The finalists for this year’s Black Diamond Award, which honours the best spa manager of the year in Europe, have been announced.

Finalists hail from five countries: France, Italy, Monaco, Germany and Switzerland. The winner will be announced at this year’s Forum Hotel & Spa event, held on 7 June at the Hotel Four Seasons George V in Paris.

The Black Diamond Award was created by the Forum Hotel & Spa event to acknowledge an outstanding figure in the hotel and spa industry, and is awarded to those who have earned the recognition of peers and journalists for their dedication and excellence within the industry.

An international jury, headed up this year by award-winning spa director and designer Patrizia Bortolin, selects the finalists and winner.

Bortolin has recently been named spa director at the upcoming Euphoria Retreat in Greece. In addition to being an award-winning spa director and concept designer, Bortolin is a mindfulness trainer and image consultant, specialising in project management for spa openings. She created, launched and managed for seven years the Spa of Borgo Egnazia and also managed a leading medical spa in Tuscany and on Lake Garda.

This year’s finalists for the Black Diamond award include Erica D’Angelo, spa director at the JW Marriott Venice Resort & Spa; Patricia Kintzinger, spa manager at Spa Cinq Mondes at Monte Carlo Bay, Monaco; Sophie Demaret, spa director at l’Hotel Crillon, Paris; Hans Peter Veit, spa director at Victoria-Jungfrau Grand Hotel & Spa in Interlaken, Switzerland; Helene Hirigoyen, spa manager at l’InterContinental Paris Le Grand and Hyatt Madeleine; and Christiane Drechsel, operations manager for spa service at Sea Chefs Cruise Services in Germany.

Last year, the award went to UK’s Dormy House Spa manager, Zoe Douglas.