The COVR Visionary Awards are judged by both the members of COVR, who significantly represent the Mind/Body/Spirit industry, and also the general public.
Votes from COVR members count 60 percent toward the total score. Votes from the general public make up the other 40 percent.
This is a change from several years ago when the awards were judged only by a selected panel of retailers. The change is intended to give you an opportunity to leverage the marketing potential of your entry by conducting a social media or other type of campaign that draws the general public to vote for your product, while still preserving the weight of retailer and industry member opinion. It also allows entrants a significant opportunity to present their work to the public and the industry through the awards process.
Some people have expressed concern that the awards are no longer juried. However, this is a misunderstanding. We rank the votes among each class of voters then average the rank. This avoids the bias of totaling the votes and prevents anyone from winning by sheer weight of social media or by popularity. In practice the extra weight given to votes from COVR members means that it is nearly impossible for a product to win without the majority of votes from these members, assuring that the winners in each category have been endorsed through voting by those who work daily in the Mind/Body/Spirit industry.
Example
Your entry
You get 10 votes from COVR members, putting your industry rank at #1. You receive 10 votes from the general public putting your public rank at #2.
Your industry rank (1) is 60 percent of your score, so 1 times 0.60 = 0.6
Your public rank (2) is 40 percent of your score, so 2 times 0.40 = 0.8
We average those numbers, so 0.6 plus 0.8 divided by 2 (or the number of entries in a sub-category) = 0.7. This is your final score.
The other entry
Someone else receives 2 votes from COVR members putting their industry rank at #2. They receive 100 votes from the general public putting their public rank at #1.
Their industry rank (2) is 60 percent of their score, so 2 times 0.60 = 1.2
Their public rank (1) is 40 percent of their score, so 1 times 0.40 = 0.4
We average those numbers, so 1.2 plus 0.4 divided by 2 (or the number of entries in a sub-category) = 0.8. This is their final score.
Final result
The lower number places higher in the scored judging. Your score (0.7) ranks higher than their score (0.8) so you win the award in this category.
People’s Choice Winners of the Year are chosen in each major category (such as Books) according to the entry that received the most general public vote. Industry Choice Winners of the Year are chosen in each major category according to the entry that received the highest number of COVR member votes. “Of the Year” Winners in each of the major categories — Audio & Visual, Books, Jewelry, and Products — are those entries who had the highest combined winning score across all sub-categories based on the formula above.
Iconic categories are not eligible for any People’s Choice, Industry Choice, or “of the year” awards.
If any ties result, COVR will use the total of number of COVR votes to break the ties and declare a winner.
January 7, 2021