- First of such awards to recognise skills, competencies and excellence of practitioners in the Beauty, Hair, Nail, and Spa industries
- Awards to raise awareness, set benchmarks and consolidate industry standards
- Held in conjunction with the International Beauty & Wellness Forum
Singapore – The Spa & Wellness Association of Singapore (SWAS) will launch the inaugural SWAS Excellence Awards in 2019. As the leading industry association representing the professional needs of beauty and wellness practitioners, SWAS hopes that the awards will better consolidate the active practitioners in Singapore, and from the participation and results, allow SWAS to set some industry benchmarks that will help enhance service standards in the industry.
Through the awards, SWAS hopes to create greater awareness of skills and required competencies of the service providers in the Beauty, Hair, Nail, and Spa sectors. Founded in 2004, SWAS represents stakeholders and establishments in the beauty and wellness industry. The primary objectives are to enhance customer service satisfaction levels through the promotion of competency and quality across members, bolster growth of the trade, and facilitate communication between institutions, the government, establishments, and individual practitioners. Sectors under SWAS include beauty, hair, nail, spa, massage, and other therapy services.
The SWAS Excellence Awards will honour individual professional practitioners as well as businesses, across two main service classifications: Spa Services and Salon Services. There is a total of 20 categories, and they are presented in Appendix A.
For individuals, they may take part in as many categories as they wish, as long as they have a qualifying certificate in the particular service and are actively practising. For establishments, they may partake in the categories in which they have at least one individual nominee. For individuals, each category costs SGD 60 to take part in. Individuals will be charged SGD 120 for the first nomination (or category), which includes the cost of the first-year registration fee into the Singapore Registry of Complementary Therapists (SRCT). From the second nomination (or category) onwards, the nominee will only pay SGD 60 per category. Nominees who are already SRCT-registered practitioners, are only required to pay the nomination fee. As for establishments, each category will cost SGD 100 to take part in. Nominations may be in the form of self-nominations, from employers, or from the public. All nominations must contain the full details, including payment, in the nomination form on the website.
As the awards are meant to honour professional excellence, the standards of service will be best judged by satisfied customers. The awards will thus include a Customer Service Index (CSI) which allows public voting by the customers of the nominees. This CSI will be a total of 50 out of a possible 100 points per participating nominee.
The other areas of assessment include relevant, recognised qualification(s) in the service (20%), years of experience (20%), and a personal ambition and goal statement from the nominee (10%). Nominated individuals and establishments will undergo a two-step selection and judging process in order to enter the final round. During the first round, the SWAS Selection Committee will shortlist qualified nominees based on the first 90% of their scores. Shortlisted nominees will then be judged on the final 10% by the industry judges. Nominees with the highest scores will be awarded Certificates of Merit, Bronze, Silver, and Gold awards according to a bell-curve calculation. This means that should a nominee receive the same score as another nominee in the same category, both of them will be awarded the same certificate. Consequently, should there be no nominee who scores the required points for a Gold, that particular category may not have a Gold awardee, etc. This ensures that the awards maintain a high standard across the categories.
“SWAS has worked tirelessly to seek recognition for practitioners in the spa and wellness industry, pertaining to their professionalism and competency. Highly-skilled professionals and service workers enhance value, satisfaction and ensure the safety of their patrons. They are also great assets to salons and spas, as they provide a competitive advantage,” says Edward Wong, President of SWAS. “We look forward to the active participation and support of practitioners and businesses in the industry. We strongly urge consumers to participate, to support and encourage your service provider(s) to pursue higher competencies in order to serve you better.”
The SWAS Excellence Awards 2019 will be launched in partnership with the International Beauty & Wellness Forum, organised by the Asia Pacific Hairdressers and Cosmetologist Assocation (APHCA) and SWAS.
The SWAS Excellence Awards is now open for nomination and voting. A Chinese version of the awards site will be available at a later date. For more details of the awards and schedule, please refer to Appendixes A through C.
About SWAS Excellence Awards
SWAS Excellence Awards is an awards ceremony held in conjunction with the Spa & Wellness Association of Singapore (SWAS), managed and organised by Eminence Events for SWAS. The SWAS Excellence Awards is launched to recognise beauty and wellness professionals who excel in their chosen profession. Leaders and industry experts will be called upon to judge the awards show; voting will be held, to objectively shortlist the contenders for the top awards. SWAS Selection Committee will only consider nominees with adequate certifications and qualifications in order to assure and maintain a substantial standard for its association.
For more information, please visit www.swasawards.org.
About Spa & Wellness Association of Singapore (SWAS)
The Spa & Wellness Association of Singapore was founded in 2004 in response to the need of an association to reach out to all sectors of the beauty and wellness industry. Over the last decade, SWAS has grown with the Industry. Over the years, the Spa & Wellness Association of Singapore has developed from an interest group representing spas and wellness establishments to a confederation of trade groups representing stakeholders within the framework of the beauty and wellness industry. The association actively promotes the business interests of all stakeholders in spa, wellness, beauty, hair, nail, and associated holistic care and service industry.
For more information, please visit www.spaandwellness.org.
About SRCT
SWAS Registry of Complementary Therapists (SRCT) is an online directory of recognised therapists and service providers for the various beauty, hair, nail, spa, and massage services and treatments in Singapore. SWAS provides this free service to consumers seeking a specific service or treatment to verify that the service provider – an individual or business – has the relevant competencies and qualifications to provide the service or treatment that assures safety, while achieving value and satisfaction.
For more information, please visit www.srct.sg.
About APHCA
The Asia Pacific Hairdressers and Cosmetologist Association (APHCA) and the Spa and Wellness Association Singapore (SWAS) will be organising the Inaugural International Beauty and Wellness Professionals (IBWP) Forum, with incorporation of the 23rd APHCA Hair and Makeup Olympics, at the Singapore EXPO on 11 and 12 October 2019 respectively. The Beauty and Wellness industry/trends are constantly evolving, with new products and technologies emerging at rapid speed year in year out. In order to keep up, practitioners need to equip themselves with latest updates and know-hows to remain relevant and be at the forefront of their practice. The IBWP Forum is hence created as an educational/knowledge exchange platform. Following the IBWP Forum would be the 23rd APHCA Hair & Makeup Olympics where members from over 20 APHCA countries are expected to participate and compete in this year’s competition.