Complaints and Appeals
How to tell us we got it wrong, and what we have to do about it.
- Version
- 1.0
- Effective
- 1 September 2026
- Status
- In force
- Clauses
- 6
An institution that cannot be challenged is not trustworthy, it is merely unaccountable. This document sets out every route for disagreeing with PALMA, the timescales it holds itself to, and the things it undertakes never to do to someone who complains.
What this covers
Four different things go to four different places. Find yours first.
| If you want to… | Use |
|---|---|
| report abusive, illegal or policy-breaching content or conduct | the report form |
| challenge a decision about your own nomination, candidacy or honour | the appeal route below |
| correct something factually wrong in the public record | a correction request below |
| complain about PALMA, its conduct, its staff, its handling of you | the complaint route below |
| exercise a data protection right | concerns@palmaawards.com |
If something is urgent, a credible threat to a person, or material that is illegal, do not wait for any of this. Use the report form, which is monitored, and contact the police. PALMA reports child sexual abuse material and credible threats to life to the relevant authorities immediately, without notifying the person who submitted it.
Appealing a decision
One appeal, reviewed by someone who was not part of the original decision.
A creator may appeal a decision that directly concerns them, namely:
- Ia nomination or candidacy ruled ineligible at screening;
- IIa disqualification from a season;
- IIIthe revocation of an honour; or
- IVa refusal to make a correction to their own record.
Appeals are not available against a judging outcome. Losing is not a ground of appeal, and PALMA will not re-score a category because a result was disappointing. What is appealable is a process failure: a rule applied wrongly, a fact relied on that was untrue, or a conflict of interest that should have been declared.
- IWrite to concerns@palmaawards.com within 28 days of being told the decision.
- IISay what the decision was, which of the grounds above applies, and what you say the correct outcome is.
- IIIThe appeal is reviewed by someone who took no part in the original decision. Where the original decision was the chair’s, the review goes outside the panel.
- IVPALMA acknowledges within 5 working days and decides within 20 working days, or tells you why it needs longer.
- VThe outcome is given in writing with reasons. There is one appeal, and the appeal decision is final.
An appeal that succeeds after an announcement is corrected publicly. PALMA does not quietly re-edit a season; the Roll of Honour shows the correction and its date.
Correcting the record
Tell us what is wrong and what is right. We fix it and log that we fixed it.
Anyone may ask for a correction to the public record, a misspelled name, a wrong country, a broken link, a mis-stated category. Write to concierge@palmaawards.com saying what is wrong and what it should say.
- ICorrections to a creator’s own details are made on request from that creator, once identity is confirmed.
- IICorrections that change the meaning of an honour, the category, the season, the recipient, require the same scrutiny as conferring it, and are decided by an administrator, not by a request.
- IIIEvery correction is written to the audit log with the state before and after it, and by whom. Nothing on PALMA is edited silently.
- IVPALMA corrects; it does not delete. Where an entry was wrong, the record shows that it was corrected rather than pretending it always read this way.
Complaining about PALMA
Three stages, each with a named timescale, ending outside PALMA if it has to.
| Stage | Who handles it | Timescale |
|---|---|---|
| Stage one. First response | The team responsible for the area complained about | Acknowledged in 5 working days, answered in 20 |
| Stage two. Review | A director not involved in stage one | Requested within 28 days of the stage one answer; decided in 20 working days |
| Stage three. External | The relevant external body: the ICO for data protection, a court otherwise | No PALMA timescale. It is not PALMA’s process |
Write to concierge@palmaawards.com, or to concerns@palmaawards.com if the complaint is about personal data. You are never required to exhaust PALMA’s stages before going to the ICO, PALMA would prefer the chance to fix it first, but that is a preference, not a condition.
What PALMA will not do
We will not use process to make a complaint go away.
- IPALMA will not make settlement of a complaint conditional on silence about it.
- IIPALMA will not withdraw or withhold an honour because someone complained.
- IIIPALMA will not disclose a complainant’s identity to the person complained about, except where the law requires it or where the complaint cannot be investigated without it, in which case you are asked first.
- IVPALMA will not refuse to investigate because a complaint is anonymous, though an anonymous complaint limits what it can conclude and what it can tell you.
- VPALMA will not publish judging material in response to a complaint. Confidentiality of the panel survives any dispute.
Vexatious and repeated contact
We answer once. After that we may stop, and we will tell you we have.
Where a complaint has been through both stages and is then re-sent without new information, PALMA may decide not to correspond further. If it does, it says so explicitly, gives its reasons, and confirms the external routes still open to you. It will not simply stop replying.