Oooossshhhh at UK PMU Conference & Awards we love a hot topic!!! and discussions about awards in the PMU & SMP areas are hot to trot 🔥
The PMU industry can be an incredibly positive place to be - remember A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle #positivepmu
A well run awards is a glorious thing. It takes a LOT of organizing, is SUPER exciting and can be truly wondrous when done well. There’s lots and LOTS of well run awards, but sadly some that are not run so well….so how do you know the difference?
We really do pride ourselves at UK PMU Conference & Awards as being one of the ‘good guys’. We will never let cliques, friendship groups, sponsors or other outside influences rule us, or decide our winners! FACT!!!
🏆 Why enter awards?
Being an award winner isn’t the be all to end all, but winning (or even placing as a finalist) in a prestigious award like the UK PMU Awards is a brilliant way to encourage trust and credibility with your clientele. It’s a great way to showcase and prove your skill. It also confirms to you as an artist that you are on the right track (after all we’ve all had imposter syndrome?!). It’s a great way to be marketed for free with social media and press releases attached to our awards! Our past winners make up some great names in the industry! (It’s like like a hall of fame!, but with nitrile gloves!)
SO WHAT SHOULD YOU LOOK FOR IN A GOOD AWARDS AND WHY SHOULD YOU ENTER?…
Here’s the tea!
🏆 Awards not linked to sponsors:
Awards linked directly to sponsors mean there may be additional pressure for the event to merit artists associated with them. UK PMU Conference & Awards has sponsors to add value to our event and keep tickets affordable, BUT it doesn’t allow those sponsors to put forward their pro artists.
🏆 Have you actually entered?
Being a finalist for an award you’ve not entered - this just smells fishy right?! These kinds of events are often aimed at ticket sales only. You can pretty much bet if you are a finalist for an award you never entered that there’s an event company behind it just driving ticket sales. You will never find yourself nominated for an artist’s award at the UK PMU Conference & Awards if you have not entered.
🏆 Is there a public vote?
On the face of it, this sounds really ‘Independent’ but a public vote is just a popularity contest, which is totally open to abuse. Those entrants with more followers, bigger establishments or funds to run advertising or employ bots will undoubtedly win. It’s a pretty lazy way for organizers to run awards too as it doesn’t rely on any expertise. This is why we do not have a public voting element at the UK PMU Conference & Awards
🏆 Do they ask you to buy a table or ticket?
A good awards ceremony is pretty flat and boring without any finalists or winners in attendance, so most awards will insist on your attendance to be considered as a winner at the event. With some events, the more tickets you buy, the more chance you have of winning: The UK PMU Conference & Awards doesn’t offer trophies in return for ‘tables’. In fact we want all finalists to attend, so you’ll actually find us offering discounted rates to artists that have the skills to make it to the final stages. Those that can’t or don’t want to attend still retain their finalist status.
🏆 Is there a clear briefing about what judges are looking for?
There is no cloak and dagger about what you’ll be judged on with the UK PMU Conference & Awards. We believe that the UK PMU Conference and Awards has published its clearest guide yet for 2023 which you can view in full here
🏆 How much to win?
Some awards you can pay to win How mad is that!!! You can contact the UK PMU Conference and Awards and ask how much it will cost for you to win a category or several…. However, if you do this you’ll also be disqualified automatically ;D (If your Mum, Uncle Tony or pet goldfish asks on your behalf this still applies). Please do not approach us or the judges with bribes as disqualification often offends.
🏆 Are the awards anonymous?
To help remove bias, and potential for bribery it is essential that awards are judged anonymously. At the UK PMU Conference and Awards any images with logos or that Indicate the creator of the work is not allowed. Any personal statements that indicate where the person trained, or their name/business name will not be allowed. Mentions of affiliations to sponsors are also not allowed. Judges are given “codes” rather than names to mark. Our judges are given a list of entries where all names and identifying markers are removed and asked to rank these in order taking into consideration the elements in the brief.
🏆 Do the “big names” always win?
It can be tempting for some award events to favour artists with the biggest names and followings in the industry. This can get the event more recognition and greater reach. The UK PMU Conference and Awards are judged anonymously, so the judges do not know who the artists are. You will see from our previous array of winners and finalists that there is a good spread of known & unknown faces that have won our previous awards…. often it is the winning of the UK PMU Awards that has propelled them to be a better-known artist.
🏆 Is there an independent, unbiased judging panel?
Who is judging makes a difference, and some judges are offered financial incentives to vote in certain way. We choose judges at the UK PMU Conference & Awards for their integrity. Our judges are not paid, and volunteer their time to judge as they are passionate about the industry. Award sponsors are not included on the judging panel.
🏆 Does the event have a good reputation?
Trust - the UK PMU Conference & Awards is in its 6th year. We have always been seen to be upholding of industry standards. We are always happy to answer questions about voting and our processes and have made them as transparent as ever for 2023