Of the 153 participants who answered our question about nail competitions, just 13 per cent said they have in the past entered or would consider entering a nail competition.

The nail professionals said they are most likely to enter The Sydney International Beauty Expo nail competition (six per cent), followed by online competitions such as Lish Nail Creations on Facebook (four per cent) where nail artists upload images of their art work for a given theme. Other competitions mentioned were the Global Nail Design Awards and Gold Coast Beauty Expo.

The travel costs and time seem to deter many from entering competitions, while others with plenty of clientele don't feel the need or have the desire. A recurrent message from survey respondents was that they think many of the competitions are fixed.

We asked Viv Simmonds of Global Nail Design Awards about how the competition is judged, “I can say there is never any fear of fixing winners in my competitions. I am a competitor and an international judge and I value more than anything the importance of judging as I know first hand the work, time and financial investment it takes to be a competitor. The most important part of our competitions are our judges and ensuring they have the experience and knowledge to recognise the quality of work produced. I also try to include international judges to learn from the information they can share with us. This year, Catherine Wong from Singapore and Kristina Manners from the UK will be judging for us.

Viv says entering nail competitions is important for many reasons, “When entering a competition the competitor will practice to improve their ability which in itself is an excellent reason to enter. Competitors also learn through the process of competing, being able to see how others work, what winning nails look like, controlling their speed and much more including the opportunity to network. Entering competitions is also a great marketing tool for your business since it shows your customers your passion and drive to be one of the best in the industry. It also makes your clients feel very special when they can tell their friends their nail artist is award winning. Each competition varies in prizes, etc. Most will award a trophy and some offer product prizes and/or cash prizes too. For me it was never been about the prize but the drive to push myself further which being a competitor forced me to do.”

Upcoming nail competitions include:
Global Nail Design Awards taking place in Tweed Heads, NSW on Sunday 29th April.

Sydney International Expo nail competition taking place at Sydney Convention Centre on 11th and 12th August.