Get all the information you need on the annual competition led by the British Hallmarking Council to celebrate retailers raising the flag for hallmarking online.

By Rachael Taylor

Do you talk to your customers about hallmarking online? If so, I would encourage you to enter this year’s HALO Awards, a competition devised by the British Hallmarking Council to celebrate those raising awareness of hallmarking digitally.

As head judge of the HALO Awards 2024, let me take a moment to explain exactly what the Awards are. Let’s start with the title. The acronym stands for Hallmarking Awareness and Learning Online, and the Awards seeks to reward jewellers doing an extraordinary job of championing hallmarking online.

This will be the third year of the HALO Awards, and it has been incredibly interesting to see the entries that come in each year, and discover the different ways in which jewellers are educating their customers on hallmarking, and raising awareness of this 700-year-old practice.

Hallmarking is an incredible measure of consumer protection, but, personally, I see it as more than just an official stamp, or a bit of red tape to get through. I've always loved hallmarking from a storytelling perspective. Hallmarks not only tell us the fineness of metal, they are a celebration of craft, history, and legacy. They are a link to the past and the future, and this is why we are trying to encourage more conversations online about it.

*The winner of the HALO Awards 2024 will receive a silver salver to hold for one year.*

What is the prize?

As well as the general glory of being crowned winner, the champion of the HALO Awards 2024 will receive:

A magnificent silver salver, to be held for one year
A year’s subscription to the Assay Assured scheme
A visit to an Assay Office to learn about the hallmarking process
The use of a banner on the winner’s website and other marketing material proclaiming “Winner of HALO Award 2024 for online excellence in consumer protection”
Supporting press and PR

Is compliance with the hallmarking regulations enough for an entry?

Compliance with the law is a minimum requirement of entry for the HALO Awards, but we are looking for so much more. We are looking for entries from businesses that can show us flair, initiative, excitement. Businesses that are reviving and driving forward conversations around hallmarking, to engage customer bases and new generations.

This is another reason I’d advise everyone to enter the HALO Awards. I’m sure many of you will have seen the stories that have come out in the press over the past few months about Trading Standards looking more closely at jewellery retailers’ hallmarking practices, including my story for The Financial Times. Trading Standards is really cracking down on this – including how information about precious metals and hallmarking is presented online.

Entering can be a great exercise to find out if your business is meeting the minimum legal requirements. It has been surprising in previous years judging the HALO Awards to discover just how few of the entrants were fully compliant. If you want to make sure you are compliant, a great place to start is here.

Does my entry have to be about online activity only?

The ‘O’ of the HALO Awards is very important. While we would very much encourage any activities offline that raise the profile of hallmarking, these Awards are specifically looking at online efforts.

How you do that is totally up to you. We are happy to look at all digital efforts. It could be a podcast episode, a hilarious (but educational) Instagram reel, a competition, a marketing campaign. Anything that gets you and your customers fired up, and informed.

*Head judge Rachael Taylor officially launches the HALO Awards 2024 at the AGM of the National Association of Jewellers, held at the Tower of London.*

Does it matter what size of business I have?

We are open to entries from UK-based jewellery retail businesses big and small. The judging panel will take into account the size of the business when judging, giving consideration to how much budget or staff power you might have to allocate to this.

What are the judges looking for?

Creativity and passion, as well as impact – so do make sure to tell us how your initiatives are helping consumers, or raising awareness.

We are also looking to celebrate achievements from the past 12 months. If you have an incredible section of your site dedicated to hallmarking, we definitely applaud that, but if you haven’t updated it in five years, we’d be looking to see more than that for the HALO Awards.

If you haven't done any fresh communication around hallmarking recently, let the HALO Awards be a catalyst.

When is the deadline?

The deadline is September 16th, 2024. Head to the NAJ website for more details, or if you’re ready to enter you can submit online using the form below.

HALO Awards 2024 online entry form

Top image: British Hallmarking Council chair Noel Hunter OBE, joint HALO Awards 2023 winners Anna McLoughlin of Anna Fine Jewellery and Harriet Kelsall of Harriet Kelsall Bespoke Fine Jewellery, and Sheffield Assay Office assay master Ashley Carson at the Benevolent Society Ball in Birmingham.

What is the HALO Awards?