HOW WE JUDGE
Our Judges
The first step to a fair judging process is selecting thoughtful people to judge, who bring a unique perspective and experience to the job. This is a voluntary endeavor that is engaged with as a service to the community. Judges are not renumerated for their time.
We ask each judge to sign off on our code of ethics, which states the principles of how we run the awards.
Please respect our judges' time and privacy—and the integrity of the awards—by refraining from contacting the judges about your submission.
Judging the Artisan and Independent Categories
The artisan and independent categories are judged blindly in three rounds.
Preliminary Round
In the preliminary round, the judges gather to assess their grouping of submissions. These are in blind vials, accompanied by an anonymized creative brief.
The judges have as many sessions as they need to adequately assess the samples, and are instructed to revisit each sample several times, including during the dry-down.
It’s hard work, but each judge pays particular attention to giving every submission an impartial assessment, according to our instructions. Each judge smells up to 150 perfumes, and all perfumes are assessed by at least 3 different judges.
Once all judges have assessed and scored the perfumes, their scores combine to produce the top fifty highest-scoring perfumes in each category (artisan and indie). These go on to our semi-finalist round.
Semi-Finalist Round
The top fifty scoring submissions in the artisan and independent categories are sent in anonymized vials (along with their creative briefs) to our semi-finalist judges, who assign them with a score. These scores are averaged to produce the five runner-ups and ten finalists in each category. These perfumes go on to the third and final round.
Finalist Round
For the finalist round, we send the ten finalists in each category in anonymized vials, along with their creative briefs. The finalist judges are asked to assign a score to each perfume. Their scores determine the two winners in each category.
Judging the Newcomer Award
The Newcomer Award has a separate jury. These judges are provided with the ten top qualifying fragrances from the preliminary round in the artisan and independent categories.
These submissions are sent to the judges in anonymized vials, and accompanied by the submission's creative brief.
Judging the Sadakichi Award for Experimental Work with Scent
The judging process for the Sadakichi Award is very similar to the artisan and independent categories, except that the judges are aware of the project name, and have the opportunity to view supporting materials—which often include images, video, or sound.
As with the other categories, the Sadakichi Award judges are asked to score the submissions numerically. These scores are averaged to provide a list of five finalists and one winner. If consensus is not clear, the judges convene for a discussion to establish the winner.