I will be honest I bin a lot of letters and delete a lot of emails that tell me I’m a finalist or winner. I’ve even had a letter recently informing me I’m a finalist for make-up artist of the 
year and barber of the year, but I don’t offer these services. That gives you an indication of how much thought goes into some of these awards.

Winning awards can and does change your business but with the sheer volume of them popping up its diluting the impact they have and honestly, I don’t think they count for much these days.
Over the past 10 year I have won over 30 awards and 15 lash placings and I still entering various ones to check out the process. My honest review? Very few have any substance or 
value.

My experiences … and I’m going to be totally transparent even though it will devalue some of my own awards.
One of my first wins was a double award and was a local one for my city centre, these awards ticked me off for years!! This is despite winning. Why? Because it was judged by one 
mystery shopper, so year in year out some under qualified person walked into my salon and judged all of my work on the one person she met at reception. They never tried a treatment, and they would mark me down each time for not closing a sale. 
This award skyrocketed my exposure so I can’t complain (too much) 

I’m sorry I’m going to upset a lot of people with this one, but these have as much substance as a chocolate fire guard.

I’ve attended this event a number of times when I first opened and actually loved the salon night out and an excuse to dress up, I really want it to be better.
Over the years I’ve heard various stories of people winning on votes alone, I know a few salons that had family members dish them around call centres to get more votes…. I’ve sat 
next to people who didn’t enter and found themselves invited (this happens to me a lot now) They do this to fill up the criteria’s. 
Many have told me they have sent in supporting evidence and it wasn’t opened.

I’ve sent them emails questioning the process and was informed that someone has to nominate you (I put my life savings down that nobody has nominated me, you ask people to 
do it) it then goes to the number of votes and if its tight it goes to supporting evidence.
I have sat at awards nights with some of the most talented people in the industry and watched them loose to someone who’s just started out and isn’t actually doing great work… because they got more votes. 

Each year and each version of these awards they run I find myself as a finalist and each year I ignore them. I get bombarded with emails and calls asking if I want to buy tickets..
The lack of research that is put in is demonstrated by where I find myself as a finalist. I am most known for lashes and I never find myself a finalist in this category, but they will shortlist me for make-up artist (which I haven’t done for years) 
There is no mention of judges or who decides to call someone English hair/therapist/nail tech etc of the year.
I strongly believe these types of awards have been one of the negative impacts on the industry. Handing out awards to people increases their exposure, the public think they have validation and look to them to lead.
I’m not saying some great people haven’t won these or other such awards, but I am saying the process is flawed and a massive money spinner.
The plus point… it’s a fancy night out

I’ve actually won quite a few of these, including overall winner but I don’t shout about it.
When these awards first started years ago, I liked them and it’s a shame they changed them. 
They asked for a range of evidence and seemed to do their research, although I did question how I could win massage therapist of the year when my work couldn’t be seen.
A couple of years ago they made it so that everyone who entered was a finalist and as a result a winner. This was just split into gold, silver, bronze, but as far as I know you always 
“won”. When this happened, I stopped entering, I really can’t bare the everyone wins mentality (I’m sorry, not sorry)

You pay to enter, or it may be pay to be a finalist I can’t remember, so I cringe every time I see someone proudly announce they are a finalist and thank whoever nominated them, 
because I know you entered yourself. There is nothing wrong with this, I do it, it’s good business. I just don’t thank the mystery person when you paid and been a finalist is a given 

I don’t think they declare the judges, well not that I’ve seen and they don’t state what the protocol is. 
Plus, points, you will always win.
I’m still keeping all mine!

I entered these awards because it was only cheap, and I knew I was going to be writing this 
article.
I think I entered 5 categories and I didn’t place in the 50 person placings (the shame)
From what I can see there was a judge for each category and call me bitter but it seemed to be based on Instagram exposure. I really messed up when I didn’t do a selfie with my finalist 
certificate and tag them lots. 
I’m not saying I should be placed but I will use lashes as an example, I’m a lash educator with placings and awards, I do safe, diverse lashes and I didn’t make the top 50 but a flick 
through the some of the placings and I saw a lot of work that would not have held up at competition level. I also didn’t see many of the UKs most popular lash artists in there or 
they came very low down the list. 
Again, this wasn’t everyone, but it seems very social media driven 

These awards are marketed around a very young attractive audience and really lack diversity.

I was over the moon to win my BABTAC award and it was a lovely, lovely evening.
BABTAC awards are very respected and the association themselves do so much for industry standards. 
For this award I submitted lots of evidence and once I was a finalist did a zoom meeting and skills check.

The only change I would make is to add more judges and insure they come from the part of the industry that are judging and speaking at events. I only entered the lash side so I’m not sure how the other categories were judged.
This was free to enter and I paid for my ticket, but it was so worth it, I was gutted when they removed the category this year 
One of my favourite awards

I have made finalist twice for therapist of the year and was so lucky to win educator of the year this year.
They are also my favourite awards and they are bloody hard to win!
To enter you have to submit quite a bit of evidence and I have never made it to any other category, despite entering various ones each year but this great because it keeps pushing 
me. 
For therapist of the year, I was invited to a trade test and that’s what makes this award the best! A number of judges watch you work, grade you and then interview you. 
My only critique of this that more value isn’t placed on the overall impact the therapists make, such as supporting other professionals, commitment to education and experience.
I think too much emphasis is placed on consultation process and been a “spa therapist” but I may be totally wrong here.

For educator of the year, I submitted lots of evidence and then had a zoom meeting with 4 industry experts and can’t fault the process, plus I won! Lol.
The only thing I did add as feedback is that they try to consider neurodiverse individuals. I have ADHD and find zoom meetings where I just talk hideous and I don’t give the best answers, partially because I forget what I’m asked. I was actually really surprised to find I won because I’m so bad at zoom meetings.

Everyone should enter these awards; they are free, and they will change your career

This first year this company started we won the area winning for salon of the year. It cost nothing to enter and we just paid to attend. 
The year after it switched to pay if you wanted to “claim your finalist position” 
This is a generalised award for various industries and there is no mention of who judges or how its judged.
I’ve had numerous letters off them over the years telling me I’m a finalist and in categories we don’t actually do treatments for, such as barbering, we don’t do this in the salon.
It’s expensive to enter with no substance