Going over and above Down Under – winning Australian business awards

According to several sources of varying provenance, ‘Don’t blow your own trumpet’ is a characteristically straight-talking, no-nonsense Australian phrase designed to deter the unwary from getting above themselves. The same sources are, however, conspicuously noncommittal when it comes to getting someone else to blow it; possibly because one risks straying into a world of euphemistic pain.

But if you were to interpret it as a metaphor for an external body that highlights others’ business accomplishments so they can win awards in Australia, that’s exactly where we come in. With the launch of Boost Awards APAC we’re bringing the expertise we’ve garnered as the world’s first and largest award entry consultancy to companies in the Asia-Pacific region.

Having notched up more than 2,000 wins for our global clients, there’s nothing we don’t know about awards strategy management, all the way from planning and evidence collecting to award writing and presentations. Please read on for our guide to the most prominent and credible business awards in Australia and contact us if you need help winning them.  

Australian Bank Awards

Australia hosts a plethora of high-profile gongs, such as the Australian Bank and Finance Awards and the DBM Australian Financial Awards, which pay extraordinary commercial and reputational dividends for the winners.

Meanwhile, Canstar’s Bank of the Year Awards and Innovation Excellence Awards are hotly-contested plaudits from Australia’s largest financial comparison site. All categories in both awards utilise a ratings methodology which calculates applicants’ scores, as opposed to requiring a written entry process.

Casting the net in a wider arc, myriad prominent award programmes exist across the APAC region (and indeed the globe) with categories for which Australian banks are decidedly eligible, such as the ABF Retail Banking Awards and the Euromoney Awards For Excellence. For example, in the former, HSBC Bank Australia has previously walked away with awards for Consumer Finance Product of the Year – Australia, Credit Card Initiative of the Year – Australia and New Consumer Lending Product of the Year – Australia. 

Other such schemes include a series of awards featuring Australian Banking categories helmed by the vastly influential Global Finance magazine, which attracts readers in 163 countries and therefore boasts an estimable international reach: the Global Finance World’s Best Bank Awards, Global Finance Private Bank Awards, Global Finance Best Investment Bank Awards and Global Finance Best Digital Bank Awards. These are hotly contested every year by the biggest Australian Banks and are seen as highly credible within the industry. 

Of equivalent importance and impact is PWM (Professional Wealth Management) magazine, published by the Financial Times, which proffers Australian banking awards to celebrate private banking groups that can demonstrate maximal integrity in every aspect of their dealings: The Banker Global Private Banking Awards, Global Private Banking Innovation Awards and Wealth Tech Awards.

With all banking awards which accommodate Australasian categories, our intercession could be the winning factor for those determined to showcase their services in the most compelling and best-evidenced way.

Australian Great Employer Awards

The days of unscrupulous, inflexible and tyrannical employers are mercifully over, by and large, and not before time. Dismaying exceptions may well still exist, but these tend to shrivel upon contact with the light. Today, companies which want to stay in business know they need testimonies and actual metrics to prove that their workforce matters to them; and a number of award schemes exist in Australia specifically to engender and encourage a beneficial symbiosis between employers and employees.

Several of these are itemised in the list below, which highlights just a small selection from the multiplicity of awards that decorate Australia’s working and cultural landscape. There are, for example, Australian HR awards, Australian tech awards and Australian marketing awards; and in most cases a plethora of subcategories ensures a close match with any business’s particular specialism.

There are even honour awards in Australia such as the dizzyingly high-profile Australian of the Year Awards (see below), which generate a mind-boggling acreage of media exposure. Invaluable publicity, vindication from one’s professional peers and an expanded network of potential business leads: what’s to stop you from contacting us to help steer you through to award success?

Australia’s Best Workplaces™ for Women

As above, certification is required to be featured on the Best Workplaces™ for Women list. Fifty companies gained this laudable commendation in 2023, ranging from the biotechnology and pharmaceuticals organisation Abbvie to the healthcare concern NeuroRehab Allied Health Network.

Deadline: May

Australian Small Business Champion Awards

The 2024 Australian Small Business Champion Awards mark the 25^th anniversary of this scheme which is open to all Australian businesses within the retail, service and manufacturing industries that have:

• 40 full-time employees or fewer (retail or service business)
• 100 full-time employees or fewer (manufacturing business).

Judges will consider each applicant’s approach, achievements, and attitudes towards dealing with challenges. There are categories for Small Business Champion Entrepreneur (over 30 years) and Young Small Business Champion Entrepreneur (30 years and under); Business Growth Award; Business of the Decade Award; and numerous subdivisions within the Champion Professional Services, Trades & B2B and Champion Consumer & Retail Small Businesses categories.

Deadline: February 

Australian Business Excellence Awards

With an evaluation process considered to be the most rigorous not just in Australia but possibly the entire world, the BEAs have such stringent requirements that there have actually been years in which no organisation won. Rather than being daunted, however, Australian companies have quite rightly seen this as a spur, increasing their determination to dig deeper and attain invaluable recognition from this most prestigious body, in the shape of the Australian Business Excellence Awards Mark. Working practices which encourage and engender sustainability, knowledge sharing and long-term success are particularly prized. Past winners include some of the biggest brands in Australia such as Ford, ANZ, Ericsson and Australia Post as well multiple government bodies. 

Deadline: July 

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Maskot Images

Australian Workplace Equality Index

Launched in November 2010, the AWEI provides exhaustive and rigorously objective annual benchmark data, derived from cross-sector employee surveys, to assess the impact of inclusion initiatives on organisational culture. Hosted by index sponsors Pride In Diversity, the yearly LGBTQ Inclusion Awards celebrate individuals and companies whose support, advocacy and policies have made a particularly noteworthy contribution towards greater LGBTQ inclusivity in the workplace. The award categories comprise CEO of the Year; Executive Leader of the Year; LGBTQ Role Model Award; Network Leader of the Year; Sally Webster Ally Award; Sapphire Inspire Award; and LGBTQ Inclusive Innovation Award.

Deadline: Submission period is January – February each year

iAwards

Introduced by the AIIA (Australian Information Industry Association) 30 years ago, the country’s longest-running innovation recognition programme trains a spotlight on new technological creations or initiatives that could bring about positive change within the workforce, nationally, or across entire global communities. Categories are split between Student & Education (for individual students or groups) and Organisational, with the latter including subcategories for, eg, Start-ups, Government & Public Sector, and Not-for-Profit & Community.

Deadline: Multiple dates depending on categories

Going over and above Down Under – winning Australian business awards

According to several sources of varying provenance, ‘Don’t blow your own trumpet’ is a characteristically straight-talking, no-nonsense Australian phrase designed to deter the unwary from getting above themselves. The same sources are, however, conspicuously noncommittal when it comes to getting someone else to blow it; possibly because one risks straying into a world of euphemistic pain.

But if you were to interpret it as a metaphor for an external body that highlights others’ business accomplishments so they can win awards in Australia, that’s exactly where we come in. With the launch of Boost Awards APAC we’re bringing the expertise we’ve garnered as the world’s first and largest award entry consultancy to companies in the Asia-Pacific region.

Having notched up more than 2,000 wins for our global clients, there’s nothing we don’t know about awards strategy management, all the way from planning and evidence collecting to award writing and presentations. Please read on for our guide to the most prominent and credible business awards in Australia and contact us if you need help winning them.     

Australian Bank Awards

Australia hosts a plethora of high-profile gongs, such as the Australian Bank and Finance Awards and the DBM Australian Financial Awards, which pay extraordinary commercial and reputational dividends for the winners.

Meanwhile, Canstar’s Bank of the Year Awards and Innovation Excellence Awards are hotly-contested plaudits from Australia’s largest financial comparison site. All categories in both awards utilise a ratings methodology which calculates applicants’ scores, as opposed to requiring a written entry process.

Casting the net in a wider arc, myriad prominent award programmes exist across the APAC region (and indeed the globe) with categories for which Australian banks are decidedly eligible, such as the ABF Retail Banking Awards and the Euromoney Awards For Excellence. For example, in the former, HSBC Bank Australia has previously walked away with awards for Consumer Finance Product of the Year – Australia, Credit Card Initiative of the Year – Australia and New Consumer Lending Product of the Year – Australia. 

Other such schemes include a series of awards featuring Australian Banking categories helmed by the vastly influential Global Finance magazine, which attracts readers in 163 countries and therefore boasts an estimable international reach: the Global Finance World’s Best Bank Awards, Global Finance Private Bank Awards, Global Finance Best Investment Bank Awards and Global Finance Best Digital Bank Awards. These are hotly contested every year by the biggest Australian Banks and are seen as highly credible within the industry. 

Of equivalent importance and impact is PWM (Professional Wealth Management) magazine, published by the Financial Times, which proffers Australian banking awards to celebrate private banking groups that can demonstrate maximal integrity in every aspect of their dealings: The Banker Global Private Banking Awards, Global Private Banking Innovation Awards and Wealth Tech Awards.

With all banking awards which accommodate Australasian categories, our intercession could be the winning factor for those determined to showcase their services in the most compelling and best-evidenced way.

Australian Great Employer Awards

The days of unscrupulous, inflexible and tyrannical employers are mercifully over, by and large, and not before time. Dismaying exceptions may well still exist, but these tend to shrivel upon contact with the light. Today, companies which want to stay in business know they need testimonies and actual metrics to prove that their workforce matters to them; and a number of award schemes exist in Australia specifically to engender and encourage a beneficial symbiosis between employers and employees.

Several of these are itemised in the list below, which highlights just a small selection from the multiplicity of awards that decorate Australia’s working and cultural landscape. There are, for example, Australian HR awards, Australian tech awards and Australian marketing awards; and in most cases a plethora of subcategories ensures a close match with any business’s particular specialism.

There are even honour awards in Australia such as the dizzyingly high-profile Australian of the Year Awards (see below), which generate a mind-boggling acreage of media exposure. Invaluable publicity, vindication from one’s professional peers and an expanded network of potential business leads: what’s to stop you from contacting us to help steer you through to award success?

Great Place to Work Australia

Not unreasonably, eligibility to enter these awards requires Great Place To Work certification. ‘You can’t be a great workplace unless your people say that you are’, observes Principal Strategic Advisor Matt Bush, and this inarguable precept is at the heart of a recognition survey model based upon the five pillars of credibility, respect, fairness, pride and camaraderie. Organisations seeking certification take part in the extensive employee Trust Index© survey which is completed by millions of employees annually. Great Place to Work attracts many of the top companies in Australia including Cisco, DHL, Salesforce and Adobe. 

Entry fees vary depending on the company size – prices start lower for the smallest Australian companies (10+ employees) but can go into the tens of thousands for large companies so this is something that needs to be considered. You can contact the organisers for an exact price for your company to enter. Certified companies that are the top performing according to the methodology are then recognised in the Best Workplaces™ in Australia list announced each year. 

In 2023, the top award went to the sales and marketing agency EFCOMM for its people-first company culture and exceptional employee satisfaction rating.

Deadline: May

Australia’s Best Workplaces™ for Women

As above, certification is required to be featured on the Best Workplaces™ for Women list. Fifty companies gained this laudable commendation in 2023, ranging from the biotechnology and pharmaceuticals organisation Abbvie to the healthcare concern NeuroRehab Allied Health Network.

Deadline: May

ABA100 The Australian Business Awards

Devised to salute Australian organisations that demonstrate a world-class standard of ‘business innovation, product innovation, technological achievement and employee engagement’, this awards program invites companies to submit entries for a specific business initiative, product or service. The remit is as wide-ranging and open-ended as it sounds, accommodating everything from projects and processes to ventures and undertakings. Categories include business awards for Innovation, Excellence, Technology, Transformation and Sustainability, as well as Community Contribution, Brand Management and Process Improvement.

Deadline: March

ABA Employer of Choice Awards

Another program under the same ABA umbrella, the Employer of Choice Awards recognises organisations that develop leading workplaces that maximise the full potential of their workforce through established policies and practices that demonstrate effective employee recruitment, engagement and retention. Past winners include some of the biggest Australian companies such as Bank Australia, DHL Express Australia and ALDI Australia. 

ABA100 Australian CX Awards

This partner programme to the ABA100 Australian Business Awards features categories for CX Management, CX Innovation and Digital CX Management. As with the Business Awards and Employer of Choice Awards, prospective applicants can visit the website and download entry guidelines in addition to receiving program updates.

Deadline: March 

Australian Small Business Champion Awards

The 2024 Australian Small Business Champion Awards mark the 25^th anniversary of this scheme which is open to all Australian businesses within the retail, service and manufacturing industries that have:

• 40 full-time employees or fewer (retail or service business)
• 100 full-time employees or fewer (manufacturing business).

Judges will consider each applicant’s approach, achievements, and attitudes towards dealing with challenges. There are categories for Small Business Champion Entrepreneur (over 30 years) and Young Small Business Champion Entrepreneur (30 years and under); Business Growth Award; Business of the Decade Award; and numerous subdivisions within the Champion Professional Services, Trades & B2B and Champion Consumer & Retail Small Businesses categories.

Deadline: February 

Australian Business Excellence Awards

With an evaluation process considered to be the most rigorous not just in Australia but possibly the entire world, the BEAs have such stringent requirements that there have actually been years in which no organisation won. Rather than being daunted, however, Australian companies have quite rightly seen this as a spur, increasing their determination to dig deeper and attain invaluable recognition from this most prestigious body, in the shape of the Australian Business Excellence Awards Mark. Working practices which encourage and engender sustainability, knowledge sharing and long-term success are particularly prized. Past winners include some of the biggest brands in Australia such as Ford, ANZ, Ericsson and Australia Post as well multiple government bodies. 

Deadline: July 

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Maskot Images

LinkedIn Top 25 Companies To Work For In Australia

LinkedIn data forms the basis of this list: an invaluable resource for professionals looking to advance their career in a supportive, encouraging working environment, and a well-earned feather in the cap for employers. The criteria for eligibility are as follows:

• Companies must have had at least 500 employees in the country as of December 2022
• Attrition must be no higher than 10% over the methodology time period.

Companies whose layoffs amount to more than 10% of their workforce (based on public announcements) between January 1, 2022 and the list launch are ineligible.

The Ranking is announced in April each year. 

The Australian Small Business Awards

The free-to-enter ASBA programme is open to any wholly Australian-owned-and-managed business with fewer than 20 full-time staff, and which isn’t the recipient of government funding. Entrants can nominate as many small businesses as they like, with an ASBA win representing inestimable exposure and a ringing endorsement.

Deadline: The ASBA programme is open all year round.

Australian Workplace Equality Index

Launched in November 2010, the AWEI provides exhaustive and rigorously objective annual benchmark data, derived from cross-sector employee surveys, to assess the impact of inclusion initiatives on organisational culture. Hosted by index sponsors Pride In Diversity, the yearly LGBTQ Inclusion Awards celebrate individuals and companies whose support, advocacy and policies have made a particularly noteworthy contribution towards greater LGBTQ inclusivity in the workplace. The award categories comprise CEO of the Year; Executive Leader of the Year; LGBTQ Role Model Award; Network Leader of the Year; Sally Webster Ally Award; Sapphire Inspire Award; and LGBTQ Inclusive Innovation Award.

Deadline: Submission period is January – February each year

iAwards

Introduced by the AIIA (Australian Information Industry Association) 30 years ago, the country’s longest-running innovation recognition programme trains a spotlight on new technological creations or initiatives that could bring about positive change within the workforce, nationally, or across entire global communities. Categories are split between Student & Education (for individual students or groups) and Organisational, with the latter including subcategories for, eg, Start-ups, Government & Public Sector, and Not-for-Profit & Community.

Deadline: Multiple dates depending on categories

Telstra Best of Business Awards 

Dedicated to celebrating small and medium-sized businesses (with fewer than 200 employees), this awards scheme boasts an extremely heartening focus on diversity, inclusivity and responsibility. Alongside categories for Outstanding Growth and Embracing Innovation, Promoting Sustainability and Championing Health. Furthermore, there are awards for category winners from each Australian state.

Deadline: Register by May

AFR BOSS Most Innovative Companies 

Won in 2023 by the Melbourne-based engineering and technology company Sypaq Systems for its flat-pack cardboard drones (used by Ukrainian forces), this award programme helmed by the Australian Financial Review (AFR) equates to a unique promotional showcase and reputational endorsement. Winners will be able to share their messaging and achievements with AFR’s 3.5 million readership while also opening doors for fresh collaboration with other innovation leaders. All entrants will receive an individualised assessment and innovation benchmarking report assembled by the consulting firm Inventium. Among the industry categories are awards for Media & Marketing; Property, Construction & Transport; and Health Industries.

Deadline: May

Australian of the Year Awards 

It would be remiss not to end with these awards. Dating back to 1960, these awards celebrate Australians who ‘bring about great change’, ‘give a voice to those who need to be heard’ or ‘humbly serve their local community.’ This year’s winner, Taryn Brumfitt, is a body image activist, director, writer and speaker, best known for her Embrace documentary (available on Netflix) which examines the issue of women’s body loathing. Meanwhile, the 2023 Local Hero category was won by Amar Singh, founder of Turbans 4 Australia, which packages and distributes 450 food and grocery hampers per week to people experiencing food insecurity in Western Sydney. There are also award categories for the Young Australian of the Year (aged 16-30) and Senior Australian of the Year (aged 65+).

Deadline: Ongoing entry but in yearly cycles

Next steps?

In marked contrast to Australia itself, space is limited in this article. But inasmuch as this vast country contains a wealth of largely untapped resources and as-yet-undiscovered possibilities, the same applies to businesses that could be on the cusp of having their potential unlocked with the enhanced prospects that result from an award win.

Contact us via Boost APAC at  www.boost-awards.com for a full rundown of the services we offer and the guidance we provide which routinely turns underappreciated contenders into outright winners.

Why not let us help you plan your Australian and APAC award strategy? Or write up your written submissions? We’ve been helping businesses select and win business awards for over ten years. In fact we are the world’s awards experts and have won over 2,000 credible awards! Details of our award entry writing services can be found here.

We look forward to hearing from you and helping you win awards.

Marco.

(C) This article was written by Marco Rossi and is the intellectual property of award entry consultants Boost Awards