Ceremony on 6 December 2023 at The Hilton, Park Lane, London,

FAQS

Sponsorship

Q

Are there sponsorship opportunities?

There is the opportunity to sponsor the awards. For more information please contact:

Darren Ward
Sales Manager
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7501 6668
Email: darren.ward@markallengroup.com

For more information please visit our sponsorship page here: Click here

How to Enter

Q

What is the entry deadline?

We are officially closed for entries.
Q

Who can enter the awards?

Any organisations or individuals who meet our category criteria can enter the awards.

We only accept entries from UK and Ireland practices and professionals. However, we also accept entries from overseas companies that supply products to the UK market.
Q

How much does it cost to enter?

It is free to enter the Optician Awards.
Q

How many entries may I submit?

A practice can enter a maximum of THREE of the practice awards. This does not include the individual awards.
Q

Can I submit the same entry for a person/team/organisation that I have entered in previous years?

Entries for the same individuals/companies who have previously entered into the Optician Awards may be submitted for this year's awards, provided it can be evidenced that further improvements to performance have been achieved since the last submission.
Q

I'm trying to paste my answers from a Word document into the online entry portal, but I'm struggling to fit my answers into the word limit text boxes, what can I do?

If you are writing your entry on a separate Word document to paste them into our online entry portal, please do note the following:

MS Word and similar programs count words differently to the way that the World Wide Web counts them. For example, Word ignores bullet points but as far as the World Wide Web is concerned, they are words (one or more characters with a space either side). Therefore the MS Word word count cannot be relied on to accurately tell how many words you have written when it has been copied into our online entry portal. If you are experiencing issues with copying your text over, please delete any Word formatting, (e.g. bullet points) to see if that will resolve the issue. Otherwise, please feel free to contact our team for support.
Q

I'm having issues with using the online entry portal, what should I do?

If you are having any issues with using our online entry portal, please contact awardsteam@markallengroup.com and we will be happy to assist.
Q

What is the difference between the entry form and supporting material?

The main component of your entry is the entry document. All key information listed in the criteria for the category needs to be in the entry document and not in the supporting material.

Supporting material is optional and may be submitted in addition to the entry document. It should be used to illustrate/demonstrate what is already listed within the entry document. Whilst supporting material is important and helpful to the judges (particularly photos), we ask that you keep these documents relevant to the written element of your submission.

Please note that MA Healthcare will not be held accountable for loss or damage to supporting material in the physical form.
Q

Is there a limit on how much supporting material I can submit?

Our system only allows for a maximum of five files to be uploaded per entry. These file upload fields can be used to upload many different types of files, but it can only hold one document per file upload field.

Please ensure that you upload your company logo and an image to support your entry at a bare minimum.
Q

Can I cancel my entry after it has been submitted?

Once submitted, you are not able to go into our system to cancel your entry for our awards. If you wish to no longer be put forward for one of our categories, or if your circumstances have changed (e.g., change of jobs) that would make it inappropriate to continue with your application, please email awardsteam@markallengroup.com and we will be able to un-submit your entry for you.
Q

Can I submit an entry after the deadline has passed, and is there a fee for submitting a late entry?

Once the entry deadline has passed, in most cases we will not be able to accept late entries, unless there are extenuating circumstances.

Extenuating circumstances
These circumstances may occur if:

- You are very close to submitting your entry and you need a bit of extra time.
We will be able to judge if this applies if we can see that almost all of your entry has been filled out on our system. If this is the case, we will agree on the revised individual submission date, but in every case it will not be too long after the original submission date. If the revised submission date passes and we do not receive your entry, we will not be able to provide further support.

If you are only just starting your entry when the deadline passes, we will not be able to accept your late submission.

- You have a completed entry, but you have forgotten to complete the remaining steps to submit your application.
If your entry is completed but it is still in your basket or saved items on our system, these entries will not be officially submitted. You will not be able to submit an entry yourself on our system once the official deadline has passed. We will be able to support you if you alert us soon after the deadline has passed that your application has not been officially submitted. This must be sorted as soon as possible after the deadline has passed.

In both of these extenuating circumstances cases, please reach out to us on awardsteam@markallengroup.com and we will assist each entry on a case by case basis.

Fees will not incur for any entries received after the deadline has passed.

Judging

Q

Who are the judges?

The Optician Awards will be judged by a panel of experts specialising in different areas of optometry and the optical industry.
Q

What will our judges look for?

The aim of the Optician Awards is to recognise excellence, innovation and impact. The judges will be looking for examples of excellent projects, services, teams, and individuals. For the best chance of submitting a successful entry, it is best to be concise, clear and to the point in each answer to the entry questions.

The judges are mainly looking at your written answers to formulate their decisions. It is crucial to write all the relevant necessary information for them to be aware of within your submission. This is so that our judges have a full picture of the individual/team/organisation that is being put forward for one of our awards.

Results

Q

What happens after I have submitted my entries?

Once you have submitted your entries, they will be processed by the Awards Team ready for judging. Judging takes place in September and the shortlist will be announced shortly after.
Q

When will I know whether my company has been shortlisted?

The full shortlist will be published on this website in early October.
Q

When will I find out if my company has won?

The announcement of the winners will be made at the Optician Awards Ceremony at the The Hilton Hotel in London on Wednesday 6th December 2023.

The Ceremony

Q

When is the awards ceremony?

The Optician Awards 2023 ceremony will take place on Wednesday 6th December 2023 at The Hilton Hotel, 22 Park Ln, London W1K 1BE.
Q

How do I buy tickets for the ceremony?

Details as to how to secure your seats and tables will be published once the shortlist has been announced.
Q

How are the tables at the ceremony organised?

The room will be filled from the front with VIP's and sponsors. These guests will take the front rows, followed by the premium tables and then the standard tables.

Please note that any guests who purchase fewer than 10 seats will be placed with other groups to make up tables of 10 guests.
Q

What is your cancellation policy?

Please click here to read our terms and conditions.

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