Opening a competition page while you are signed in is what puts you on that competition's reminder list. Bookmarking it or liking it does exactly the same thing. From that point the competition can send you a small, fixed set of emails, and there are two ways to end them: register an entry, or turn off the Competition Newsletters list.
A signed-in visit counts as interest
Three signals build the audience for a competition's reminder mail, and they are treated identically: you bookmarked it, you liked it, or you opened its page while signed in. A visit made while signed out records nothing against your account.
Anyone who already has an entry is removed from that audience, so these particular emails only ever reach people who looked and did not enter.
A competition you never enter has seven reminders, then nothing
Each one is sent once, and each is tied to that single competition:
- Two follow-ups after your visit, 3 days and 7 days later. Both are skipped if registration has already closed.
- One halfway note, fired when the registration window is about half elapsed.
- Four registration-closing reminders, at 30 days, 7 days, 48 hours and 12 hours before registration closes.
There is no rolling schedule after that. Bookmarking or opening a second competition starts a separate set for that competition, which is usually what "I keep getting emails" turns out to be.
Registering swaps one set of emails for another
Once you hold an entry the interested-list mail stops and the entrant mail begins: a follow-up a day or two after you register if nothing is attached to the entry yet, submission-deadline reminders at 30 days, 7 days, 48 hours and 12 hours, a warning at 48 and 12 hours if your project is still a draft, a notice when public voting opens, and voting reminders at 7 days and 48 hours before voting closes.
Your entry's outcome mail, meaning approval, shortlist and results, is separate again and arrives when the organizer publishes each stage.
The unsubscribe link turns off one list, not all mail
Every reminder carries an unsubscribe link at the foot, and Gmail and Outlook surface their own Unsubscribe button beside the subject line for the same messages. Both go to the same place.
- It switches off exactly one list: the one that message belongs to. For competition reminders that list is Competition Newsletters.
- It works without signing in, and it does not expire.
- It leaves project, journal, publication, promotional and product-update mail alone. Those are separate lists with their own links.
The same switch sits at uni.xyz/accounts/settings/notifications under Competition Newsletters. Using the link and using the toggle have the same effect, and either one also stops the matching entries in your notification bell, not just the email.
Two things the switch does not currently stop
Turning off Competition Newsletters ends every reminder listed above with two exceptions, and both only apply once you have registered an entry.
- Submission-deadline reminders. This one stream does not read your preference correctly, so it keeps sending after you have opted out. There is no setting that silences it today. Contact support and ask to be removed from competition deadline reminders, and it will be done by hand.
- Outcome mail about your own entry, meaning the approval, shortlist and results announcements. These reach entrants regardless of the switch, because they carry a decision about work you submitted.
If you have no entry in the competition, neither exception can reach you and the switch is enough on its own.