One of the most common responses from past winners of an Optician Award is: ‘I didn’t think people like me could win’. The good news is that what you consider doing the right thing, caring for your patients, going the extra mile and just being a good professional often is more impressive than you think. Many good practices just do not realise how good they are and the Optician Awards provide an opportunity for the unsung heroes of the optical profession to be recognised and rewarded.
The run up to Christmas provides an ideal opportunity to start thinking about getting involved. Your first port of call on an Optician Awards journey should be looking at the categories. Optician keeps the Optician Awards fresh by constantly changing the categories to keep up with current thinking and picking up on the zeitgeist of retail optics. For 2019 alongside the perennial favourites you will find the Frame Stylist of the Year sponsored by Transitions (see opposite) and the Low Vision Award. Look at the selection of categories on offer and think about the ones that align with your strengths rather than selecting the Optician Award you would most like to win.
Once you have selected the Awards you want to enter read through the criteria to double check that it fits in with the things about your practice that make you most proud. Make a note of the criteria outlined in the category description and write these down as bullet points and keep them with your throughout the process.
The Optician Awards cover a very wide spread of optical practice, professional activity and product areas so there will always be some variation in the best way to approach each one. If an award has a particular entry requirement, such as the Frame Stylist of the Year sponsored by Transitions, you must stick to them. Most of the categories ask for an entry of no more than 1,000 words plus supporting materials, the limits on sizes for these can be found at www.opticianawards.co.uk. When putting your entry together it is always worth bearing in mind how the entries are judged. For each of the Optician Awards a panel of four judges is brought together. This panel will generally judge two categories on a single judging day shortly after the entry deadline of January 14.
The judges will have online access to the entries before the judging day itself but it is easy to imagine the volume of material they will have to study. It is imperative all of the material provided with any entry is relevant and concise. Don’t be tempted to include presentations, brochures, entries to other awards or information leaflets unless they are pertinent to your entry. Use those vital bullet points to get across why your practice excels, don’t be tempted to describe what an optical practices does on a daily basis – the judges already know.
The judges are only human and they will read every entry. In your entry stick to the entry criteria provided on www.optician-awards.co.uk. The judges will also use this criteria when making their decisions.
By definition Optician Award winners will be busy practices so think about how your entry will be put together. Some categories will need input from the wider team such as the Independent Practice of the Year sponsored by Hoya, the Optical Assistant Team Award or the Family Practice of the Year. Individual Awards will be about one person such as the Dispensing Optician of the Year sponsored by Asda, the Contact Lens Practitioner of the Year sponsored by Johnson and Johnson or the Optometrist of the Year sponsored by CooperVision. For team and practice awards make sure everyone has their say. Gather the team together and explain that you are entering the Optician Awards. Get them fired up about it and perhaps promise a trip to the event for the whole team if you are shortlisted. The fact that the practice principals want to enter the awards is recognition in itself that the team is special.
Entering by committee is not a good idea. Use that initial meeting to see if someone naturally steps forward to lead the process. Perhaps there is someone on the team who has a good way with words or someone who is good at getting information out of others? If there is a team member who is super-keen to get involved with the Optician Awards make it possible for them. Could they be your Awards champion? Specialist categories such as the Practice Growth Award sponsored by AEL Markhams or the Technology Practice of the Year must include the thoughts of the most involved person in the practice.
Get the wider group to agree on the strengths the entry should highlight, monitor how the entry is being put together as the deadline approaches. When it is complete review it through the team and the practice principals.
Individual awards can be completed by the entrant or a colleague and while the entry should be about the individual input from the wider team and patients is useful. Don’t be shy, it may sometimes sound boastful explaining excellent work but put it in. If you have been praised by patients or peers include it.
If you have thought about entering in the past but put it off why not make 2019 the year to try? You have got to be in it to win it. Good luck.
Frame stylist of the year entry tips
