ENTRY GUIDELINES

WHY ENTER?

GAIN WIDESPREAD PROMOTION OF YOUR WORK & COMPANY

Finalists and winners will benefit from an enormous volume of communication and engagement with the market in the run up to the event.

BENCHMARK & PROMOTE EXCELLENCE

We work in a dynamic, competitive industry in a fast-paced and demanding part of the world. Although the INDEX Design Awards entry process has been deliberately made as simple as possible, preparing your submission will provide you with a valuable opportunity to reconsider and re-evaluate your recent work and compare it against your peers.

PEER REVIEW & RECOGNITION

All entries are subject to a detailed process of evaluation and analysis by a panel of distinguished industry experts. Whether you’re a long-established player or a recent entrant to the region, entering the INDEX Design Awards will provide you with valuable feedback and recognition from senior industry peers.

THE RULES

▪ The shortlisting and judging process is structured, ethical and fair. Other than general summaries that may be provided in reference to finalists and winners during the ceremony itself, the judges’ marks are absolutely confidential and absolutely final: no correspondence of any further kind will be entered into with any third party regarding either the shortlisting or the choice of winners.
▪ Awards sponsors cannot enter the category they are sponsoring and judges cannot mark categories that their companies have entered.
▪ No employee of dmg events or their families can enter the awards.
▪ The winners and finalists may state in marketing materials that they are a previous finalist or a winner, but must make it clear which category and the year this was in.
▪ Supporting documentation or promotional materials sent in addition to your entry will be disregarded.

HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR ENTRY

▪ Your entry must be completed on the event website: www.index-awards.com, adhering to the word and image requirements detailed both there and on this form. The website will begin accepting entries on the 7th January 2021.
▪ You can enter multiple entries for the same category and in as many different categories as you like.
▪ Your entry will be evaluated against the criteria set out during the online process and in the guidelines detailed in this document. Please pay careful attention to these, keeping your submission clear, factual and to-the-point and concisely addressing the questions that you are being asked to answer.
▪ Factual assertions should be backed up with convincing evidence. Use verifiable statistics and testimonials where possible.
▪ Please bear in mind that the judges are not interested in slick language or formatting but instead a clear and convincing description of the qualities and performance of your work against the criteria.
▪ Uploaded image files must contain single rather than multiple images. These images may have a title superimposed upon them but must not carry wording meant to extend the corresponding text entry.
▪ Individual image files must not exceed 5MB. Please compress / resize accordingly before submitting.
▪ All entries must be submitted in English.

ENTRY FEES & TICKETS

▪ The fee for the first entry from any organisation for any award category is $175 and includes one complimentary ticket to the ceremony.
▪ All subsequent entries from that organisation for any award category are discounted to $125 and also include one complimentary ticket to the ceremony.
▪ Additional tickets for any company that has entered the awards are $100.
▪ Tickets for any design, architecture and / or fit-out company that has not entered the awards are $175.
▪ Exhibitors can purchase single tickets to attend the ceremony for $700.
▪ Your entry will not become valid and enter the shortlisting / judging process until the entry fee has been received by the organisers.

IMPORTANT DATES

▪ Entries open on 7th January 2021. The closing deadline for entries is Sunday 28th February. We therefore encourage all potential entrants to submit their entries as soon as possible, and contact entries@index-awards.com.
▪ The award shortlist will be published in the week commencing Sunday 4th April.
▪ The award ceremony takes place on the second night of INDEX, Tuesday 1st June from 7pm until 11pm in a purpose-built arena within the Dubai World Trade Centre featuring entertainment, a complimentary bar and canapes throughout.

ELIGIBILITY & CONFIDENTIALITY

▪ The awards are open to all design and fit-out companies and professionals based in the GCC. For further detail on each award, please refer to the category description and entry criteria above.
▪ The timeframe for all awards is from the 1st January 2020 to the 1st January 2021. Your company must have been continually in business during this period / your project completed during this period / you were in your current post at the date of submission for the relevant category.
▪ All entries and voting results are kept confidential and will not by shared with the other entrants or any third party.

JUDGING PROCESS

▪ Unbiased arbitrators will decide upon a shortlist of four finalists per award category.
▪ A panel of leading industry experts will then review shortlisted submissions, scoring them individually with the final winners being decided upon by group vote. Event sponsors are not included in the judging process. Judges will not review entries made by their own organisations or clients, or indeed any other body which may present a potential conflict of interest.

CONTACTS

▪ For queries regarding the entry process or criteria, or to book seats at the awards, please contact Nova Joseph, Awards Marketing Manager, entries@index-awards.com.
▪ For queries regarding the opportunity to sponsor the awards, please contact Laura Collinder, Head of Sponsorship, INDEX Awards on +971 4 445 3685 / +971 56 515 1193 or lauracollinder@dmgevents.com.