Privacy Policy

Effective April 25, 2026 · Taradiddle, a program of Guardian Whiskers

In short: Taradiddle collects a small amount of information when a young writer enters a contest or signs up for our emails — first name, age, country, a parent’s email if the writer is under 13, and the story itself. A parent’s permission is required before we collect anything from a writer who is 12 or younger. We do not sell, rent, or trade information about young writers, and we do not run advertising trackers on this site. You can ask us to review or delete what we have at any time at privacy@guardianwhiskers.org.

Who we are

Taradiddle is a free youth writing contest run by Guardian Whiskers Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Guardian Whiskers Inc. is the operator of taradiddle.org and is responsible for the information described in this policy. No other organizations operate this site or collect information through it.

You can reach us about privacy questions, corrections, or deletion requests at:

We answer privacy email within seven days and complete deletion requests within thirty days.

What this policy covers

This policy covers taradiddle.org, the five forms on the site (Subscribe, Submit Story, Sponsor Inquiry, Data Request, and School Setup), and the emails we send to people who use those forms. It does not cover other websites we link to — for example, our parent organization Guardian Whiskers, social media platforms, or sponsor websites. When you click a link off taradiddle.org, that site’s own privacy practices apply.

What we collect

We only collect what each form actually needs. Below is the full list, organized by form.

Subscribe form. If you are a parent signing up a writer who is 12 or younger, we collect: your first name, your email address, your child’s first name, your child’s age, your country, your state or region, your email preferences, and (optionally) your city. If you are 13 to 18 signing up for yourself, we collect: your first name, your email, your age, your country, your state or region, plus an optional parent email and an optional city. We use country, state, and city only to understand the geographic reach of the program — we do not publish individual subscribers’ locations, and we never collect a street address.

Submit Story form. For a writer 12 or younger, we collect: a parent’s first name and email, the child’s first name, the child’s age, country, city and state or region, the story title, and the story file (PDF, DOCX, or TXT). An illustration is optional. For a writer 13 to 18, we collect the same writing-related fields plus the writer’s own email and a parent’s email.

Sponsor Inquiry form. For adults inquiring about sponsorship: name, organization, email, tier interest, and message. Phone, role, and how-you-heard-about-us are optional.

Data Request form. For someone exercising privacy rights: name, email, the email used to enroll, the request type, and (for parents) the child’s first name.

School Setup form. For educators: educator name, role, school name and location, email, and optional phone. We do not collect any student names or student information through this form. Each student writer must be enrolled separately by a parent.

What we deliberately do not collect. We do not collect photos of children, audio recordings of children, video of children, full street addresses, last names of writers under 13, school names tied to individual writers, social security numbers, government ID numbers, biometric information, or precise geolocation. If we ever change this, we will update this policy and ask parents for new permission first.

Why we collect it

We use the information for the purpose that prompted you to give it to us, and nothing else.

  • Parent and writer email — to send the contest emails you signed up for, to send a parent the direct-notice permission email for writers under 13, and to write back about a submitted story.
  • First name, age, country, city/state — to identify writers in our records, place them in the right age category, and (for finalists) credit them on the published story after a parent gives separate publication permission.
  • Story file and optional illustration — to share with judges and, for finalists, to publish on taradiddle.org with the parent’s separate written permission.
  • Country, state or region, and (optionally) city — to understand where Taradiddle writers come from. We may eventually display an aggregated map of writer locations, but we will never plot, publish, or share an individual under-13 writer’s location.
  • Sponsor and educator contact details — to follow up about sponsorship or school programs.
  • Data Request information — to verify the requester and act on the request.

We do not use any of this information for advertising. We do not profile children. We do not build a marketing audience from young writers.

How long we keep things

We keep information only as long as we need it.

  • Subscribers under 13 with no parent confirmation — deleted thirty days after signup if the parent has not replied to the direct-notice email.
  • Confirmed subscribers — kept while you are subscribed. Unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in any email; we delete subscriber records within thirty days of unsubscribe.
  • Submitted stories and illustrations — stories are works of authorship and we keep them in our records indefinitely so we can credit, reference, and (with permission) republish finalists in future anthologies. A parent or adult writer can ask us to delete a stored story at any time, and we will.
  • Published finalist stories on taradiddle.org — remain online until the parent (for under-13 writers) or the writer (for 18+) asks us to take them down.
  • Sponsor and educator contact records — kept for three years from the last contact, then deleted.
  • Data request audit log — kept for seven years so we can prove we honored the request, then deleted. The log includes the request type, dates, and our response, but not the underlying child’s information once that information has been deleted.
  • Email correspondence — kept for one year, then deleted.

Who we share it with

We share information with a small number of service providers who help us operate the program. Each is bound by contract to keep the information confidential and to use it only for the purpose we hired them for.

  • Our managed hosting provider stores the website and form entries.
  • Gravity Forms entry storage holds form submissions inside our WordPress site.
  • Our mailing list provider sends the emails you subscribed to. We will name this provider here once it is selected and the data-processing agreement is in place.

We share information outside that list only when we are legally required to — for example, in response to a valid court order. We will tell affected parents before we comply unless the law forbids it.

We do not sell, rent, or trade information about young writers, ever. We do not share it with advertisers, data brokers, or analytics companies that build profiles. We do not allow third-party advertising trackers on this site.

Children under 13 — parental consent and rights

This is the most important section. The U.S. Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) protects children under 13. We follow it.

How permission works. When a parent signs up a writer who is 12 or younger, we send a direct-notice email to the parent. The email lists exactly what we want to collect, what we will use it for, what we will not do with it, and how to withdraw permission. The parent gives consent by replying to that email with the words “I give permission” and their full name. If we do not hear back within thirty days, we delete the signup and the parent’s contact information.

What that permission covers. Your reply gives us permission to collect the information listed in the direct-notice email and to use it for the purposes listed there. It does not give us permission to publish your child’s story, name, or city. If your child is selected as a finalist, we will email you separately and ask for a second, specific permission for publication. You can say yes to some pieces and no to others — for instance, yes to publishing the story under a first name only, no to publishing the city.

Your rights as a parent. At any time, you can:

  • Review what we have collected from your child.
  • Correct or update any of it.
  • Delete all of it.
  • Withdraw consent and stop further collection.
  • Take down a published story from taradiddle.org.

To exercise any of these rights, fill out the form at /data-request/ or email privacy@guardianwhiskers.org. Include your child’s first name and the email you used to enroll. We will reply to the email on file to verify it is you, then complete the request within thirty days.

If you believe we are not following COPPA, you can also file a complaint with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission at reportfraud.ftc.gov or ftc.gov/coppa.

Teen writers (13 to 18)

Writers 13 and older can sign up and submit stories themselves. COPPA does not require parental consent for this age group, but we still ask for a parent or guardian email so we can send a courtesy notice when a teen subscribes or submits, and so we can ask a parent for publication permission if the teen becomes a finalist.

If you are a teen writer, you have the same rights as a parent does for a younger writer: you can ask us to review, correct, delete, or take down your information at any time. Use the form at /data-request/ or email privacy@guardianwhiskers.org.

Security

We protect the information you give us with concrete safeguards.

  • The whole site runs over HTTPS.
  • Our admin accounts (WordPress, email, mailing list) require multi-factor authentication.
  • Access to children’s information is limited to the small number of people who need it to run the program.
  • We maintain a written information security program, signed by our Executive Director, that names risks, names safeguards, and is reviewed every year and after any change to our systems or vendors.
  • We do not store payment card information on Taradiddle servers. Sponsorship payments are handled by a separate payment provider, which we will name here once selected.

No system is perfectly secure. If we ever discover a breach affecting children’s information, we will notify affected parents directly and promptly.

International writers

Taradiddle welcomes writers from anywhere in the world, and our records are stored on servers in the United States. If you are signing up from outside the U.S., your information will be transferred to and processed in the United States.

If you live in the United Kingdom, the European Union, Canada, India, Australia, or another country with its own children’s privacy laws, those laws may give you additional rights beyond what COPPA provides. We follow COPPA-grade protections for every writer, regardless of country, and we encourage parents outside the U.S. to consult their local privacy authority for any questions about local rights.

Cookies and analytics

We keep this site quiet. The form pages on taradiddle.org do not run behavioral advertising trackers, social-media pixels, or analytics tools that build profiles of visitors. We use only the minimum cookies required to keep WordPress and the forms working — for example, a cookie that remembers a form was submitted so you don’t accidentally submit it twice.

We currently load typography from Google Fonts via Google’s content delivery network. Google may receive your IP address when fonts load. We are exploring possibility of self-hosting our fonts to remove this dependency, and we will update this section if that change is made.

How we tell you when this changes

When we make a meaningful change to this policy, we will:

  • Email everyone on the mailing list at least thirty days before the change takes effect.
  • Display a banner on taradiddle.org for thirty days announcing the change.
  • Add a new entry to the change log at the bottom of this page.

For changes that affect how we use or share children’s information, we will ask parents for new permission before the change takes effect.

How to contact us

For privacy questions, corrections, or deletion requests:

If you would like to file a complaint with a U.S. regulator, the Federal Trade Commission accepts COPPA complaints at ftc.gov/coppa and reportfraud.ftc.gov.

Change log

  • April 25, 2026 — Initial policy published.