Originally created in France, The Jasmine Awards came to our shores in 1990. Considered ‘…the most prestigious journalistic awards in the beauty industry,’ The Fragrance Foundation describes them as having been set up in order to ‘recognise and reward the talents of journalists and visualisers whose difficult task it is to translate the complex art of perfumery into words and pictures.’ And though we might say so ourselves, that task is tricky, indeed, but one we apply ourselves to with sheer glee.
Held annually at BAFTA, for each year’s nominations a new panel of judges is recruited – with designers, fashion experts, professional writers and representatives of the publishing world and leading retailers all having their place. Chaired by an expert in the fragrance industry, Joanna Norman has spent nearly 30 years working in fragrance – and the panel read through hundreds of submissions before making their final decisions.
This year, with individual team members, The Scented Letter magazine and our website itself receiving such a plethora of nominations – well, as our editor and co-founder Jo Fairley put it…
‘Gosh golly gee bananas: I have some amazing news to share. My wonderful team at The Perfume Society has been nominated for an array of Jasmine Awards from The Fragrance Foundation today: three for Suzy Nightingale, one for Dariush Alavi/Persolaise for his Ace of Bases feature for The Scented Letter (other nominations in his own right), and one for our online ‘fragrance editor’ FR.eD, invented by my friend and business partner Lorna McKay. And – gulp – I seem to have been nominated five times… So, so thrilled for everyone on my team and other worthy nominees including Thomas Dunckley and Samantha Scriven. #proudeditor’
We are over the moon at being included in this shortlist, representing the very best of fragrance writing and photography today, and hope you will join us in congratulating all the brilliant nominees, below!
The Jasmine Awards ceremony will be held on Wednesday March 15th 2017.
If you listen really carefully, that squealing sound…? That’s us, that is!
The Jasmine Awards 2017 Shortlist
LITERARY AWARD
Cosmopolitan: Can Your Scent Get You Laid? – Fiona Embleton
Good Housekeeping: Every Scent Tells a Tale – Joanne Harris
Stylist: Why You’ll hate Perfume When You’re Pregnant – Joanna McGarry
Woman & Home: Scentimental Journey – Jo Glanville Blackburn
You Magazine: From Bags to Bottles, LV Unveils The Ultimate It-spritz – Josephine Fairley
You Magazine: We Salute You, Miss Dior – Jopsephine Fairley
VISUAL AWARD
Cosmopolitan: How to Smell ‘Interesting’ – Ingeborg van Lotringen, Stuart Selmen
FS: What’s in Your Bottle? – Zoe Birdsall, Paul Frost
Harrods Magazine: A Perfume Paints a Thousand Words – Jan Masters, Roberto Greco & Jan Masters
Harrods Magazine: Scent of Place – Jan Masters, Benedict Morgan
How To Spend It: Spritz, Shoots and Leaves – Lucia van der Post, Ben Turner & Petrick Devilliers
Stylist: The New Keepsakes, Shannon Peter, Shannon Peter
CREATIVE VISUAL AWARD
Evening Standard Magazine: Floral Notes – Lily Worcester, Lily Worcester
FS: Small Wonders – Zoe Birdsall, Paul Frost
FS: Smell Like a Rock God – Chantelle, Horton, Paul Frost
Get The Gloss: The Art of Layering Your Scent – Ayesha Muttucumaru, Sarah McGinnis
Harrods Magazine: All of a Quiver – Jan Masters, David Newton, Barney Pichard & Rebecca Baio
Instyle: Is There Such Thing as a Feminist Scent? – Emily Dean, Lol Keegan
Stylist: Darling Buds – Fiona Embleton, Dennis Pederson
SOUNDBITE MAGAZINE AWARD
Grazia: Let’s Talk About Sex – Persolaise
Harrods Magazine: Midnight Garden – Jan Masters
Harrods Magazine: Scents of Place – Jan Masters
Hello! Fashion Monthly: Sunshine Scents – Becci Vallis
Red: Girls Who Like Boys – Annabel Meggeson
Tatler: Beauty Flash: Heady Days -Katie Thomas
SOUNDBITE NEWS PRESS AWARD
ES Magazine: Family Affair – Katie Service
Sunday Times Style: How 70’s is Your Scent – Persolaise
The Times: Real Men Wear Scent – Lesley Thomas
PRACTICAL GUIDE AWARD
Basenotes.net: The Top Ten Female Designer Fragrances Every Beginner Should Try – Claire Vukcevic
Basenotes.net: The Top Ten Niche Fragrances Every Beginner Should Try -Claire Vukcevic
Cosmopolitan: How to Smell ‘Interesting’ – Ingeborg van Lotringen
The Pool: 5 Things to Know Before Buying Your Next Perfume – Elle Turner
The Scented Letter/ The Perfume Society: Chypre Thrills – Suzy Nightingale
You Magazine: If the Spritz fits… – Josephine Fairley
CUSTOMER/HOUSE MAGAZINE AWARD
Harrods Magazine: A Perfume Paints a Thousand Words – Jan Masters
Les Senteurs: The Wearing of the Green – James Craven
SCENTS Blog: #Team TPS tells you how to choose a fragrance for every date – Lauren Carbran
DIGITAL AWARD
Get The Gloss: The Art of Layering Your Scent – Ayesha Muttucumaru
GET THE GLOSS: Sense & Sensitivity: Can You Wear Perfume if You have Sensitive Skin? – Judy Johnson
It’s Me Anita B: Are Perfume Names Selling us Sexuality? – Anita Bhagwandas
Selfridges.com: The Beauty Insider: Shakespearean Scents – Rose Gallagher
telegraph.co.uk: Pear Fragrance: 8 of the best for Spring – Josephine Fairley
The Huffington Post UK: Tuberose Perfumes Could Be The Key To Attraction – Rosy Cherrington
The Pool: A Scent for Self Appreciation – Lizzie Ostrom
DIGITAL EXPERIENCE AWARD
Basenotes.net: On The Rocks: The Trend For Iced Accords – Eddie Bulliqi
FASHIONBEANS: What Your Fragrance Says About You – Lee Kynaston
iscentyouaday.com: Aftelier Momento Mori by Mandy Aftel (2016) – Samantha Scriven
KatieChutzpah.com – Acqua di Parma Colonia Sandalo (Exclusively at Harrods) – Karen Hendry (writing as Katie Chutzpah)
The Candy Perfume Boy: To The Power of Five – Thomas Dunckley
The Candy Perfume Boy: Six Scents to Put Hairs on Your Chest – Thomas Dunckley
The Perfume Society: FR.eD- Find Your Next Fragrance – Lorna McKay & Josephine Fairley
INDEPENDENT LITERARY AWARD
Basenotes.net: Ambergris: Myths, Truths & Half Truths – Claire Vukcevic
Basenotes.net: Scenting My Mental Illness – Laurin Taylor
The Scented Letter: Ace of Bases – Persolaise
The Scented Letter/ The Perfume Society: Galbanum- It’s not easy being green – Suzy Nightingale
The Scented Letter/ The Perfume Society: Jasmine- Perfume’s Little Star – Josephine Fairley
The Scented Letter/ The Perfume Society: The Scented Sweater – Suzy Nightingale
INDEPENDENT SOUNDBITE AWARD
Basenotes.net: Cardamom Close- Up – Eddie Bulliqi
GET THE GLOSS: Scents We’d Like to Find in Our Christmas Stockings – Anna Hunter
KatieChutzpah.com: Juliette Has a Gun’s into The Void to Infinity and Beyond – Karen Hendry (Writing as Katie Chutzpah)
KatieChutzpah.com: Boy Chanel. Olivier Polge’s Latest Addition to Les Exclusifs – Karen Hendry (Writing as Katie Chutzpah)
Mine Magazine: Nude Awakening – Alice Du Parcq
persolaise.com: Super Scent: The Very Best of Etat Libre D’Orange – Persolaise
persolaise.com: Persolaise review: Galop D’Hermès – Persolaise
The Candy Perfume Boy: Eau so Masc- Thoughts on Gender in Perfume and The Rive Gauche Rebellion – Thomas Dunckley
RISING STAR AWARD
Ascento: Put A Lid On It – Sara Hesikova
FRAGRANTICA: Ice Cream In The Sun: The Solar Lactonic Thrust – Eddie Bulliqi
FS: Fragrance: What’s in a Memory? – Zoe Birdsall
Reveal: A Pocketful of Magic – Amber Ascroft
SCENTS blog: 2017: The Year of The Milk Notes – Lauren Carbran
Tag: BAFTA
The Mighty Nose Awards are open: calling all smell lovers aged 7-11!
Marty the Mighty Nose is a cartoon character created by The Fragrance Foundation to encourage children aged 7-11 to be inspired and engaged through their sense of smell. Offering a website aimed at teachers, full of ideas to extend their pupil’s learning by focusing on the smelly world around them, and a series of free workshops for schools; perhaps the most exciting activity for kids to get involved with is the annual Mighty Nose Awards…
Every year, The Fragrance Foundation invite pupils to submit smell-inspired creative writing for the chance to win fantastic prizes for themselves and for their schools. And entries for 2017 are now open!
The competition closes on December 16th 2016, so click here to download your entry pack and learn more.
As the Fragrance Foundation explain: ‘Marty the Mighty Nose is supported by a team of people including teachers, and developed by the Fragrance Foundation UK. We are a not-for-profit educational organisation and all our members are in the fragrance industry, supporting Marty as a philanthropic initiative.’
Winners will be whisked to the glittering awards ceremony held at BAFTA next year, as part of the Jasmine Awards, before an audience of writers, fragrance professionals and press, who always receive them with rapturous applause. Truly inspiring, it’s wonderful to see kids explore and develop their sense of smell – and along with it their creativity (and humour!)
We adored hearing last year’s winning poems being read, and to get a sense of how brilliant they were, here’s one of our favourites from 2016…
The Smells Inside My Brother’s Room
By Isaac Littlewood
St Mary’s CE Primary School, Year 3
The smells inside my brother’s room,
Just like his pants are deadly.
They lead me to my utter doom:
A very whiffy medley!
His slippers smell of nasty cheese
And the tang of onions (pickled).
Inside, his toes my nose displease
Especially when they’re tickled!
His bum smells like a rotten drum,
Full of ugly fleas.
It’s worse than getting badly stung
By a swarm of bees.
His armpits smell like cabbage leaves
Rotting at the dump.
Their pong you simply won’t believe
It’s like an evil trump.
Underneath his bed there lurks
A very hissy dragon
Who eats my brother’s hairy shirts
And smells enough to gag on!
So don’t go in that smellsome site
If you value your nose.
Your nostrils will be harmed for life.
His pongs are your greatest foes!
You can read all the winning entries and download the competition pack on Marty the Mighty Nose’s website.
We know so many of our readers enjoy sniffing our Discovery Boxes with their children, and at several of our How to Improve Your Sense of Smell Workshops, people have come along with their kids, who have wholeheartedly thrown themselves into finding creative ways of describing smells. So, if your children are budding ‘noses’ or simply brimming with whiffy words, we urge you to enter them into the competition!
Written by Suzy Nightingale
Jasmine Awards 2016 – the full list of winners, including… ta-dah!
The Fragrance Foundation’s Jasmine Awards are often called the ‘Oscars’ of the fragrance-writing world – held at BAFTA in Piccadilly, with Lalique statuettes polished and gleaming, Wednesday 16th March saw the gathering of excitedly chattering nominees shortlisted for 2016’s crop of awards. We have to say, the whole Perfume Society team was thrilled to be honoured with nominations this year – not merely for features we’d written online or published in our magazine The Scented Letter, but with fellow journalists also nominated for features they’d written about The Perfume Society.
What happened next? Well read on as we veritably squeal with excitement…
Presiding over the event were Chairman of The Fragrance Foundation – Annalise Fard, and Cecile Budge – Managing Director P&G Prestige & Chairman of The Jasmine Awards, said:
‘Congratulations to all the winners today. As always, the quality of the entries from both the finalists and the winners was very high. We saw great creativity throughout and pieces that truly inspire consumers to try and then buy fragrances. We had entries from a wider range of publications and individuals this year, which is really encouraging to see. We also saw increased participation from retailers this year.’
The judging panel this year were industry expert Joanna Norman ‑ Chairman of the Judging panel, alongside Paula Hawkins – Author, Gill Hudson – Editor, Millie Mackintosh – Fashion Designer & Blogger, Natasha Kaplinsky – TV Presenter, Sanjay Vadera – CEO The Fragrance Shop, & Daphne Wright – Author.
Best Article in a Customer Magazine: The judges chose Deborah Bee & Jan Masters for ‘Birth of a Fragrance’ in Harrods Magazine.
Best Digital Article on Fragrance: The Perfume Society co-founder Josephine Fairley (hoorah!) was chosen to receive this prize – for ‘Perfume Notes: Smoke and Fire Fragrances’ published on the telegraph.co.uk.
Best Digital Fragrance Experience: went to Anna Hunter for ‘The Niche, Lesser Known Fragrance Brands You’re About to Fall in Love With’ on getthegloss.com.
Jasmine Independent Literary Award: This year went to our very own Suzy Nightingale for ‘What Does Wednesday Smell Like?’ in The Scented Letter.
Jasmine Independent Soundbite Award: A new category for this year was awarded to Persolaise for his article ‘Closer to Heaven’ in (yay!) The Scented Letter.
Jasmine Soundbite (news press): Journalist Edwina Ings‑Chambers was awarded the prize for her piece ‘A Better Bottle’ in The Sunday Times Style.
Jasmine Soundbite (magazines): The judges agreed the prize should go to Sali Hughes for ‘It’s Backbone in a Bottle’ in Stylist.
Best Practical Guide to Fragrance: The judges decided that the Award should go to ‘How I Learned to Think Through My Nose’ (about our How To Improve Your Sense of Smell Workshops – huzzah!) by Kim Parker from Red.
Jasmine Visual Award: This category had some stunning visuals were original and eye-catching; the prize went to ‘Birth of a Fragrance’ from Harrods Magazine, Words by Jan Masters, Creative by Deborah Bee.
Most Creative Visual Award: This is for a stand‑alone piece with minimal words which stood the test of inspiring the reader by its visual impact. The judges found this a tough decision due to the high quality of entries, but it was decided that the prize should go to ‘The Forever Fragrances’ from marksandspencer.com, by Emma Robertson with the creative by Karen Davidson.
Jasmine Literary Award: Lucy Pavia for ‘What Does Pleasure Smell Like?’ from InStyle.
Jasmine Rising Star Award: Shannon Peterʹs ‘A Perfumer’s Business Card’ – Stylist Magazine.
Winners of the ‘Junior Jasmines’ – the Mighty Nose Awards – were utterly adorable, and their poems incredibly creative! This section of the awards was set up to challenge and inspire primary school children to write poems specifically about the sense of smell. The judging panel comprised of Richard E. Grant – Actor, Director & Chairman of the Judging Panel, Nicky Cox MBE – Editor of First News & Josh Lacey – Children’s Author.
Years 3 and 4 – First prize went to Isaac Littlewood from St Mary’s CE Primary School Edwinstowe, for his brilliantly funny poem – ‘The Smells Inside my Brother’s Room’. Runner up was Emily Wates for her poem ‘In My Dreams’ from Cranleigh Preparatory School.
Years 5 and 6 – First prize went to Tess Garrett for her excellent poem ‘The Smell Olympics’ from Bedford Girls School. Runner up was Anya Hemingway for her poem ‘Smells of a Summer Walk’ from Sheffield High School.
Truly, we have to keep pinching ourselves and aren’t quite sure it’s sunk in yet! Many, many sincere congratulations to ALL nominees – we were proud to be among you, and in a room full of such talent.
The winning articles are available to view on www.thejasmineawards.co.uk. The Mighty nose winning poems are available to view on http://www.martythemightynose.org
