Simon Jones: No pain, no gain

Judging the Optician Awards categories is an all-consuming process. For a busy editorial team and the network of industry experts, a panel discussion day in central London and countless hours reviewing entries beforehand is about as needed as a pair of Facebook smartglasses.

But that extra mile is what gives the Optician Awards its gravitas — its prestige. Far removed from online popularity contests and influencer judges, the process is deliberately old school, because that remains the fairest and most exacting way of deciding the winners. If you make it to the winner’s circle at the Optician Awards, you have well and truly earned it.