The awards, which were developed to showcase innovative jewellery designs incorporating natural diamonds, will run in Melbourne in May and host seven categories including the Solitaire and Red Carpet awards.
However, DGA executive officer Melissa James said the fancy shape category would be consolidated in 2018.
“We will be combining the fancy shape into criteria for one of the other categories in 2018, thus reducing the number of categories for this year’s event,” James explained.
As previously reported by Jeweller, the biennial DGA Jewellery Design Awards was originally slated for 2017 but it was cancelled after the JAA Australasian Jewellery Awards were pushed back a year, and the inaugural Expertise Events’ Jewellery Design Awards was launched.
James said the awards had been re-scheduled because the organisation’s members believed holding three design competitions in one year was “not in the best interests of the industry”.
Award benefits
The 2018 program will be the 8th competition conducted by the association and has been described as an opportunity for all Australian jewellers to showcase their talents with the “best of the best”.
“Now in its 13th year, the Diamond Guild Australia Awards is the most highly regarded design event in Australia,” James said.
“As an open competition, both non members and members of the guild are encouraged to enter and showcase their design and manufacturing skills to the industry, media and consumer alike.
“As Diamond Guild Australia has an important role to support and promote the jewellery industry in Australia, we fund and organise our awards event as a promotional platform for the benefit of all jewellers,” she added.
The DGA was founded in 2005, with the aim to establish and preserve a benchmark for quality and ethics in the promotion and sale of diamonds throughout Australia.
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