Wella Professionals is now accepting entries for the 2018 North American TrendVision Awards (NATVA). As one of the most prestigious hair competitions in the industry, Hairdressers at Heart – professionals, students and recent graduates (up to 12 months) from U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico – will engage with the latest trends in styling, cut and color by showcasing their artistic talent and technical skill for the opportunity to advance their career.

“For this year’s North American TrendVision Awards, we want to challenge professionals and students alike to bring their most creative visions to life,” said Carole Protat, senior creative director, North America Coty Professional Beauty. “NATVA is a career-­defining competition for stylists and students, and we look forward to seeing the artistic, cutting-­‐edge interpretations illustrated by this year’s entries.”

Inspired by seasonal trends, Wella Professionals has released two collections – Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter – to inspire NATVA competition entries. The Spring/Summer Collection highlights statement cuts and styles that are softened with Nontouring, fluid in gender expression and rich with neutral tones.

By contrast, the Autumn/Winter Collection emphasizes the intentional approach of everyday classics through Pure Chroma Nontouring and a bold palette of three colors – red, blue and black – played at different levels of intensity.

All NATVA contestants will participate in one of three categories: Creative Vision, Color Vision or Student. This year’s entries will be judged on the following criteria: consistency with Wella Professionals’ Trend Collections, technical finish, overall appeal and total number of social media votes. Color and creative vision winners of the 2018 NATVA competition will advance to the International Trend Vision Awards in Lisbon, Portugal, and have the chance to work backstage at New York Fashion Week (Creative Vision Category) or be featured in a Wella ad (Color Vision Category).

This year marks the first ­time the North American TrendVision Awards entries will be accepted via Instagram. To apply, entrants must create a style inspired by the Wella Professionals’ 2018 Trend’s and post to Instagram with a caption that includes two hashtags to indicate the category (#CreativeVision, #ColorVision and #Student) and country (#TrendVisionUSA, #TrendVisionPR and #TrendVisionCA).

Entries for the 2018 North American TrendVision Awards will close on May 8, and Semi-­Finalists will be announced on May 18. For more information about the 2018 North American TrendVision Awards, please visit wellaeducation.tumblr.com.