About the Artisan Category

The artisan category is for perfume houses that are owned or co-owned (minimum 35% ownership) by the brand's perfumer. This perfumer will have initiated and written the submitted perfume formulation. The submitted perfume will then have been released under the brand's name.

An artisan submission must meet all of these points:

• The perfumer who wrote the submitted perfume's formula owns or co-owns (minimum of 35% ownership) the company that is releasing the submitted perfume.
• This perfumer directly wrote the initial perfume formulation of the submitted perfume.
• This perfumer has or shares creative control over branding, production, marketing and distribution.
• The company’s product development is contingent on the perfumer’s direct involvement, labor and oversight.

Read more about the artisan category at this link.   

About the Newcomer Award

When you submit to the artisan category, you also have an option to tick a box (and pay an extra fee) that submits the fragrance to the Newcomer Award. The Newcomer Award celebrates brands that are brand new to the market, and released their first perfume ever in 2026. A submission to the Newcomer Award will meet one or more of these points:

• The company that released the perfume released its first ever fine fragrance product in the 2026 calendar year. We consider a fine fragrance an aromatic product in oil or alcohol that is designed for skin application with no other purpose than its smell. 
• If the company has released a fine fragrance product before January 1, 2026, the brand does not qualify for this award. 
• The company producing the perfume is either privately-owned, or owned by another privately-owned company with no more than five fine fragrance holdings in its brand portfolio.  
• Before submitting, please review the rules for the newcomer award here: https://thegoldenpears.com/newcomer-award 

Any questions? Email us at hello@artandolfaction.com

About the Independent Category

The independent category is for perfume brands  that employ an external perfumer or fragrance house to create their  perfume formulas, with creative direction from the perfume brand. The final perfume is then released under the brand's name. An independent submission will meet one or more of these points:

• The company that released the perfume commissioned or employed an external perfumer or fragrance house to write the perfume formula and in all other respects create the perfume, which was then released under the company name.
• The company that released the perfume had creative control over the creative decisions related to the scent, including creative  direction, branding and marketing.
• If the company is owned or co-owned by a perfumer, this perfumer acts primarily as a business person and/or creative director, overseeing creative but leaving the writing of the formula to external hires, commissions, or fragrance houses.
• The company producing the perfume is either privately-owned, or owned by another privately-owned company with no more than five fine fragrance holdings in its brand portfolio.

Read more about the independent category at this link.

 About the Newcomer Award

When you submit to the artisan category, you also have an option to tick a box (and pay an extra fee) that submits the fragrance to the Newcomer Award. The Newcomer Award celebrates brands that are brand new to the market, and released their first perfume ever in 2026. A submission to the Newcomer Award will meet one or more of these points:

• The company that released the perfume released its first ever fine fragrance product in the 2026 calendar year. We consider a fine fragrance an aromatic product in oil or alcohol that is designed for skin application with no other purpose than its smell. 
• If the company has released a fine fragrance product before January 1, 2026, the brand does not qualify for this award. 
• The company producing the perfume is either privately-owned, or owned by another privately-owned company with no more than five fine fragrance holdings in its brand portfolio.  
• Before submitting, please review the rules for the newcomer award here: https://thegoldenpears.com/newcomer-award 

Any questions? Email us at hello@artandolfaction.com

About the Experimental Category

The Art and Olfaction Award for Experimental  Work with Scent is for artists or other creative or technological  practitioners who make unconventional or non-traditional use of scent  that takes it out of the domain of traditional perfumery. An experimental submission will meet one or more of these points:

• The project may be a collaborative project, or a solo project.
• The project must have been created with the intention of existing in the realm of a creative practice, whose primary audience lies firmly in the space of culture—including art, performance, technology, design, media, academia, etc.
• The scent component of the project is concept-driven, and produced  in conjunction or in support of a creative or technological practice or project. 
• The scent project has been publicly exhibited or shown in the 2026 calendar year. Examples of this include but are not limited to a gallery, a publication, a theatre, an academic conference, online, etc.
• The scent component of the project may have been formulated either in collaboration with a professional perfumer, by the artist themself, or by any other author. 
• For the sake of the awards, we define a creative practice as a visual, performative, literary, conceptual, technological, installation-based, curatorial, or musical practice.

Read more about the experimental category, at this link. Any questions? Email us at hello@artandolfaction.com