NB: Entry to the Free From Skincare Awards 2022 is now closed.
The information below will be updated ahead of the Free From Skincare Awards 2023.
If you are not already on our Awards mailing lists and wish to be added, please email Alex.
To find out about our entry process, read on …
First things first …
Read and understand our Criteria & Rules.
Choose the Categories and Special Awards you wish to enter, and check that the products you wish to enter meet our Criteria.
Understand the full Awards process — plus fees and key dates — outlined in points 1–6 below.
See our FAQs for answers to common questions — including what makes our awards different to other awards and what your chances of winning are.
1. Fees and key dates for 2022
a/ Entry opens 21st March 2022.
b/ Fees are as follows:
£170 or £136* — per product, per category.
£30 or £24* — per product, for optional additional participation in the Free From Achievement Award.
£30 or £24* — per brand, for optional additional participation in the Best Labelling Award.
No charge — for optional additional participation in the Best Free From Brand Award (minimum three product entries required).
10% overall discount — for ‘early bird’ entry (by 10th April 2022)
* Only brands with fewer than three individuals working across the brand and any parent company (owners included, both nationally and internationally, if applicable) qualify for the lower fees, which represent a 20% discount. (NB The condition applies to the cosmetic brand / parent company, and not to any PR, regional representative or independent agent entering the brand’s products. Two full-time individuals and one part-time individual is the maximum total accepted under ‘fewer than three individuals’)
c/ There are no additional fees at any later stage of the Awards: all the benefits of participation are included in these fees. (Although note samples requirements below.)
d/ VAT is not charged.
e/ Final deadline to enter is 3rd May 2022.
2. Entering the Awards
Once you have decided what to enter, go to our Online Entry Forms (now closed), and follow the instructions and guidance provided.
3. What happens after you submit entry forms?
a/ You should receive a confirmation of entry email. Do not send samples yet, as in the event of a problem they cannot be returned.
b/ We will check your entry forms for any possible issues: such as products entered into inappropriate categories, or ineligible products. While we endeavour to resolve any issues and make entrants aware of problems before we accept them, we remind entrants it is their responsibility to ensure submissions are accurate and to check whether there are problems that may disqualify them.
c/ We aim to confirm acceptance of your entries within a week, although due to a current office move / relocation, we may take a little longer.
d/ If you do not receive confirmation or acceptance within ten days, email us. If you don’t hear from us, try contacting us through one of our social media accounts, such as Twitter.
4. What about samples?
a/ When we confirm acceptance of your entries, we will email instructions for sending us samples — normally, six full-size units of each product in each category will be required. These must arrive from UK brands within 10 days of being requested — we will allow a week longer for deliveries from Ireland and continental Europe. Samples must be in the size specified on the entry form, and be products as sold to the purchasing consumer in the UK / EU. Pre-trade / tester / trial / mock-up samples cannot be accepted.
b/ In the case of one-time-use products only (eg bath bombs, sheet face masks), more than six samples will be required. The quantity is likely to be around twenty.
c/ We do NOT need extra samples for participation in the Free From Achievement Award, Free From Labelling Award nor Best Free From Brand Award.
d/ Entrants are wholly responsible for delivery fees to our UK address. Duties and taxes incurred because of shipment from outside UK must also be met entirely by the entrant. Please consider these fees before submitting entries. Please make it clear that your products are “samples NOT for resale“.
e/ We will send you an Entrant Logo which you are free to use on social media to share your participation in the Awards.
f/ In the following days or weeks, we will welcome you on at least two of our social media channels. (Our hashtag is #FFSA22)
5. What happens after we receive your samples?
a/ We will confirm their receipt, and begin to send them to our Testers. Four experienced testers, carefully chosen and matched with your products, will test your products for one month.
b/ Once the testing period is over, testers submit detailed feedback and scores to us. Once this is received for all entries, the data will be carefully collated and the List of Finalists compiled.
c/ The Finalists will be announced in June (date TBC), and shared widely on social media and to the press / beauty media. We will write to all successful and unsuccessful entrants, and send a Finalist Logo to the former. Entrants who do not hear from us at this time should contact us.
d/ Products which reach the final are presented to round-table panels of judges consisting of, for example, cosmetic formulators, beauty writers, skincare experts, allergy bloggers, ‘free from’ experts and selected brand owners, for further assessment during a dedicated judging week in May / June. The feedback from the Testers is presented to these judges, along with the products themselves, and this feedback is combined with the views of judges, in order to decide all winners and runners-up, with usually one Gold winner, several Silver and several Bronze in each category and special awards.
e/ To learn more about the testing and judging process, click here.
f/ Winners will be announced online in July 2022 (date TBC), and showcased widely on our websites and social media channels.
6. What happens after the announcements?
a/ Soon after the announcements, we will email Winners Logos to all winning brands.
b/ The Overall Winner will receive an Overall Winner or Champion logo.
c/ We will issue press releases about the results, and encourage all winners to participate in publicity regarding their win, which we will aim to support in any way we can. (For previous press coverage, see here.)
d/ We will share news and winners on our social media channels, and showcase a large selection of products and brands across our websites and accounts, and at any shows at which we will be exhibiting, such as The Allergy & Free From Show.
e/ Detailed testers’ feedback on products will be available on request in the weeks after the awards to all participants, whether or not they make the final, whether or not they win.