Awards & Conduct Policy

Effective: 7 July 2026 · Last updated: 19 September 2026

Joche Gauntlet is a merit-based skill competition operated by Joche Solutions Ltd (RC 9650706). Entry is free and open to any verified account. Joche Gauntlet does not charge a cash entry fee, so there is nothing to refund. This policy explains eligibility, how Champion Awards are handled, and disqualifications.

1. Entry and eligibility

Entry is free. Any account that completes verification (a confirmed phone number and email, an 18-or-older self-declaration, and acceptance of these terms) may hold one entry per cycle. No purchase, subscription, or membership is required to enter.

Removing or disabling your account before or during a cycle will remove your access to the challenges but will not, on its own, entitle you to any Joche Gauntlet payment.

2. Withdrawing from a cycle

You may withdraw from a cycle at any time by contacting support at gauntlet@jocheacademy.com. Withdrawal removes your submissions and leaderboard entries from the cycle. Because there is no cash entry fee, no refund is issued.

3. Awards

The Champion Award is a discretionary skill prize offered to the top performer of each cycle, in the amount displayed for that cycle on the challenge and homepage. Awards are paid by bank transfer to a Nigerian bank account held in the Champion's own verified name within seven working days of confirmation of eligibility.

Champion Awards are not refundable and do not roll over into future cycles.

In addition to the Champion Award, a cycle may offer a runner-up award to the second-place finisher, shown on that cycle's challenge and homepage. A runner-up award is a discretionary skill prize paid on the same terms and eligibility checks as the Champion Award, and it is paid on top of the Champion Award rather than out of it. It is awarded only where there is a single clear runner-up; where the top position is tied, the Champion Award is shared equally between the tied finishers and no separate runner-up award is paid for that cycle.

Third place carries no cash award. It carries the Runner-Up badge, a permanent Hall of Fame listing, recognition on the Builder Spotlight, and Joche Academy access as set out below.

By accepting the Champion Award, the winner agrees to participate in a short video feature (approximate length and platform use to be specified) for use on Joche Gauntlet's social media channels. If the winner prefers not to participate in video, a photo and written quote may be used instead. Declining a video does not affect the winner's prize or eligibility to compete in future cycles.

3a. Joche Academy access

Second and third place each receive Joche Academy access as part of their award: two months for second place, and one month for third place as the Skill Growth Pass. The period runs from the date access is granted.

Academy access covers selected self-paced learning resources only. It does not include instructor-led or cohort-based paid courses, and it does not include any course or programme that Joche Academy sells separately and excludes from the pass. What is included is determined by Joche Academy and may change between cycles; the access granted is the access available at the time it is granted.

Academy access is personal to the recipient and non-transferable. It cannot be sold, gifted, shared, or exchanged, there is no cash alternative, and it does not roll over or extend into future cycles beyond the period stated. It is granted against a Joche Academy account in the recipient's own name, and it is the recipient's responsibility to tell us which account to use when we ask. Access is subject to Joche Academy's own terms of use, and a breach of those terms may end it.

Where access cannot be granted for a reason outside our control, we may substitute a benefit of equal or greater value, or extend the period, at our discretion.

By accepting the Champion Award, the winner agrees to participate in a short video feature (approximate length and platform use to be specified) for use on Joche Gauntlet's social media channels. If the winner prefers not to participate in video, a photo and written quote may be used instead. Declining a video does not affect the winner's prize or eligibility to compete in future cycles.

3b. Feedback and published comments

After a cycle ends we may ask you to rate it and say what you would change. Answering is optional, and it has no effect whatsoever on your score, your standing, your placement, or your eligibility for any award, in this cycle or any other. A positive rating buys nothing and a critical one costs nothing.

Where you rate a cycle highly we also ask what you would tell another builder. We publish such a comment only where you have explicitly given permission at the time you wrote it, and you choose whether it carries your display name or appears without it. Publication is also at our editorial discretion: giving permission does not oblige us to publish. You can withdraw permission at any time from the feedback page for that cycle, which removes the comment from our public pages.

We publish the response count and mean rating for each finished cycle once it has at least twenty responses, whatever the figure says.

4. Forfeiture and disqualification

An award may be forfeited where the recipient, whether Champion, runner-up or third place:

• fails to submit valid bank details within seven days of notification (cash awards only);
• provides bank details in someone else's name or that fail our verification checks (cash awards only);
• is found, after review, to have breached the Terms & Conditions (including plagiarism, multi-accounting, collusion, or scoring manipulation); or
• is otherwise ineligible under applicable law.

Where a cash award is forfeited, Joche Gauntlet may, at its discretion, retain the amount, award it to the next eligible participant on the leaderboard, or apply it to a future cycle. Where Joche Academy access is forfeited on integrity or eligibility grounds, any access already granted may be withdrawn for the remainder of its period. Forfeiture decisions may be appealed to gauntlet@jocheacademy.com within 14 days.

5. Score corrections

Scores are generated by an AI judge and may be adjusted by human moderators where evidence of fraud, plagiarism, or rubric error is found. Score corrections that change the Champion of a cycle will be communicated to the affected participants directly.

All scores, rankings, and Champion determinations are final. We do not operate a score-dispute or re-grade process, and disagreement with a scoring decision is not a ground for review. The only exception is a genuine technical or processing error, which you may report to gauntlet@jocheacademy.com within 72 hours of the score being posted; whether an error occurred is decided at our discretion and that decision is final.

6. Complaints

Entry is free, so there are no entry charges to dispute. If you have a concern about a Champion Award, a score correction, or a disqualification, raise it with support at gauntlet@jocheacademy.com so we can review it directly.

7. Contact

Questions about this policy: gauntlet@jocheacademy.com.