Judges meet to select winners

There were David and Goliath stand-offs and battles of the Titans at this year's Optician Awards judging which took place last Friday.

Around 30 optical luminaries met at Optician's Sutton offices to deliberate over the 40 or so shortlisted companies and they certainly had their work cut out. Focus Optical, an independent laboratory that has been offering high quality glazing and prescription services since 2000 from its Redhill base, took on the likes of Essilor and Rodenstock in the Optical Supplier of the Year Award sponsored by Sight Care. This typified the kind of clash seen for all 15 Award categories.

Elsewhere, such as in the Multiple Practice of the Year Award, judges were faced with hyper-professional entries from the likes of Boots Opticians and Specsavers giving their takes on high street optical retailing.