send a photo of a letter to Waste.Management@Oxfordshire.gov.uk answering the following questions:

  1. Two nice things I did over they year to help reduce, reuse or recycle were
  2. Two nice things I will do over the festive holidays to reduce, reuse or recycle are

All entries must include the following details:

  • the name of the person who wrote the letter
  • the name of the parent or guardian (if applicable) 
  • their postal address
  • phone number 
  • and email address (this is essential to email the prize if they win). 

If you are under 16 years old, your parent or guardian should submit on your behalf.

The message subject should be “Dear Santa Letter”, and the letter itself must start with the words “Dear Santa”

We will only contact the entrants in relation to this prize draw. 

Terms and conditions

  1. Oxfordshire Recycles is running a Dear Santa letter writing and Prize Draw for all Oxfordshire residents to take part in. 
  2. No purchase is necessary. The Letter Activity and Prize Draw are free to enter and open to all ages.
  3. The opening date for entries is 9am on Monday 2 December or as soon as they are available in each individual library branch. 
  4. The closing date for email entries is midnight on Monday 30 December. For postal entries, these must be received by Monday 6 January 2025. Late entries will not be considered.
  5. Entrants must be Oxfordshire residents. 
    Participants in the Dear Santa Letter Activity must write a letter with at least two examples of what they have done in 2024 to reduce, reuse or recycle, and provide two actions for how they will reduce, reuse and recycle over the festive period. 
    Examples of these include but are not limited to; Reducing waste – "Said “no thank you" to a single use item, like a paper straw or plastic cutlery?" Reusing an item – "Borrowed a book from the library, rather than buy a new book?” Recycling – “Helped a relative or friend recycle?"
  6. The letter can be written by hand using pen, pencil, crayon etc. The letter can also be completed using a computer application but must be an original work.
  7. Letters must not introduce, integrate or transmit any content that is unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory and/or libelous, vulgar, obscene, damaging to other’s privacy, racist, classist or discriminate against any protected characteristics as set out in The Equality Act 2010.
  8. The letter must not infringe any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright or other industrial and/or intellectual property rights of third parties (hereinafter, “third party rights”).
  9. In submitting the letter, copyright and all other rights to the letter remain with the entrant. However, all entrants understand and agree that any letter submitted may be used by any of the six Oxfordshire Council’s and their relevant partner organisations involved in waste and recycling, for example CAG Oxfordshire, to help promote recycling in Oxfordshire as part of any future campaigns for a maximum of 12 months from the Prize Draw closing date.
  10. Oxfordshire residents can take part in the Dear Santa activity and enter the Prize Draw by:
  11. Typing, writing or designing their letter using an electronic device and sending it via email to Waste.Management@Oxfordshire.gov.uk. The message should start with the words “Dear Santa Letter”.
  12. Posting their letter to the Waste and Circular Economy Team, Floor 1, County Hall, New Road, Oxford, OX1 1ND. The cut off date for postal entries is Monday 6 January 2025.
  13. Each letter and Prize Draw entry made must include their name and address (including postcode). If the letter has been created by someone under the age of 16, these details must be for a parent or guardian.
  14. The information provided by entrants will only be used to administer the Prize Draw. All information will be held in accordance with the council’s Privacy Policy which can be viewed at www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/privacynotice.
  15. Information about entrants will be deleted after 12 months.
  16. For the Prize Draw, if 10 entries or fewer than 10 entries are submitted, all entrants will receive a prize. However, if more than 10 entries are submitted, Oxfordshire Recycles will select 10 entries at random from all entries received by the deadline.
  17. These 10 randomly selected entries – provided they meet these terms and conditions - will each receive a £10 voucher for National Book Tokens.
  18. It won’t be possible to notify all Prize Draw winners of the outcome other than through the delivery of the prize, which will either be an e-voucher or posted to the winners by 30 January. 
  19. No cash alternatives are available, and we reserve the right to substitute the advertised prize for another of equal or greater value should the original become unavailable.
  20. Winners’ names are available on written request to Waste.Management@Oxfordshire.gov.uk marked for the attention of Rachel Townsend, with the subject “Dear Santa activity – winners names”.
  21. The Letter Activity and Prize Draw is organised by Oxfordshire Recycles– a partnership of the waste and recycling teams at the six councils in Oxfordshire – Oxfordshire County Council, Oxford City Council, Cherwell District Council, South Oxfordshire District Council, Vale of White Horse District Council, West Oxfordshire District Council.
  22. Oxfordshire Recycles reserves the right to cancel or amend this promotion due to events arising beyond its control. Oxfordshire Recycles nor its agents are responsible for third party acts or omissions.
  23. By entering this Prize Draw, an entrant is indicating their agreement to be bound by these terms and conditions.
  24. By entering this competition, an entrant is indicating their agreement to be bound by these terms and conditions.
  25. Employees of the Recycling or Waste Management Teams at Oxfordshire Recycles’ partner councils, agents, their families or anyone professionally connected to the promotion are not eligible to enter the Prize Draw.
  26. The promoter of this competition is Oxfordshire County Council, whose decision regarding any aspect of this Prize Draw shall be final and no correspondence will be entered into.