First …
1/ Read and fully understand the Criteria & Rules and the FAQs.
2/ Consider the Categories you wish to enter, and check that the products you would like to enter meet our Criteria. If you are unsure, please email Alex.
3/ Entry fees are £160 + VAT per product for most brands.
4/ Small skincare brands which have fewer than three individuals in employment across the whole company (owners included, both home and overseas, if applicable) are entitled to a subsidised entry fee of £120 + VAT per product. (We may ask to see evidence in support of reduced entry fee claim.) (The condition applies to the cosmetic brand, not any sales representative, PR or agent applying on the brand’s behalf.)
5/ For all brands, small or large, a 10% discount applies for entries paid by 24th March 2019. (That is, £144 + VAT, and £108 + VAT, respectively.)
6/ Final deadline is 26th April 2019.
Entering …
1/ Once you have decided on how many products you wish to enter, purchase the appropriate number at our Online Shop, which opens on 1st March 2019. If you wish to enter one product into multiple categories, an entry must be purchased for each.
2/ Once you have paid, you will be sent an order confirmation / receipt, and a link to complete your entry forms online.
3/ Complete the Company Entrant Form.
4/ Complete the Product Entry Form(s) for the product(s) you are entering. Complete one form for each product in each category.
5/ Save as you go along, and only ‘Submit’ once you are done. Forms cannot be edited once they are submitted.
6/ Then, wait for us to respond. You will be contacted within 48 hours and requested to send six samples within one week. Do not send samples until we ask you to do so, as in the event of a problem they cannot be returned. If you don’t hear from us within a week, contact us.
What next?
1/ When we accept your entries we will give you instructions for sending us samples — six samples of each product entered in each category will be required. Samples must be in the size specified on the entry form, and be products as they are sold to the purchasing consumer. Pre-trade / single-use / mock-up samples are not acceptable.
2/ Do not send extra information with your samples: promotional catalogues, fliers and leaflets, for example, are not accepted and will be recycled. If in exceptional cases some essential information must be sent on a separate piece of paper (for instance, listing the product’s ingredients or particular instructions) please attach this to each sample in some form (ie with an elastic band, or wrap the whole ‘package’ in bubble wrap).
3/ We will send you an Entrant Logo which you are free to use on social media to denote your participation in the Awards.
4/ We will welcome you on social media channels. (Our hashtag is #FFSA19.)
5/ Once received, your samples will be sent out to experienced testers to begin the judging process in earnest. To learn more about judging, click here.
Then what?
1/ Once all products from all entrants have been tested by four testers for one month, all their feedback and scores will be collated and a Shortlist compiled.
2/ Shortlisted products are presented to independent round-table panels of judges consisting of cosmetic formulators, beauty writers, skincare experts, allergy bloggers, ‘free from’ experts and other cosmetics consumers for further assessment, in early June, during which all winners and runners-up are decided.
3/ The Shortlist will be announced in early June, and shared widely on social media. We will write to all successful and unsuccessful entrants, and send a Shortlisted Logo to all shortlisted brands. Entrants who do not hear from us by mid-June, must contact us directly.
4/ Winners will be announced online in late June 2019 (date tbc), and showcased widely on our websites and social media channels.
And after the announcements?
1/ In early July, we will email Winners Logos to all winning brands.
2/ We will mail winners’ certificates to all ‘medallists’ and the Overall Winner will receive the trophy for best Free From Skincare Product 2019.
3/ We will issue press releases about the Awards / the winners, and encourage all winners to participate in publicity regarding their win. (For previous press coverage, see here.)
4/ We will share news and winners on all our social media channels, and showcase a large selection of products and brands across our websites and accounts.
5/ Detailed testers’ / judges’ feedback on products will be available on request in the weeks after the award.