Contractors to vie for freelancing accolades

Contractors who rate themselves are being invited to compete in the 2019 Freelancer of the Year Awards.

Run by contractor body IPSE, the awards are seeking the“best and brightest” freelance consultants, who think their offerings are good enough to scoop one of four accolades.

The four are; Freelancer of the Year -- a grand first place prize of £5,000 and £2,000 for a runner-up; Young Freelancer of the Year; New to Freelancing and Freelance Project of the Year.

The latter title, on offer for the first time since IPSE launched the awards, comes with a cash prize of £1,500, half of what New Freelancers and Young Freelancers are vying for (£3,000).

IPSE said it was introducing the project category to expand the breadth of individuals who the awards celebrate, although participants have already included mime artists, origami sculptors and crime scene investigators.

And it’s not only fully fledged contractors who can put themselves forward, according to Community & Events Lead at the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed (IPSE), Claire Barrance.

“Don’t worry if you’re not a full-time freelancer, if you’ve got a great side-hustle, we want to hear from you too,” she said.

“Applicants are [going to be] judged on a range of criteria including the strength of their portfolio, their passion and commitment to freelancing, business acumen and creativity and the distinctiveness of their offering.”

Organisations and freelancers' champions are also going to be spotlighted by the association at the awards, which involve a ‘judging day’ for shortlisted entrants on May 9th.

In fact, IPSE says it will be anointing one individual ‘Ambassador of the Year,’ one outfit ‘University Partner of the Year and one hub ‘Co-working Space of the Year.’

“The awards are designed to crown not only the country’s most talented freelancers, but also the organisations and individuals supporting the world of freelancing,” Ms Barrance said.

“Every year we are amazed by the level of talent and professionalism of our award applicants, finalists and winners.”

Following the judging day, where finalists will meet face-to-face with who they are competing against and pitch their offering to a panel of judges, the winners will be announced at a glitzy awards ceremony on June 13th. Both events are due to be held in London.