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• What are the World Retail Awards and what do they aim to do?

  The World Retail Awards is a global platform that recognises and promotes retail excellence. Retailers from all countries of the world and all retail sectors will compete to win these highly coveted awards, covering the key areas of retail skills and operations.
  The Awards offer retail organisations from the around the world the opportunity to showcase innovation and creativity within their business to the wider world.

• When and where does the ceremony take place?

  The World Retail Awards will take place on 20 September 2012 at the Royal Courts of Justice in London.

• What is the World Retail Congress?

  The World Retail Congress is where retail leaders come together and influence the achievement of their shared goals through high profile debate in a series of plenary sessions and private meetings.

• Who are the judges?

  All of the judges are drawn from leading retailers, business schools, government, public and private sector organisations and think tanks. All judges are selected for their specific experience and knowledge and are senior and influential representatives of the retail industry. View the Grand Jury and Expert Jury.

• How does the judging process work?

  There is a two stage evaluation process. At the first stage, each category will have a panel of Expert Judges that will be made up of global retail experts in that particular field.

  This Jury will review all the entries for their category and judge them against the criteria outlined in each of the category descriptions and the specific information requested on the entry forms. They will work together to produce a shortlist of approximately six finalists. These finalists will then go forward to the World Retail Awards Grand Jury who will discuss and select the eventual winners.

• When will the judging process begin?

  The expert juries will start to review the entries after the entry deadline of 11th May 2012 and continue for a couple of weeks until the finalists are notified in the middle of June 2011.

  The Grand Jury will meet at the World Retail Congress in September to decide on the winners although these will not be announced until the Awards ceremony three days later on 20 September 2012.

• Eligibility/who can enter?

  Retailers from any country in the world and all retail sectors can submit entries. - Third parties (such as advertising agencies, design agencies and PR agencies are also welcome but they must have the approval of the retailer).  For full details please go to Rules and Regulations

• How do you enter?

  Entries must be submitted online. Full details of how to submit your entry can be found on the how to enter page.

• Can I submit my entry in any language?

  Entries must be submitted in English. If you have any problems with this then please contact the organisers as some help may be available.

• How long does it take to complete an entry form?

  Please allow sufficient time to complete your entry before the closing date of 11 May 2012. It should not take longer than a couple of hours to complete the form, however we would recommend that to ensure your entry is as strong as possible, the more time spent on preparation the better. You can save your entry and come back and update it online, so you do not need to submit it until you are happy with it.

• What supporting material can I submit?

  There are clear guidelines for each category but it is worth being selective. Judges will not want to work their way through multiple images or documents many pages long. Judges particularly like to see third party validation of any claims made within the entry.

• What criteria do we need to meet?

  There are separate criteria for each of the categories and this appears on the category pages. The underlying values associated with all the categories are business ethics, innovation and success. The judges will be looking for real evidence of the entrant meeting all the criteria whilst embracing the underlying values.

• What size turnover do we need to have?

  Every market is clearly different, but these Awards are designed to recognise excellence by multiple retailers rather than one shop businesses. As a guide we therefore expect any retailer entering these awards to ideally have a minimum of 10 stores and a clear business strategy that is building for further growth. Department store businesses are the only exception in that they may have less than 10 stores in the portfolio but will have larger turnover than other retail sectors. They are therefore fully eligible to enter, whatever the number of stores.

• How long do we need to have been trading?

  The length of time that you have been trading is not so important as long as you can meet the criteria and display innovation, success and ethics. To support the business success of the company, the first year's figures are required, therefore it is usual for a business to have been trading for at least 18 months.

• Can we get feedback if we are unsuccessful?

  The judges' decisions are final and no correspondence will be entered into after the judging. Due to the number of entries and the confidential process we are unfortunately unable to give feedback on to why an entry has not been included on the shortlist.

• Are entry forms and the information provided kept confidential?

  By entering the World Retail Awards, companies are authorising Emap to use the data and certain visual materials submitted for the purpose of writing a business review publication, containing case studies of all shortlisted companies and winners. We will respect as confidential any financial data submitted unless given express permission to use it. If there is a particular part or your entry that you would prefer not to be used then please clarify this on the entry. All entries will be stored securely on our website and access to these by Judges will be strictly monitored.

• Why should we enter?

  Retailing deserves recognition for the excellence and continual innovation that is shown in every sector and in every country of the world. This is your opportunity to show what your business is doing and the opportunity to be shortlisted, and potentially win, will ensure that you receive global recognition through promotion by the Awards. It will serve as a powerful boost for your business both externally but more importantly, internally amongst all your staff and colleagues who will be proud to know that they work for a world-class business.

• How many awards are there?

  There are 9 Awards open for entry submission. There will be 3 further awards presented on the evening but they are excluded from self nomination.

• Can we submit multiple entries?

  Multiple entries may be submitted. You may enter as many different categories as you are eligible for and there is no limit on the number of entries you may submit per category.

• When do entries open?

  The Awards website will be open to receive entries from 24 February 2012 (09.00 GMT).

• Is there an entry fee?

  Yes entry fees are payable for those categories open for entry submission.

  The cost of entry is £250 per entry + VAT

• Why is there an entry fee?

  The World Retail Awards have a rigorous and robust judging process. The nominal entry fee contributes to the costs associated with the administration and processing of all the entries received as well as the international jury expenses. It also lets us know that entrants are committed to submitting a quality entry and serious about the entry process.

• How can payment be made?

  Payment must be made online at the time that you submit your entry. Entry submissions will not be accepted without payment.

• Are fees refundable?

  Entry fees are non refundable once payment has been submitted.