Hj's british hairdressing awards: judges have their say!

After the first round judging of HJ’s 2013 British Hairdressing Awards, sponsored by Schwarzkopf Professional, we grilled some of the judges for their thoughts on the entries. Don't miss the full list of 2013 finalists here! [gallery ids="21863,21852,21840,21859,21854,21855"] “This is the first time I have been a judge and I was honoured to be asked. I was amazed at the venue and how the collections are displayed anonymously. I was also struck by how many industry greats were in one room! I thought the quality and standard was high across the board. Men’s and London really stood out for me, both the number of entries and the standard.” Jamie Stevens “This is the first year that I can applaud everyone for using great colour and not just in the Colour category. People weren’t playing safe so there were some interesting collections.” Lisa Shepherd “I thought it was a mixed bag – some amazing work and some disappointing images. It was difficult to judge. In some categories the standard was so high, choosing the finalists was really hard.” Tracey Devine-Smith [gallery ids="21860,21848,21846,21856,21842,21839"] “The technical skill in some of the collections was amazing. Men’s and Scottish were very strong and difficult to judge. I thought this year entrants had concentrated on the hair rather than the imagery.” Mark Leeson “As always it was very exciting to enter the room and see the calibre of work on display. I felt there were some very strong categories in the regions, showing more intricacy and attention to detail in the hair. It was a pleasure to judge Avant Garde which is close to my heart. It was good to see how much it has progressed.” Darren Ambrose “As a first-time judge I was excited to see all the categories. I enjoyed seeing all the regional entries as there was some outstanding work coming from across the UK. As the current title holder it was a pleasure to judge the Schwarzkopf Professional British Colour Technician of the Year, and I was blown away by the standard of technical ability.” Ken Picton [gallery ids="21844,21849,21838,21862,21861,21845"] “This year the standard was very high. The attention to detail was strong across all categories. Everyone had spent a lot of time on their colour portfolios, which raised the bar and made it even harder to judge. We are in a privileged position to see the best and even those at the top are raising their game.” Christel Lundqvist “The first round judging is always interesting as there is such a variety, but this year the good ones were really good and the standard had improved. There were more fashion-led images, it wasn’t just about hair, which is good as we are in a fashion industy.” Akin Konizi “I was excited about seeing the Newcomer category, which was the best out of them all. They were inspired by the past but added their own flavour. There were lots of good images in London and some beautiful photography, which showed new trends and demonstrated what British hairdressing is all about – being trendsetters.” Angelo Seminara