The British Hallmarking Council's Touchstone award for trading standards teams is open for submissions.

About the Touchstone award

The Touchstone award is issued annually by the British Hallmarking Council (BHC) for work relating to hallmarking. The award is granted to the authority, or individual working for an authority, for the most innovative or effective exercise in work relating to hallmarking.

The award has 4 categories of applications, which are:

 an enforcement operation or activity

 an educational activity

 an information activity

 a published article

Read about previous Touchstone Award winners

Application form and deadline

Applications close on Monday 5^th May 2025

Your application must relate to all or part of the previous 12 months prior to the closing application date.

To enter, complete the Touchstone award 2025 application form here 

You should also read the Touchstone Award privacy notice [link to notice]

Prize

The Touchstone award is an impressive sterling silver plate with a value of £3,500, which your authority keeps for one year.

Each member of your application team (up to a maximum of 4) is also given an individual prize, inscribed with their name, which they can keep.

Benefits of winning the award

The British Hallmarking Council provides high profile publicity for the winning entry of the Touchstone Award, making three award presentations throughout the year:

• Firstly, the winner will be presented with the award at the national Chartered Trading Standards Institute annual conference dinner. Two places at the dinner table are paid for.
• Secondly the winner is offered the opportunity for the award to be presented to your local authority at a full meeting of council. This raises the profile of your Trading Standards Service with all elected members and directors of your authority.
• Thirdly, the winner will receive an invitation to attend a training event and presentation to the London Assay Office, Goldsmiths’ Company, London, for a training day which includes:
  • a hallmarking training presentation
  • a tour of the London Assay Office
  • luncheon in the splendid Goldsmiths’ Company dining room

All this is free of charge and your local authority only has to pay for transport costs and accommodation where necessary.

If you win the award you’ll receive:

• publicity in respect of the winning authority in various national newsletters and periodicals
• an article in the Journal of Trading Standards featuring your winning application together with photographs
• an announcement on the British Hallmarking Council website

Preparing your entry

There are 7 sections in the application form:

• The objective of the activity.
• The target audience.
• The description of the activity undertaken.
• The outcomes based on the activity undertaken.
• What publicity was generated by the activity?
• What follow up work is planned?
• Based on your work relating to hallmarking, how do you think hallmarking enforcement in the UK could be improved? In your view, what actions would act as a deterrent to breaking hallmarking law?

You need to provide evidence of the work that you have done and support your statements by means of relevant evidence.

It is important to address the questions and cover the criteria, but there is no minimum or maximum number of words for each section.

If you have questions about your entry please contact the Secretary at SecretariatBHC@outlook.com.

Judging

The British Hallmarking Council Touchstone Assessment Panel is composed of members of the British Hallmarking Council and industry experts. These include:

• Trading Standards Officers with experience in hallmarking, enforcement and audit
• BHC assessors

Assessing and scoring

The 7 questions have criteria set against them and the answers given by the applicant are scored against these.

Each member of the Assessment Panel carries out an independent scoring assessment and then, at a later date, the panel meets to consider their individual scores. The panel members’ results are then collated and discussed before reaching agreement on the winner.