In the interest of clarity.
All applicants should note the judges briefing outlined below:
Awards Briefing for Panelists & Judges
The UK PMU Conference & Awards celebrate the talent, hard work and success of Permanent Makeup Artists and Cosmetic Tattoo Technicians who have excelled in producing consistently outstanding PMU treatments and setting high levels of service standards, whilst adhering to industry codes of conduct and safety in micropigmentation.
Winners hold their titles for 12 months. Should applicants be selected as a finalist, they must be able to potentially attend the gala dinner to receive their award. Tickets will be available at a heavily discounted rate for finalists allowing them to attend.
Terms and conditions apply to all applicants
Judging is a painstaking task over which good time must be spent. We are lucky that there are so many offerings of styles even within a single category. This can make deciding the winner difficult in some categories.
Each artist will have their own style/outcome even when applying for the same category, rarely you will be judging exactly the same techniques.
Entrants’ work will be judged on the following basis where applicable - symmetry, shape, colour/tone, end result & technical skill. This incorporates a number of elements detailed in full below.
Artists must use good techniques to complete the work, using the techniques asked for in the title of the category applied for.
This must be considered in light of all other factors in this document which make up the basis of a well-rounded competition.
There are a number of other factors to consider below. Your judging should be holistic and take into consideration all factors.
Should you wish to discuss any of these factors, or need guidance with judging please do get in touch.
Anonymous Entry
To help remove bias, and potential for bribery it is essential that awards are judged anonymously. Therefore, any images with logos or that Indicate the creator of the work is not allowed (we do our best to remove these, but any submitted accidentally please disregard)
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.
Those submissions where there is an indicator of the artist will have been removed from your list to judge.
You will be 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 this brief.
Please do not discuss this with other judges on the panel. Should there be a tiebreak, a group discussion will be the next step.
How To Rank
Please mark your spreadsheets with numbered rankings:
1 - Winner, 2 Runner Up and so on, in order of your preference. The lowest number is your favourite/winner, the largest number is the least favourite. We aim for more than one judge to access each category, so winners will be awarded on the average of their scores.
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As a judge please consider the following, in no particular order of preference:
Photography
Photography of work can make a big difference to the appearance of skill and outcome. Edited work is seen by many artists as an unrealistic portrayal of the real and raw results of day-to-day PMU. The industry is trying to resist the move toward this, as editing applications become more widespread and easy to use.
For these reasons pictures that appear to have been edited with Photoshop or other editing (lenses with soft focus/highlights/skin smoothing/detailing) are not preferred and should automatically attract lower marks/be downgraded. Higher points should be given to those submitting raw and unedited images.
Higher points should be allocated to those showing work in close-up, where the pictures are consistently lit and well-focused in all areas.
If the entire work can not be seen from the selection of pictures submitted, this would lead to lower pointing.
Hygiene
Beautiful work should also be safe. Consider use of makeup/concealers, makeup, ungloved hands on skin, and unsanitary items in the background as grounds for downgrading/disqualification.
Collages
Collages are not allowed, as it enables entrants to submit more work than the number of photos requested. These are also difficult to zoom in on the detail. Collages will usually be removed from your list to judge (medical may be the exception to this)
Style
Execution and diversity of style need to be considered. Where relevant, has the artist shown they can produce work with varying styles? EG: an artist showing more than just one technique should rank higher than one that submits just one style. EG: Someone that produces excellent work showing 3 differing kinds of brow styles or liners can possibly be considered more skilful than someone who just submits one style.
Skin
The variance of skin type can show additional skill. Different skin types with submissions should increase rankings.
The skin should show little to no trauma.
Young skins often show work in their best light, so try and see past factors of skin - where possible/relevant, has the artist submitted work on a range of skin types, not just young fresh skin.
Work carried out on more difficult skin types can attract a higher ranking.
Symmetry
Where symmetry is relevant this should be good. These entrants that show good symmetry with pictures should be ranked higher
Choice of colour
The choice of colour must be complimentary to the client, technique and skin type. Work that is overly dark/heavy or appears as though it may not age well should receive less ranking.
Saturation & Potential Ageing
Following on from colour choice, work must not be heavy or over-saturated. Additional points to be given to work which appears as though it will age well typically this is work which is lighter in saturation.
Healed Vs Fresh Work (Final Results)
Artists can choose to submit work that is healed or is fresh from the needle. We do not specify healed images as “after” images, but those that include healed images as their ‘after’ pictures should receive additional points as excellent results in not just fresh by healed work should be considered.
Personal preference
You can use your own personal discretion in your judging. This may be based as simply on the work which you prefer as a judge, or what you think other people may prefer.
Personal statement
Personal statements are a chance for applicants to make themselves stand out. They can shine a light on the personality behind an artist’s work…
Please take time to consider these as part of the process:
Examples of meeting and exceeding clients’ expectations
Examples of commitment to safety in micropigmentation
Examples of commitment to upholding accredited training standards
Examples of how you have used innovative practices to improve client outcomes or experience
Demonstrate commitment to CPD during the last 2 years
Consider any notable achievements or struggles
GDPR
We do not currently ask for applicants to have GDPR-compliant models. This is because some of their work may not be agreed to be shared by their models. Please do not share posts/photos outside of the judging panel unless you have express permission from the artist to do so, and their GDPR policy has been signed off by the event.
Confidentially
It is important for the allure of the events that applicants do not know which competitors are entering, or who are the winners/runners-up prior to the event. Please keep the details and names of any entrants that you may discover confidential.
WHAT WE REQUIRE FROM YOU AS A JUDGE - HONESTY. INTEGRITY. PASSION
Please take time and care to look through each of the applicant’s pictures in isolation. Please rank them based on the information that you have been given above.
We will then collate the information and produce a table with the overall winner, and 2 runners up to be awarded on the evening.
If there is a tiebreak, we may be back in touch to ask you to consider further details or collaborate with other judges to justify their decisions.
The organiser’s decision is final.
Any queries regarding submissions, rules, and T&Cs should be directed back to the organisers.