The 42nd ONCE CONTEST, with the slogan “GENERATION INNOVA, Equality through imagination" is an Educational Action Programme based on the LOMLOE (Organic Law amending the LOE, the current education law in Spain), whose aim is to raise awareness among young people about the need to reimagine and promote innovation to build a more accessible and inclusive society for everyone.
All information related to this edition of the Contest will be available on the website www.concursoescolaronce.es from 10 September 2025.
The initiative is aimed at Primary School Students (Years 3, 4, 5, and 6), Compulsory Secondary Education Students, Basic Level Vocational Training Students, and Special Education Students in all schools in Spain.
Participation is channelled exclusively through schools recognised by the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, which operate within the territory of Spain.
Associations, companies, foundations, and other organisations, which, although they may be involved in educational activities and operate within educational centres (parent-teacher associations, extracurricular companies, catering companies...), are not considered recognised formal schools and colleges and are therefore excluded.
All categories will participate online, and the work to be submitted will be the same for everyone.
Students in each class must design an accessible product that does not yet exist, or improve an existing one, imagining inclusive solutions to help build a more accessible future for everyone.
They will complete two tasks working as a team:
Complete the technical sheet of the invention/product
The fields to complete are in the teacher's private area on the Contest website.
These mandatory fields are:
An image of the proposed invention/product
Each participating class must present an image or design of an invention/product they have created that provides a solution to the problem identified.
The image presented should include:
When teachers upload the full work to the platform, which consists of an image of the proposed invention/product, along with an audio description and product sheet, a QR code will be generated and included in the image.
Works may be presented in Spanish, Catalan, Basque, Galician, or English. To facilitate the work of the national jury, entries reaching the national stage that are in Catalan, Basque, Galician, or English must be translated into Spanish. If the participating group does not provide a translation, it will be carried out by the relevant ONCE Regional Office.
NOTE: aware of its responsibility to society and as a social lottery operator and member of the World Lottery Association (WLA) and the European Lotteries Association (EL), ONCE has subscribed to the principles of Responsible Gaming. Based on these principles, no reference to lotteries or any allusion to gambling will be allowed in the works submitted for the contest, whether through images, phrases or any other element.
Inventions designed and products improved by the regional winners that can be built will form part of a catalogue of accessible products created by children and young people located on the Contest's website.
Redesigns of existing products submitted must not include trademarks or distinctive elements that would clearly identify the original product, thus ensuring the neutrality and originality of the proposal.
This catalogue will be disseminated as an educational tool, raising awareness and promoting institutional visibility through channels and formats, either physical or digital, that the Grupo Social ONCE considers appropriate.
Teaching staff will be provided with educational materials (in online format) to support and facilitate their participation and understanding of the subject of this edition. This material has been reviewed by experts in the field.
In this edition, students will have the opportunity to learn about and reflect on the challenges faced by people with disabilities daily, and begin to develop tools to imagine and innovate products through:
The Great Accessibility Board. Digital educational game, practical and accessible for classroom use, with different squares that present an experiential challenge to understand different barriers. How does it work?
The teaching staff determines the duration of the game, which ranges from a minimum of 20 minutes to a maximum of 45 minutes.
Each class accesses the digital board and rolls a virtual die.
Each box activates an experiential challenge, which is easy to do in the classroom or in other settings, such as at home, in parks, or at school.
Students can play as often as they like to discover new squares in each game. It’s essential to remember that it's not a contest: the idea is to empathise, reflect, and transform.
What types of boxes are there?
Access to teaching materials and the game will be available from 15 October 2025. The educational materials will be available in Spanish, Catalan, Galician, Basque, and English, all in accessible versions, and can be downloaded and/or printed directly from the website.
Participation will be conducted by entire classes (one project per class) supervised by a teacher. Each participating class must submit a single project (consisting of a technical sheet and an image of the invention/product including its name and audio description). If the same project is submitted by multiple classes, only the one uploaded to the platform first will be accepted. Projects created by multiple classes will not be eligible for the contest.
Each class will always participate within its corresponding category, according to the academic year in which the students are enrolled. As an exception, projects involving students from multiple categories, such as those in grouped rural schools, travelling circus classrooms, special support classes, etc., will be accepted. In the event of a tie, the class will compete in the higher category.
The maximum number of students participating per project (one project per classroom) will be the maximum number of students per class as stipulated by the current law for each level.
Regarding category E, Special Education, only official schools that provide education specifically for pupils with special educational needs are eligible to participate.
NOTE: Vocational Training classes focused on diversity care or special modalities will participate in category C, provided they comply with the rules. Classes which, within an ordinary school, have students with Special Educational Needs, will not participate in category E, but in the category that corresponds to the majority of the students in that group.
To participate, the management or teaching staff of the schools and colleges must register by means of one of these methods:
The teacher coordinating the participating groups will be responsible for correctly entering all required data (details of the school and teacher) in the registration form and for uploading their classes’ work to the website.
The participation period will begin on 10 September 2025 and end on 6 February 2026. The Contest organisers reserve the right to bring forward the start date of participation (with prior communication on their website), as well as to extend the deadline, if deemed necessary. In any case, to promote participation, and at their own discretion, each member of the jury may accept entries up to two days before the announcement date..
NOTE: Teachers wishing to request a participation certificate for this edition of the Contest must do so before 31 December 2026. The issuance of certificates after this date will be at the discretion of the Contest coordination team.
Regional phase
The person responsible for each ONCE Centre where the regional jury is established will appoint a designated person for the Contest and must communicate their name to the Directorate of Communication, Image, and Brand as soon as possible. This responsible person will perform tasks related to coordination, information, and support for the Contest.
One winning project will be selected for each of the following categories in each autonomous region: A, B and C. These works will go on to compete in the nationwide phase.
A regional jury will be formed in each ONCE regional office and at the headquarters of the Autonomous Cities of Ceuta and Melilla.
In cases where more than 100 projects are submitted per category, the coordination teams at these schools may request a Technical Panel, which will screen all entries and shortlist the top 100 projects per category.
The regional juries will meet between 2 and 6 March 2026.
It is recommended that regional juries consist of at least six members: three representatives from ONCE (one from the Representation Department, one from the Management Department, and a specialised professional from the Specific Educational Support Teams within that territorial area) and, where possible, three external individuals not affiliated with ONCE. These external members may come from fields such as communication, design, education, social inclusion or participation, public administration, the third sector, or any other relevant organisation.
It is desirable to encourage the participation, at the highest possible level, of the Department of Education (or related departments concerned with innovation, if any) of the relevant Autonomous Community during award ceremonies or public relations activities held after the regional juries.
Nationwide phase
One winner will be chosen per category (A, B, C and E). The projects in category E participate solely in the final phase of the contest and will be evaluated by a national jury, comprising a technical team from the Ministry of Education, Vocational Training and Sports, which will select five finalist projects from which the national winner will be chosen.
The national jury will meet before 30 April 2026.
The national jury will be made up of the representatives mentioned in the regional phase, as well as a person in the field of special education and other prominent figures connected with the theme of the contest.
In each jury, the highest-ranking representative member of the ONCE will act as chairperson and hold the casting vote to resolve any potential ties in the jury's voting.
Under no circumstances may jurors assign the same rank to two or more projects.
No prize can be left unrewarded in any category, at any stage, as long as there are at least two entries that meet the requirements of this contest.
If a work is disqualified due to non-compliance with the requirements, it must be justified by the jury and reflected in the minutes of the decision.
All the juries’ decisions and interpretations are final.
Once the winning entries have been selected, they will be published on the contest website within seven working days following the judges' decision.
NEW FEATURE – PRIZES FOR MONTHLY CHALLENGES AND SPECIAL BOXES ON THE "GREAT ACCESSIBILITY BOARD"
Please refer to the information in Annex I of these terms and conditions, which is an integral part of this call for entries.
REGIONAL PHASE AWARDS
The students and teachers of the winning groups in the regional phase, as well as the five work groups selected as finalists in category E, will receive an activity for the whole class, with a maximum value of 300 euros plus VAT/IGIC.
These prizes cannot be exchanged for cash, with ONCE covering the maximum expected expenditure against an invoice issued in the name of the agency The Modern Kids and Family, appointed by ONCE to manage this Contest.
The deadline to carry out the activity will be 31 October 2026.
Any prizes which, after the appropriate notifications from the Contest organisers, have not been redeemed by that date, will be donated to the Spanish Federation of Food Banks (for their cash value).
Winning centres wishing to donate the value of their prize to other organisations, with a charitable and altruistic aim, must manage the process independently. The Modern Kids and Family agency will transfer the amount to the centre, upon receipt of a waiver document and notification of the recipient entity, and subsequently present ONCE with proof of transfer or payment of the prize to the chosen entity, or a document issued by the beneficiary entity certifying the recipient of the prize.
NATIONAL PHASE AWARDS
The winning teams of the 42nd edition (cat. A, B, C and E) will travel to Madrid to participate in the Hackathon Generación Innova, a unique event that unites young people, innovation, and accessibility. A meeting where the winners will experience challenges, collaborative dynamics and immersive experiences and will take on a real social challenge, designing creative solutions that promote accessibility. The experience will be guided by experts in accessible product design, including the ONCE Innova team, ONCE CTI, and other collaborating entities. The participants’ experience will boost their commitment to inclusion.
The hackathon is scheduled to take place during the first fortnight of June (to be determined). The prize includes round-trip travel, accommodation, and board from arrival until departure (3-4 days to be determined), as well as workshops and other recreational activities. Full details, including the final schedule, will be sent to the winning classes at least 20 days in advance of the experience start date.
The national winning schools will also receive an official diploma.
Prizes can never be exchanged for their cash value. Any prizes which, after the appropriate notifications from the Contest organisers, have not been redeemed by that date, will be donated to the Spanish Federation of Food Banks (for their cash value).
ACCEPTANCE OF LEGAL TERMS
Participation in the ONCE School Contest implies acceptance of the terms and conditions, as reflected in this Official Circular and summarised in the extract of the Contest rules found on its website: www.concursoescolaronce.es.
TAX
Prizes are subject to withholding or payment on account in accordance with the tax regulations in force at the time of payment.
IMAGE AND VOICE RIGHTS
Participating teachers must ensure they hold the necessary consent forms for the voice and image rights of students who may appear in the audio descriptions of the projects, as well as in TikTok-type videos, in cases where a class participates in one of the four additional challenges proposed. These consent forms must be duly signed by the students or their legal guardians, according to the terms and conditions of this contest. A document for transferring image and voice rights will be made available to participants on the Contest website.
ONCE will request this document from the winners of the corresponding challenge and from the winners of the regional phase.
ONCE will accept no liability for claims related to the image and voice rights of participants in the contest entries.
INDUSTRIAL AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS
Once the work has been assessed by the relevant judging panel (which will always be based on the original submitted), ONCE reserves the right to process, adapt, develop, and correct the entries submitted to the contest, in the broadest sense possible.
Participation in this contest implies that teachers and students involved in the winning entries at the regional level (categories A, B, and C), as well as the finalists in category E, grant ONCE, exclusively and for a period of 50 years, without territorial, material, or geographical limitations, and with the possibility of assigning rights to third parties (covering all or part of the economic rights), all industrial and intellectual property rights over the winning works and, where applicable, over any work resulting from transformations carried out by ONCE. This includes, but is not limited to, rights of reproduction, publication on print and digital media, recording, compilation, public communication, adaptation, distribution through any physical or electronic means (including the Internet and social networks), and, in general, the exploitation of these works—either individually or in collections or catalogues. Additionally, participants may request registration of these works and any derived works in their name in any public registers, in accordance with applicable legislation. This assignment will not result in any compensation.
In exercising the assigned rights, ONCE may build models or prototypes of the products or inventions presented in the winning entries at the regional level (categories A, B, and C) and the finalists in category E, making any adaptations or changes deemed appropriate to the original project. ONCE may also display these models or prototypes to students and other audiences, as well as reproduce, distribute, and publicly communicate them in any media or format, whether physical or digital, including the official website and social networks of the contest, as well as any web pages and social platforms of the ONCE Social Group.
A document for the assignment of industrial and intellectual property rights will be made available to participants on the contest website, which must be attached when uploading the work to the platform.
THIRD PARTY RIGHTS
If any content (image, slogan, music, etc.) owned by third parties is used, participating teachers must ensure that they are free of rights or that they have the corresponding image/voice or intellectual property rights to the extent necessary according to the terms of this contest.
To submit works through the website, confirmation will be requested to ensure all documentation regarding rights, which must be provided by the person uploading the work, is available. Subsequently, a review of this aspect will be carried out and any documentation that has not been provided will be requested.
Any works that do not have the relevant rights or permissions will be disqualified.If, for reasons beyond the control of the ONCE Social Group, a work is ultimately selected as a winner despite insufficient justification that it is free of third-party rights, or if the required assignments of image, voice, or intellectual property rights have not been provided or have subsequently been revoked, ONCE reserves the right to modify the work for publication or to choose not to publish it altogether. Similarly, the work will be ineligible to participate in the next phase, without prejudice to still receiving the prize awarded in its current phase and category.
Grupo Social ONCE shall not be responsible for the image or voice rights of the participants, nor for any claims regarding the image, voice, or intellectual property rights of the participants or third parties.
PROTECTION OF PERSONAL DATA
Any personal data required for participation in the Contest will be processed in accordance with the standards established by Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council, of 27 April 2016, on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and the free movement of such data (General Data Protection Regulation), and in Organic Law 3/2018, of 5 December, on the Protection of Personal Data and the Guarantee of Digital Rights (LOPDGDD). The collection of data will only be carried out with the explicit consent of the data subject, to enable the data to be included in files owned by ONCE. The data will be processed solely for the purpose specified in the legend attached to the data collection form, which will be published on the Contest website. Data obtained through the corresponding forms will be the minimum essential to enable participation in the contest.
To submit works through the website, confirmation will be requested to ensure all documentation regarding rights, which must be provided by the person uploading the work, is available. Subsequently, a review of this aspect will be carried out and any documentation that has not been provided will be requested.
Any works that do not have the relevant rights or permissions will be disqualified.
If, for reasons beyond the control of the ONCE Social Group, a work is ultimately selected as a winner despite insufficient justification that it is free of third-party rights, or if the required assignments of image, voice, or intellectual property rights have not been provided or have subsequently been revoked, ONCE reserves the right to modify the work for publication or to choose not to publish it altogether. Similarly, the work will be ineligible to participate in the next phase, without prejudice to still receiving the prize awarded in its current phase and category.
Grupo Social ONCE shall not be responsible for the image or voice rights of the participants, nor for any claims regarding the image, voice, or intellectual property rights of the participants or third parties.
In addition to the main participation work, to compete for the regional prizes and/or the national grand prize, the contest offers a new complementary strategy based on completely optional monthly challenges.
These monthly challenges will be activated from "The Great Accessibility Board", a practical and accessible educational digital game for the classroom.
The challenges proposed by the four boxes will be communicated gradually through the following means:
Once access to the "Great Accessibility Board" is granted (15 October), these squares will also remain communicated on the board, which will be activated on the scheduled dates.
Four categories of participation are established:
In each challenge, students will experience a daily situation in class by putting themselves in the place of a person with a disability, and using their empathy, they should reflect on the experience.
Subsequently, they should record a short video of no more than 90 seconds (TikTok style) explaining which barrier the students have faced and how they felt, providing ideas to improve the detected barrier and increase the inclusion of people with that need. Participation will consist of uploading the work to the teacher's private area.
All registered classes can participate in the Contest.
The participation dates for each challenge are:
the 90-second videos must meet the following requirements:
The videos created in each challenge must be uploaded to the teacher's private area. Once the videos for the challenge of the month are received, a technical panel will check that they comply with the terms and conditions (see section “10. LEGISLATION), selecting a winning entry for each category (A total of four entries for each challenge, one per category).
This technical panel will consist of the following figures:
The winning groups in each of the monthly challenges (four in each challenge - categories A, B, C and E) will receive the following prizes (one per classroom):
The following prizes will be awarded for each challenge and in each category.
These prizes are not redeemable for their cash value.
The organisers of the 42nd ONCE School Contest will contact the four winners to obtain the necessary details to send them the prize.
Prizes will be delivered through the corresponding ONCE centre or sent by courier to the address specified by the winner, and the four winners of each challenge will be informed of the delivery method. The prizes for each challenge will be delivered/sent in the month following the challenge.
In accordance with the provisions of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016, on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data (General Data Protection Regulation), and Organic Law 3/2018, of 5 December, on Personal Data Protection and Guarantee of Digital Rights, participants are informed that the personal data of the winner will be processed by ONCE, as the data controller, with registered office at c/ Prado, nº 24, 28014 Madrid, solely for the purpose of managing the delivery of the prize and fulfilling the corresponding tax obligations. The legal basis for data processing is the consent provided by participants upon accepting the terms and conditions of the contest, as well as the fulfilment of obligations arising from their participation in it and the monthly challenges.
The teacher representing the winning classroom may exercise, if applicable and at any time, their rights to access, rectification, erasure, restriction of processing, objection to data processing, data portability, or to withdraw their consent for data processing. Requests should be made in writing and addressed to ONCE at c/ Prado, nº 24, 28014 Madrid, or sent via email to dpdatos@once.es. Withdrawing consent will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out based on your initial consent or the processing necessary for the execution of the promotion.
Data subjects are entitled, if they consider it appropriate, to file a complaint with the Agencia Española de Protección de Datos (Spanish Data Protection Agency). ONCE has appointed a Data Protection Officer, whose email address is dpdatos@once.es and whose contact address is Calle Prado, No. 24, 28014 Madrid.
When the Contest organisers contact the representative of the winning class, in accordance with these terms, they will request that the individual expressly accept these terms and provide their unequivocal, free, and specific consent for their personal data to be processed by ONCE for the purpose of managing the delivery of the prize awarded. If the winner and, if applicable, the alternative people object to the processing of their data by ONCE, the gift cannot be delivered to them, and they will lose the right to receive it.
ONCE may authorise third parties, acting as data processors, to access and manage the winners' data in order to carry out, on behalf of ONCE, the necessary arrangements to contact the winners by email and coordinate the delivery of the prize.
By accepting the prize and these terms and conditions, the four winning classes of the monthly challenges expressly consent to ONCE and Grupo Social ONCE using, publishing, and reproducing the work, as well as the school’s data, in any form of advertising, promotion, or publication — including on the Internet or any other medium — for informational purposes related to the 42nd ONCE School Contest. This consent is granted without payment, reimbursement, or compensation of any kind to the participants, and without any obligation to provide consideration.