Making a Submission on Zealous

It is likely you are here because a competition you wish to submit to is using our services to manage their entries.

Since you may be new to the platform, a quick intro is in order. We’re Zealous – we were built to support the creative industries by making submissions as simple as possible.

Below you will find a quick overview of the submissions process which begins as soon as you click the Submit button.

If you are not logged in already Zealous will prompt you to register. This ensures all the information you submit is password protected and allows you to save your submission as a draft to come back to later.

Registration takes a few seconds (we only ask for a name, email and password), and if you already have an account, you can click on the login button at the bottom of the registration popup instead.

The host of the opportunity will require you to confirm you have accepted the terms and guidelines for the competition before you start your submission.

These are crafted by the organisations hosting the call and are all unique, so be sure to read through them carefully.

Once you are happy click on checkbox to accept the guidelines and click next.

The submission step is what makes Zealous so unique. Here you can add any number of media items uploaded by embedding or even adding it (as a text element) directly onto the page. This is the first thing judges will see, so make it look good!

All items you add on this page are seen as one submission – if you wish to make another submission you’ll need to go through this process again. But don’t worry, it’s a lot quicker the second time around!

The host of the opportunity will let you know what they expect you to add in a message on the top left side of the page. This will include how many items the host expects to be uploaded and what file types they expect (e.g. you may not be able to embed a video if they switched that off). Each element you add to the page is counted as an item (including text elements).

You may also be required to confirm you have added the correct files with checkboxes at the end of the page.

This step is just like filling any application form.

The host of the opportunity will have customised a list of questions for you to fill out. Answers will automatically be saved as you fill them out so you don’t lose any work.

You will also be asked for your contact details. This will allow organisations to contact you with the results. Contact details are strictly confidential and only made available to the hosts of the call you are submitting to.

Please make sure to fill out all mandatory fields before going to the next step (denoted with a red star).

If the host of the opportunity is taking a fee to submit, this step will require you to select the package you wish to buy.

Should you wish to make multiple submissions, buying them here will save you time on your next submission. The host of the competition might have also set up a special deal. Keep an eye out; you might be able to get a good deal on multiple entries.

Once you are ready to pay, add your credit card details (it’s super secure, we use Stripe to deal with all payment information) and click pay.

That’s it you’ve submitted! You’ll be presented with a popup to confirm it’s all gone through successfully and also receive an email.

If the organisation allows for you to submit again, you’ll also be able to start making your next submission – to save time this will skip the guidelines step and bring you straight to the submission step.

Once you close the popup, you can access all submissions on the “My Submissions” page under your profile picture in the menu. You’ll also be able to edit any submission before the competition closes. Should you wish to, you can add the project you have just submitted to your public portfolio. This will create a duplicate you can edit to ensure all confidential information is removed on the version made available to the public.

Once submissions close, you will still have access to view your submission but there won’t be the option to edit it. This is because the organisation hosting the opportunity has begun making their selection.

Each host customises their own selection process; they’ll choose what date to publish their results and whether Zealous is to send the results emails. If they elect to go through Zealous, you will get an email from us on the behalf of the organisation, otherwise, we’ll assume they get in touch with you directly!