And the winner for best fragrance is...

Shirrin Sarkaree traces her fingers along a black glass bottle designed in the shape of two blooming roses. Gently opening its cap, adorned with a golden butterfly motif, she sniffs the fragrance. Then leaning back, she closes her eyes, revelling in the heady scent.

Spraying a little on a thin strip of paper, she waves it under her nose several times before jotting down a score for the scent, the bottle, packaging and overall presentation.

It’s 11am on a Sunday in Fashion Avenue, The Dubai Mall, and Shirrin, deputy purchasing manager at Dubai Duty Free, is one of the 12 judges for Fragrance Foundation Arabia’s fifth Fragrance Awards, seen as the equivalent to the Oscars for the perfume industry.

Seated along a long sleek table the panel have a tough task: to smell and review more than 50 fragrances competing for nine awards. The 14 winners, including five categories awarded through online voting, will be announced at a star-studded finale taking place this week at The Gate, DIFC, Dubai. Heading the jury is celebrated television personality Ali Jaber. The group TV director of MBC and Arab’s Got Talent Judge sits at the head of the table.

“Fragrance to me signifies an emotional connection and a strong cultural identity,” he says.

“My earliest memory of a perfume is the one that my dad used to spray, it was Paco Rabanne.

“I still love that smell.” He’s busy looking at a bottle while sniffing the perfume strip handed to him.

From Karl Lagerfeld by Creation to Jimmy Choo Man by Inter Parfums there are 13 high-end fragrances competing for the title of International Prestige Men’s Fragrance. The judges have to mark each one out of a maximum of three points each for uniqueness, personality, memorability, packaging, overall presentation, innovation and bottle design.

Behind the jury table an array of perfumes sit waiting to be judged in their attractively packaged boxes. A team from the Fragrance Foundation Arabia takes turns to spray liberal amounts of scents on thin strips of paper. These strips along with the bottles are then passed across to the table for the judges to sniff and assess. Besides International Prestige Men’s Fragrance the judges have to mark points for eight other categories including International Prestige women’s fragrance, International Popular Appeal men and women, Arabian Prestige men and women, Arabian Popular Appeal men and women fragrances and the oriental set of the year.

If Ali Jaber is about the emotion a scent can evoke, for Shirrin it’s the packaging that matters most. “I find the presentation, packaging and bottle design of a perfume most attractive. It creates an impact before I even open it to smell the contents,” she says.

Her views aren’t necessarily shared by the rest of the jury, but each of them brings a wealth of professional expertise to the panel, and their easy camaraderie, openly voicing their likes and dislikes, makes the session easier. There are plenty of giggles and chatter among the serious sniffing. On Ali Jaber’s right sits Karen Pasquali Jones, Friday editor; seated next to her is Ghassan Hajjaj, training manager, YSL L’Oréal, who is sat next to Ghania Azzam, head of fashion and beauty at Zahrat Al Khaleej magazine. Shadi Samra, manager Arabian Oud, is next on the table and along with him is Huzaifa Attari, head perfumer at Swiss Arabian Perfumes Group.

Diagonally opposite Ali Jaber is octogenarian John Bailey, honourary member of the British Society of Perfumers and chairman of the inaugural Middle East Fragrance Awards. The jury member on John’s left is Tarek Anbar from Fragrance House followed by Mai Badr, editor of Arab Luxury Lifestyle Publication and Serge Kotovsky, owner of Creation. Shirrin takes the next seat followed finally by Menno Oosterhoff, managing director, P&G Prestige Middle East and Africa.

It takes almost an hour for the first two category rounds in the international prestige section to end. The Popular Appeal awards, next on the list, are mid-range perfumes that are more widely available. There are only three perfumes in each category, yet competition is tough as the content and packaging of all are impressive.

Emperor by Arabian Oud, the first on the list, has an elegantly designed bottle with an emperor’s crown as a cap. It contains a spice mix of musk, gardenia, tonka, vanilla and sandalwood. The second competitor is the zesty Lacoste L!ve perfume with a unique mix of lime and liquorice. Last on the list is the classy bottle of Vigour by Swiss Arabian with top notes of French jasmine, black truffle, black currant and effervescent citrus.

By the end of the first four categories the judges have smelled and assessed 25 different fragrances. Yet there is no trace of exhaustion or confusion on their faces.

“We are used to smelling several fragrances every day. I enjoy the process. It’s not tiring,” smiles Menno Oosterhoff, while taking a strong whiff from a perfumed paper.

The smile lingers on as he relishes the fragrance, then pauses for a moment and jots a score on the sheet. Several P & G prestige perfumes such as Lacoste, Gucci, Dolce& Gabbana and Hugo Boss are also contenders for the awards. But when they make an appearance Menno is neither allowed to mark them nor discuss them.

He opens a small jar in front of him – it’s full of coffee beans that neutralise the nose when the jury sniff it between scents.

Two members from the Fragrance Foundation Arabia team constantly move around the judges with perfumed strips of paper and bottles of perfume. Watching them dash from one seat to the other makes Shirrin exclaim, “I wish this was a sushi train table and the perfume bottles would just reach us on their own.” The idea makes everyone laugh.

Keeping a hawk eyed interest on all the action around the jury table is Shahzad Haider, chairman of the Fragrance Foundation Arabia. He is the one responsible for the foundation and the awards.

“It took me four months of co-ordination to get this jury panel together,” he reveals.

By 1pm four awards in the international category have been assessed. A break for lunch is strongly advocated by Shahzad before the jury begins reviewing the Arabian range of perfumes. Following several courses of delicious Emirati food the panel rejoins with a renewed fervour.

The Arabian Oud category is characterised by a strong fragrance and is the pride of the Middle Eastern region. Oud, which is also called agarwood, has a warm, woody and aromatic scent.

There are again four categories in this series. Several international perfumes also make an appearance here. “People in the Middle East are very aware about perfumes and make intelligent choices,” explains John Bailey.

“Oud has today found international appeal and most prominent perfume manufacturers today boast of an oud perfume in their collection.” A veteran in the field of perfumes John has been associated with the fragrance awards here since its inception.

A little before mid afternoon the focus shifts to an adjacent table laid with perfumes from the Oriental set, the last segment of the awards.

As the perfumes are very heavy they cannot be brought to the jury table. Instead the judges move around this counter assessing the four contenders displayed.

With this final assessment an exciting and aromatic day comes to an end promising to unravel the best scents of the Arab world soon. Until then, train your noses to place your bets on the Oscar winner.