Background Information

The Jasmine Awards were created in France and launched in the UK in 1990. The first Jasmine Awards ceremony under the Chairmanship of Julian Greenway, Managing Director of Guerlain, saw an audience of around 50 and was held in Mosimanns Club, Belgravia. There were just two prizes – a Jasmine Literary Award and a Jasmine Visual Award. The winners were rewarded with a bespoke designer gift and a cheque for £2,000 each. 
In 2010 the administration of The Jasmine Awards was taken over by The Fragrance Foundation. Today there are nine award categories, with all prize-winners receiving a crystal trophy and a cheque.
The Awards are now recognised as the most prestigious journalistic awards in the beauty industry.  They recognise and reward the talents of journalists and visualisers whose difficult task it is to translate the complex art of perfumery into words and pictures. 

A new panel of judges is recruited annually. The panel of six includes a leading retailer, at least one designer, and writers - either journalist or author, or a representative of the publishing world.
The judging panel meet at a lunch in London in October when their role and the scoring process are explained to them.  They are asked to read a large quantity of articles solely on the subject of fragrance published between 1st January and 31st December each year. These articles are sent to judges mid-December. They are asked to complete a score sheet for each and return them to the Jasmine Awards Office, where a shortlist is compiled.  The shortlisted articles for each Awards category are re-presented to the judging panel for final assessment shortly before the awards ceremony and only at this point are the final winners chosen. 

At the annual Jasmine Awards ceremony the perfume industry shows its appreciation to the Beauty press for the efforts it has made to acquire and communicate this specialist knowledge and each of the judges is invited to present one of the prizes.  The 2011 Jasmine Awards will take place on 8th February 2012.  The venue will again be BAFTA, 195 Piccadilly, London W1.

The Fragrance Foundation on behalf of the Jasmine Awards also organise training days to assist beauty journalists in learning more about the fascinating subject of fragrance.

Further information from the Jasmine Awards Organiser – Elizabeth Higgins – Tel: 01798 861934, e-mail: liz@blue-inc.co.uk