All applicants must abide by these terms of reference in order to be eligible for the awards. Should the applicant fail to comply with these requirements the organising committee is authourised to disqualify the application or may at its discretion reassign the application to another category which the application complies with.
- a) Invitation / Application:
Spa and wellness business operators, suppliers, distributors, product and equipment manufacturers and industry professionals are invited to apply for the awards. At no stage will an application be considered a nomination until the application fee is received and the application has undergone the audit process and is deemed to have fulfilled the criteria as set out below. All applications must be made online via the APSWC website www.apswc.org. The application must include the specified application fee. Applications can be made for more than one category; however a separate application (and application fee) is required for each category. The Board of the APSWC reserves the right to waive the application fee in full or in part ro4 APSWC members.
- b) Acceptance of Applications:
Only applications received by Awards Committee at close of business on 12 January 2024 shall be considered eligible for validation. Applications received after this time will not be accepted.
- c) Short Listing:
The Awards Committee shall screen all applications for compliance with the stated criteria and short-list up to ten (10) qualifying nominees. Only those that meet the published category criteria shall be validated. Subject to the number of validated applications the Awards Committee reserves the right to increase the number of shortlisted nominees in any category. Only validated applications that meet the stipulated criteria will be considered as Nominations and will become eligible for voting.
In the event that there is fewer than three nominations for any category, that category may not be awarded. d) Nominations Announced:
The Awards Committee will announce the nominations on 30 January 2024 together with voting eligibility, methods and procedures. All details will be released to the media and posted on the awards website www.apswc.org at that time. Nominees shall receive a digital certificate of nomination & digital, while award winners shall receive a APSWC Awards Trophy and a digital winner’s certificate & digital badge.
- e) Gratuities:
No gratuities or gifts of any kind (monetary or otherwise) shall be accepted by the APSWC, the Awards Committee, or the judging panel. The suggestion (actual or implied) shall be reported to the APSWC Executive Committee and shall automatically result in disqualification of the application, nomination or winner.
- f) Public Voting:
Will be open in selected categories from 30 January until 17.00 Sunday 10 March 2024. Public voting will be on-line only. No other form of voting is accepted. Votes received by the specified time shall be considered valid. In weighted voting categories, votes shall weighted as specified in the categories and combine with the judging panel votes to determine the category winner. In the event of the same winner in a category for three consecutive years the applicant shall receive a special commendation and not be eligible to entre that category again.
- g) Other Voting:
The Board of the APSWC shall appoint an Awards Committee and invite knowledgeable industry leaders from across the Asia Pacific to be on the judging panel. The judging panel will be announced on the APSWC website and social media platforms by end of November 2023. The Awards Committee may independently award trophies assign the Judging Panel to vote on the winner or combine the Judging Panels votes with public voting to determine the winner in a category. The specific voting for all categories is detailed in the pages following.
- h) Conflict of Interest / Transparency:
Should any APSWC Awards applicant be known personally by an Award’s Committee or Judging Panel member it is the responsibility of that to make it known that a potential conflict of interest exists. In the event such conflict does exist, that Awards Committee member shall abstain from making any decisions on the verification or short-listing of that category. In the event all committee members are in conflict, the APSWC Chairman shall reserve the right to appoint a sub-committee of three impartial industry leaders to verify and shortlist that category.
- i) Confidentiality:
The results of voting shall remain confidential and shall be known ONLY relevant persons or parties as deemed relevant by the APSWC Board to verify the voting, calculate weighted voting and or complete production of the Award Trophies in a timely manner. Winners will be publicly announced on Thursday 21 March 2024 at the awards ceremony during the APSWC Round Table. No other individual, organisation or company shall have prior knowledge of any of the winners.
- j) Tied Vote:
In the event that the vote count for any category is tied, the Awards Committee will present a trophy to all tied parties
- k) Changes:
Written submissions to the Asia Pacific Spa & Wellness Coalition Board for additional awards or changes in award categories, changes in the criteria, application, nomination or voting criteria or process shall be accepted for a period of 30 days commencing the day after the public announcement of the winners each year. The APSWC Board reserves the right to amend or alter the terms and conditions of the awards. Any amendments or alterations shall be advised in writing to all applicants or nominees and/or posted on the event website and social media platforms. All decisions of the APSWC Awards Committee, the APSWC Board, or the Judging Panel as related to the APSWC Awards are considered final and no communications shall be entered into.
- l) Acknowledgement:
Nominees shall receive a customised digital Certificate of Nomination and a digital badge, while the category Winners shall also receive a customised trophy.
