Entry Fees:
Each entry is $70.00 each. Nomination categories, Leadership and RESA® Approved Instructor of the Year have no entry fee.
Eligibility Requirements
Staging, Redesign and Short Term Rental Categories:
- Last year’s winners and finalists may enter again in the same category.
- The Home Staging Industry Awards® service North America.
- Members with ethics complaints or disciplinary actions in the last two years are not eligible. Members in good standing are eligible.
- Members must maintain their RESA® membership during the year.
- Submissions must be of an actual client staging/redesign and not an example of work done in the stager’s own home or property.
- You may enter as many projects as you want in each category.
- Each project requires one before and after example that has been completed in the previous 12 months.
- Occupied Category: A combination of owner supplied, rented or stager-owned inventory is allowed.
Lori Kim Polk Lifetime Achievement and the Kathy Nielsen Spirit Categories:
- Lori Kim Polk Lifetime Achievement and the Kathy Nielsen Spirit award may only be won once.
- The members vote will determine three finalists.
State/Provincial President Categories:
- Must be a RESA® Member currently serving in the leadership role of State or Provincial president.
Real Estate Agent Category:
- Must be nominated by a RESA® member.
- Must not have any current ethics violations on record through their association or broker of record.
Most Influential People in Real Estate Staging Category:
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Open to RESA® Members and non members.
Photo Editing – All Categories
Allowed:
- Color enhancement, hue, saturation, contrast, etc.
- Elimination of lamp cords.
Not Allowed:
- Virtually staged photos are not allowed.
- You may not add accessories, light fixtures, change wall colors, or add furniture, etc.
- Photo frames and drop shadows.
Judging
Ethics Violations – All Categories
Members who have had ethics violations or disciplinary actions taken against them in the last 24-months are not eligible.
Staging, Redesign and Short-Term Rental Categories:
- Entries will be previewed for rules violations by a Peer Review Committee, and each entrant will have an opportunity to correct any possible rules violations.
- The Peer Review Committee will judge each entry on a scale from 1-5 (1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest) on the criteria for each category.
- Entries who score a 3 or higher will move to the next round of judging by the members.
- Members will vote to determine the finalists, top tens and overall winners.
- Entries with the highest score will become the winner in that category.
- In the event of a tie, the Peer Review Committee will break the tie by voting. This vote will also be a blind vote.
- The Peer Review Committee is not responsible for not catching rules violations during the review process. If a rules violation is caught after we launch voting the entry will be disqualified. To avoid a rules violation, read the rules and don’t submit photos that don’t qualify.
- Members may submit as many projects as they wish in the same category. Because we are focusing on a per project basis, this means a company may win several of the top ten spots, instead of only one.
- No refunds will be given for disqualified entries for any reason.
Judging Real Estate Agent of the Year Category
- Entries who score a 3 or higher will move to the next round of judging by the members.
- Members will vote on a scale from 1-5 (1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest) to determine the winners.
- The members vote will determine three finalists.
- Entries with the highest score will become the winner in that category.
- In the event of a tie, the Peer Review Committee will vote again on the tied finalists.
- Does not have to be a RESA® member.
- Judging Lori Kim Polk Lifetime Achievement and the Kathy Nielsen Spirit Categories
- Members will vote on a scale from 1-5 (1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest) to determine the winners.
- The members vote will determine three finalists.
Judging State/Provincial President of the Year
- Members will vote on a scale from 1-5 (1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest) to determine the winner.
- In the event of a tie, the National Board of Directors will vote again on the tied finalists.
Disqualification Criteria
- If applicants are discovered soliciting votes from any RESA® members or the Peer Review Committee, they will be automatically disqualified. The Most Influential People in Real Estate Staging is allowed to solicit votes from the public. Anyone using technology to add fake votes will be disqualified.
- Any photos submitted in previous RESA® competitions are not allowed.
- You may not use the same photos in more than one category. If the same photos are used in multiple categories, they will apply to the first entry received and all other submissions with the same photos will be disqualified.
- Photos with watermarks or any information as to the stager’s identity or geographical location will disqualify the entry. This includes the file name.
- No refunds will be given for entries that are disqualified, or for entries who do not score high enough to remain in the competition.
- Any applicants discovered breaking any of the rules will be disqualified.
- Projects of kitchens and bathrooms are not allowed. Photos of kitchens or bathrooms in the background and not the main focus of the photo are allowed. Kitchens and bathrooms in the Short Term Rental Category are ok.
- Before photos in the vacant categories are not allowed to have construction items or small staging inventory items in the before photos. The before photo must be a vacant room with no furniture, art, rugs, accessories, boxes, construction materials, keys on counters, files on counters, people, paper floor protectors, etc. To avoid being disqualified please don’t submit photos that include items that are not attached to the property.
- Before photos in the occupied categories should reflect how the homeowner used the space.
- Any submissions in the staging, redesign categories or STR Categories with people in them will be disqualified. Faces blurred are not allowed. No exceptions.
Best Practices
Before and after photos should be taken from the same angle. This is a best practice, not a rule.
Tip: When the angle is off to the degree where it is not possible to tell if the room is the same, tend to score lower than photos that have the same angle.
Open to Non RESA® Members
Most Influential People in Real Estate Staging
Real Estate Agent