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About the Touchstone award

The Touchstone award is issued annually by the British Hallmarking Council (BHC) for work relating to hallmarking. The award is granted to the authority, or individual working for an authority, for the most innovative or effective exercise in work relating to hallmarking.

The award has 4 categories of applications, which are:

• an enforcement operation or activity
• an educational activity
• an information activity
• a published article

Read aboutprevious Touchstone Award winners.

Application form and deadline

Your application must relate to all or part of the previous 12 months. Some applicants have carried out operations which span a longer time period than 12 months, but part of the operation or activity must relate to the 12 months prior to the closing application date.

To enter, you need to download and complete the Touchstone award 2024 application form (ODT, 45 KB).

Read the Touchstone Award privacy notice (ODT, 25.7 KB).

Arrangements can be made for accepting hard copy documents: please contact theBHCSecretary:britishhallmarkingcouncilsec@gmail.comif necessary.

Prize

The Touchstone award is a sterling silver plate with a value of 3,500, which your authority keeps for one year.

Each member of your application team (up to a maximum of 4) is given an individual prize, inscribed with their name, which they can keep.

Benefits of winning the award

The winner will be presented with the award at the National Chartered Trading Standards Institute dinner. Two places at the dinner table are paid for.

You will receive an invitation (for a maximum of 10 people) to Goldsmiths Hall, London, for a day which includes:

• a hallmarking training presentation
• a tour of the London Assay Office
• luncheon in the splendid dining room

The award will be presented to your local authority, in front of your full council, at a council meeting (this is dependent upon your authority attending the Chartered Trading Standards Conference and the day at Goldsmiths Hall). This raises the profile of your Trading Standards Service with all elected members and directors of your authority.

All this is free of charge and your local authority only has to pay for transport costs, and accommodation where necessary, for people attending the events.

If you win the award youll get:

• publicity in respect of the winning authority in various national newsletters and periodicals
• an article in the Journal of Trading Standards featuring your winning application together with photographs
• an announcement on theBritish Hallmarking Council website

Preparing your entry

There are 7 sections in the application form:

1. The objective of the activity.
2. The target audience.
3. The description of the activity undertaken.
4. The outcomes based on the activity undertaken.
5. What publicity was generated by the activity?
6. What follow up work is planned?
7. Based on your work relating to hallmarking, how do you think hallmarking enforcement in the UK could be improved? In your view, what actions would act as a deterrent to breaking hallmarking law?

You need to provide evidence of the work that you have done and support your statements by means of relevant evidence.

Its important to address the questions and cover the criteria, but there is no minimum or maximum number of words for each section.

If you have questions about the award please contact theBHCSecretariat atbritishhallmarkingcouncilsec@gmail.comand they will direct your query.

Judging

The British Hallmarking Council Touchstone Assessment Panel is composed of members of the British Hallmarking Council and industry experts. These include:

• Trading Standards Officers with experience in hallmarking, enforcement and audit
• Assay Office assessors

Assessing and scoring

The 7 questions have criteria set against them and the answers given by the applicant are scored against these.

Each member of the Assessment Panel carries out an independent scoring assessment and then, at a later date, the panel meets to consider their individual scores. The panel members results are then collated and discussed before reaching agreement on the winner.