With three of FMC’s dental awards officially open for entries, hear directly from judges on what makes a winning awards entry.
FMC is pleased to announce that entry has opened for the Dentistry Awards, the Clinical Dentistry Awards and the Irish Dentistry Awards.
Find out everything you need to know about the awards below, as well as judges’ top tips for making a successful entry.
Dentistry Awards
The Dentistry Awards 2024 celebrates excellence in dental practice, recognising dental professionals for their achievements and advancements. This prestigious event highlights talent, innovation and dedication in dentistry. Nominees are chosen for their exceptional skills, patient care and community contributions. The awards not only honour individual and team accomplishments but also inspire continued excellence in oral health care.
- Entry deadline: Wednesday 3 July 2024
- Ceremony: Friday 13 September 2024.
Click here to register for the Dentistry Awards.
Clinical Dentistry Awards
The Clinical Dentistry Awards: acknowledging clinical excellence in practice. Highly inclusive and practice-based, the Clinical Dentistry Awards offer a wide range of categories, bringing together aesthetic dentistry, orthodontics, periodontics, endodontics, implant dentistry and oral health, to showcase the outstanding work being undertaken in dentistry.
- Entry deadline: Wednesday 10 July 2024
- Ceremony: Friday 11 October 2024.
Click here to enter the Clinical Dentistry Awards.
Irish Dentistry Awards
The Irish Dentistry Awards return for it’s 13th consecutive year. Celebrating clinical excellence throughout Ireland and hosting the best in Irish dentistry this award is a prestigious occasion. Register your interest to enter and be the first to know when the award entries are being accepted.
- Entry deadline: Wednesday 3 July 2024
- Ceremony: Saturday 7 September 2024.
Click here to enter the Irish Dentistry Awards.
Philip Lewis
An awards submission should be more than just a list of achievements. Of course, we want to know how you did it, but just as importantly we want to know why you did it. We need to see what it is that makes you special and why you deserve to be recognised as an individual.
Let your personality shine through!
Melonie Prebble
Entries for these awards are extremely strong, the competition is high. This means you have to be sure you have hit all of the criteria clearly within the entry. Supporting evidence is vital, demonstrate your growth areas, tell us what you have learned, what challenges you have worked through.
Clinical cases are essential for some categories but not all, so be mindful of this when you put together your portfolio. Personally, I like to see that the fundamentals of dental disease management and prevention are always noted by entrants as well as seeing their portfolio of their chosen cases.
Don’t forget to focus on what dentistry is about.
Hitesh Panchal
- Show us your practice core values, ethos and culture through your entries
- Follow the entry guidelines to help lay out your entries
- Stick to providing relevant details throughout your entries
- Quality photographs speak a thousand words
- Provide as much proof to back up your entry.
Nilesh Parmar
A great submission is one that is honest and not overly polished.
Very good clinical cases are key – we have seen so many very good entries, but the clinical cases aren’t very good. So, ensure the clinical cases demonstrate a high level of skill, especially for categories like Best Young Dentist.
Highlight your patient testimonials and showcase extracurricular activities or achievements outside of work to distinguish yourself from others.
Mani Bhardwaj
- Be truthful and always try to include supporting evidence
- Try to be unique and have your own USP
- Think about the layout of your entry and how a judge would firstly look at it and read it
- Don’t be shy to be different, but bear in mind this is not a school project
- Be concise, but not too short so that you miss information that could sway the judge’s opinion
- Make it worthwhile – this is your time to shine!
Bal Chana
Having attended the awards over the years, each time, I have an amazing time. It is a great opportunity to meet dedicated colleagues and friends.
As a judge, I am looking for an individual with the wow factor, someone who is enthusiastic, passionate and dedicated to their profession. Someone who will go that extra mile to make a difference.’
Sophie Lesiuk
‘A picture speaks a thousand words’. For example: Practice A: ‘We’ve delivered many oral health appointment (OHE) workshops in the community this year.’ (One picture of two team members speaking in a school.)
Practice B: ‘We’ve delivered many OHE workshops in the community this year.’ (One picture of the team at a local primary school, a picture at a high school with a Re-think Your Drink board, a picture of the team at a mother and baby unit, pictures of a DCby1 display, National Smile Month display, and Mouth Cancer Action Month displays in a community setting.)
I would instantly score practice B higher as I can visually see the evidence and the wonderful work they’re doing! To top it off, some verified feedback for the visits would be a plus.
Lisa Bainham
What am I looking for as a judge? As obvious as it sounds, check you have covered the criteria we are looking for! I want to feel the dedication and commitment to the role. It isn’t just about ticking off your job description. Is what you do really above and beyond what the role basically entails? Tell us about what makes you stand out.
Don’t be afraid to blow your own trumpet and speak from the heart! Those things matter immensely! If we are looking for examples of growth and how you have increased efficiency and effectiveness of systems, people and productivity – show me, don’t just tell me. Show me your key performance indicators and pretty financial graphs! They speak volumes!
A well written, concise, complete and beautifully presented entry is a plus. But I can see through this if the content doesn’t wow me. Equally, a less fancy entry can be filled with everything I would hope to see, so don’t get too hung up on whether it’s not a graphic masterpiece. It’s you I want to see.
Nishma Sharma
- As dental professionals we are all trying our very best every day with every patient, what makes you stand out?
- What is your USP?
- What would winning this award mean to you? Why do you need this validation?
- What are you like to work with? Are you a team player? How?
- Life throws us curve balls, what incidents have shaped you to be who you are today?
- The profession is going through a tough time currently, how are you helping to maintain its reputation within your local community?
- With health inequalities at a record high, how are you able to do your bit to help those in need?
- What do you do to unwind and stay positive?
- Remember, being a dental care professional is what you do, not who you are… Who are YOU?
Preetee Hylton
- Be genuine about yourself (or your team) and/ or your (or your team’s) achievements
- The awards are a way to gain recognition for your exceptional professional capabilities and for the genuine positive impact you or your team has in dentistry and/or in the general community. Do good work for the sake of helping someone in need or for a good cause; do not do it just because you want to add it to your list for your awards entry. Genuine charity work always shines through
- Photos are a great way to showcase your achievements – the less filtered they are, the better! Videos are welcome – they are more believable when they don’t seem scripted
- Having feedback from patients and colleagues (with their consent, of course) is a great way of showing us how you have had a positive impact on them.
Helen Paisley
Candidates should present a wide range of clinical cases rather than multiple cases of the same treatment modalities. It also does not help to submit hundreds of pages of clinical cases, there is a limit to how many pages a judge will be able to review when looking at multiple applications and detracts from an application rather than adding to it.
The criteria are available for applicants and candidates need to be able to cover all aspects, although we appreciate people will have more strength and content in particular areas. Presentation style is important in judging the quality and care put into the application, so we advise good quality photo or video content.
For more information or for help with your submission, contact [email protected] or +44 1923 851777.
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