Submission rules

We're excited that you're choosing to participate in this global celebration of independent perfume. Whether you are a finalist or not, whether you win or not, you’re part of a movement that is impacting perfumery as a whole. For that, we salute you. 

Please take a moment to read through this important information about submitting.

Submissions for the 11th edition of the Art and Olfaction Awards will open in October, 2024, and the online submission form closes on December 6, 2024, at 11:59pm PST. 

The Art and Olfaction Award is handed out in  several categories.  

These categories are judged in a double-blind  mechanism by a pool of independent jurors: 

- Art and Olfaction Award for Independent Perfume: Learn more

- Art and Olfaction Award for Artisan Perfume: Learn more

- Art and Olfaction Newcomer Award: Learn more

Due to the nature of exerimental work, and the need for contextualizing images and documents, this category is not judged blindly:

- Art and Olfaction Award for Experimental Work with Scent: Learn more

Additionally, we award several awards that are decided by separate juries, specific to each award. 

- Art and Olfaction Visionary Award: Learn more

- Contribution to Scent Culture Award: Learn more

Submission fees are in USD, and cover our substantial administration costs, submission preparation costs, storage costs, transportation costs, and the production of the award event itself. We are a non-profit organization and we rely on these fees to run this mechanism. 

 While we try to keep our fees to their minimum possible cost, we understand that this may still present a substantial expense for some people. Please email us at hello[@]artandolfaction.com if you are experiencing financial hardship due to political instability or illness. 

Submission fees are as follows:

Submission to the Artisan and Independent Award categories: $90.00 per perfume submitted

Submission to the Newcomers Award: Cost of submission for Artisan and Independent award categories, with an additional $20.00 fee

Submission to the Experimental Award category: $35.00 per project submitted

There is no submission fee for the Art and Olfaction Award for Exceptional Vision, or the Contribution to Scent Culture Award: these awards are discretionary, and do not accept submissions. 

Submitting to the Art and Olfaction Awards is a simple process.

STEP 1. Visit our submissions website and select the category in which you want to submit.
STEP 2. Fill out the short online application form on Submittable and pay the fee(s).
STEP 3. Look out for instructions from Submittable.com in your email inbox.
STEP 4. Follow the instructions and send a sample of the perfume in the mail. 

SENDING SAMPLES

Once you submit your online form, you will receive an email with instructions about where to send your physical submission in the mail. If you do not see this within 24 hours, please check spam! Also, we strongly recommend that you do not delay sending in the sample. 

Samples received after Dec. 20, 2024 will be disqualified without reimbursement. 

Artisan, Independent Categories: We require a minimum of 25ml of each perfume. This amount ensures that we will have sufficient quantity to decant and send to the judges, who are located around the world.

Newcomer Award: If you are submitting to the Newcomer Award, we require an additional 10ml of the submitted perfume, above and beyond the 25ml required for artisan and independent. 

Experimental Category: We require a minimum of 25ml per scent submitted. However, we can make special dispensations when the scent component is not in perfume form, or where there was too small a quantity made. If the project contained multiple scent components, we accept up to four scent samples per project submitted. Email us (hello@artandolfaction.com) if this is the case, and we’ll find the right solution.

We accept submissions from independent and artisan perfumers, and experimental practitioners with scent from all countries. 
The company producing the perfume must be either privately-owned, or owned by another privately-owned company with five or less fine fragrance holdings in its brand portfolio.

We do not accept submissions from:

• People employed directly by the Institute for Art and Olfaction (e.g. administrators)
• The IAO board of directors or their direct family members
• The judges selected for the edition of the Art and Olfaction Awards 
• Fiscal sponsors of the Art and Olfaction Awards
• Companies owned by a parent company with more than five fine fragrance holdings in its brand portfolio.

We also do not accept submissions that fall outside fine fragrance or experimental work with scent, including functional fragrance (e.g. lotion, shampoo) or environmental fragrance (e.g. candle, room spray, car scent).

For the 11th awards, we will be accepting submissions that were first made available for sale or exhibited to the public between the dates of Jan 1, 2024 and Dec 31, 2024. 

We do not accept reformulations or re-releases of existing scents that were released to market prior to January 1, 2024 under the same name, by the same company, and in the same or a related form (eg EdP, EdT, etc.). 

Please review our FAQ section  for more information.

There is a maximum amount of 3 (three) entries per perfume brand. 


Submissions that do not comply with the criteria defined herein shall be deemed as void and disqualified at the Institute for Art and Olfaction’s sole discretion, without refund. 

For this reason, we encourage you to please take a moment to email us at hello@artandolfaction.com if you have any questions!

All submissions are subject to the terms and conditions, which you must review before submitting.

By participating in the Art and Olfaction Awards (“Contest”), entrants agree to be bound by both the Official Rules of Entry, including all eligibility requirements and IAO's decisions, which are final and binding in all matters related to this Contest, and these Terms and Conditions.  Hereafter, the Rules of Entry and these Legal Terms & Conditions shall be referred to collectively as, the “Rules.”

Entrants agree to abide by the terms of the Rules and the decisions of the Judges, which are final, and waive any right to claim ambiguity in the Rules. 

Except where prohibited, participation in the Contest constitutes finalists' and winner’s consent to IAO’s and its agents’ use of finalists' and winner’s name, likeness, photograph, voice, opinions and/or hometown and state or country for promotional purposes in perpetuity in any media now known or hereafter developed, worldwide, without further payment or consideration.

IAO reserves the right to cancel, suspend and/or modify the Contest, or any part of it, if any fraud, technical failures or any other factor beyond IAO’s reasonable control impairs the integrity or proper functioning of the Contest, as determined by IAO in its sole discretion. IAO reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to disqualify any individual who tampers with the entry process or the operation of the Contest or acts in violation of the Rules, or in an unsportsmanlike or disruptive manner. Any Entrant who has been disqualified from an IAO Contest may be rejected by IAO as an Entrant in any future Contest, such decision shall rest solely with IAO. Any attempt by any person to deliberately undermine the legitimate operation of the IAO and/or the Contest may be a violation of criminal and/or civil law, and, should such an attempt be made, IAO reserves the right to seek appropriate remedies from any such person to the fullest extent permitted by law. IAO’s failure to enforce any term of these Official Rules on any one occasion shall not constitute a waiver of that provision on any other occasion. These Rules may be modified at any time by an amendment by IAO and notification shall be by publishing such modified Rules online on the IAO website.

The construction, validity, interpretation and enforceability of the Rules, or the rights and obligations of the entrant and IAO in connection with the Contest, shall be governed by, and construed in accordance with, the laws of the State of California as applied to agreements made, entered into and performed solely in California by California residents, notwithstanding the actual residence of any party.  Except where prohibited, entrant agrees that any and all disputes, claims and causes of action arising out of or connected with this Contest, the Rules, or any prize awarded shall be resolved individually, without resort to any form of class action, and exclusively by the appropriate California State Court or Federal Court located in Los Angeles County, California.

Notwithstanding anything contained in this Agreement to the contrary, in the event of a dispute arising from or in connection with this Agreement, the parties agree to negotiate in good faith a settlement to their dispute for a period of no fewer 60 days: any settlement shall be reduced to a writing signed by both parties. Each party (i) agrees that any litigation, action or proceeding arising out of or relating to this Agreement shall be instituted by such party in the United States District Court for the Central District of California or any California State court sitting in Los Angeles County; (ii) waives any objection which it might have now or hereafter to the venue of any such litigation, action or proceeding; (iii) irrevocably submits to the jurisdiction of any such court in any such litigation, action or proceeding; and (iv) waives any claim or defense of inconvenient forum. The parties agree that the court shall have the right but not the obligation to award to the prevailing party in any action arising from, or related to, this Agreement, reimbursement for reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs. This Agreement (including all exhibits attached hereto, which are incorporated herein by reference) constitutes the entire agreement between the parties and all prior understandings, proposals, and agreements are merged herein.

By entering the Contest, entrant agrees to release and hold harmless IAO and the Contest judges, and each of their respective affiliates and parent companies (“Affiliates”) as well as each of the IAO’s, Judges’ and Affiliates’ officers, directors, members, advisors, partners, employees and agents (collectively, the “Released Parties”) from and against any and all claims, demands, debts, damages, actions or cause of action of any nature or kind arising out of entrant’s preparation to enter and entry  into the Contest however arising and under any theory of liability including, by way of example and without limitation, any injuries that the Contestant may suffer or sustain as the result of: (i) exposure to any constituent ingredients of fragrance (“Ingredients”); (ii) the development or creation of any project intended for submission to the Contest; (iii) the misuse, illegal use, or negligent use of Ingredients, or (iv) the Contestant’s design, development or construction of any art project intended for submission to the Contest.

To the extent permitted by applicable law: (A) any and all claims, judgments and awards against the Released Parties shall be limited, in the aggregate, to the entrant’s Contest entry fees actually paid; and (B)  under no circumstances will the Released Parties be liable to the entrant for, and entrant hereby waives all rights to claim, any and all special, indirect, punitive, incidental and consequential damages or any other damages in connection with the conduct of the Contest or the Rules, however arising and under any theory of liability, and any and all rights to have damages multiplied or otherwise increased.  Without limiting the foregoing, to the extent permitted by applicable law, the Released Parties are not responsible for: (1) any incorrect or inaccurate information, whether caused by entrants, printing errors, or by any of the equipment or programming associated with or utilized in the Contest; (2) technical failures of any kind, including, but not limited to malfunctions, interruptions, or disconnections in phone lines or network hardware or software; (3) unauthorized human intervention in any part of the entry process or the Contest; (4) technical or human error which may occur in the administration of the Contest or the processing of entries; (5) late, lost, undeliverable, damaged or stolen mail or submissions; or (6) or any injury or damage to entrant which may be caused, directly or indirectly, in whole or in part, from entrant’s participation in the Contest. If for any reason an entrant’s entry is confirmed to have been erroneously deleted, lost, or otherwise destroyed or corrupted by IAO, entrant’s sole remedy is a refund of the entrant’s Contest entry fees.  No more than the stated number of prizes will be awarded annually.  

All entrants hereby indemnify, defend and hold the Released Parties harmless against any and all actions, causes of action, in law, equity or otherwise, and any loss, damage, cost or expense suffered by the Released Parties, in relation to: (1) any breach of the Rules by entrant; (2) any threat, claim, actions, causes of action, demands or proceeding by a 3rd party that the entrant’s Submission infringes, or may infringe, the rights, including, without limitation, intellectual property rights, of a 3rd party; or (3) their participation in the Contest, or the announcement and/or determination of finalists, winners or receipt of any awards.

The Art and Olfaction Awards are a skills and talent-based competition, with award winners selected by qualified judges.

The Art and Olfaction Awards seek to bestow public recognition to award winners.  No cash prizes or any other prizes having monetary value are awarded.  IAO makes no representations or warranties of any kind with respect to the effect or impact that entry in the Contest or the granting of an award may have on an entrant’s career or livelihood.

If there are any questions at all, email us at hello@artandolfaction.com BEFORE you submit, and we'll endeavor to clarify.