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82 Bold Finalists Announced for the Pause Awards ‘22

10 November, 2022
82 Bold Finalists Announced for the Pause Awards ‘22 | News | Pause Awards
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Ann Nounce
10 November, 2022
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Announcing the 5th annual Pause Awards Finalists, powered by VicGov, that represent the most ambitious and forward-thinking companies in Australia. 

Dubbed as ‘The Home for Champions’ that’s building better ecosystems, the Pause Awards programme in 2022 is setting high standards for business recognition. Supporting this mission are the key partners from companies such as: Blackmagic Design, AWS Startups but also Give a Grad a Go, Pappyon and PositiveHR.

The Pause Awards ‘22 entrants showed businesses have a key role to play in creating a more equitable and regenerative world. Submissions were authentic and bold in their approach to tackling some of society’s biggest challenges and delivering real and measurable change where it matters.

Lee Tonitto B. Com, MBA, GAICD and Chair at Pause Awards

There are many new things we’ve launched in 2022, one of them are 15 new categories that add to 32 categories in total, which sit under five key Category Tracks. Interesting fact to point out is that some of the new categories almost received no submissions that were aimed at VC firms, investors and Angels. 

One of the new fun categories is People’s Choice Award, which allows anybody to vote for the entries submitted, just by signing up. This epic race that took turns each week, resulted in Trendii winning with 522 votes! Trendii is changing the way you find fashion inspiration by allowing you to shop the looks of others, from their search engine, images, social media and websites.

This year we took a huge leap of faith to completely overhaul the award programme, from the branding and positioning, new website and trophy design, entry questions to building a new portal for entrants and judges.

George Hedon, CEO & Founder, Pause Awards

Let’s look at how 2022 performed in terms of the industries that entered awards.

Top 5 industries in 2022:

  1. Web/ Internet Services
  2. Financial Services
  3. Marketing & Advertising
  4. Education
  5. Health/ Consumer Goods & services/ Computer Tech

The 2022 saw the Education sector jump one spot up to fourth place, remarkably the Food & Beverage industry has completely disappeared from the entries altogether. There were some Hospitality, Travel & Leisure entries but pretty dry in the beverage department that charted at the third spot in 2021, whilst Web & Internet Services took the lead from Computer Tech. It’s refreshing to see Health breaking into the Top 5 industry chart this year. 

In terms of the most popular categories, there has definitely been some reshuffling.

Top 5 categories in 2022:

  1. Defiant Ones
  2. I Wish I’d Done That 
  3. Hammer
  4. Wildfire/ Company of the Year
  5. Women in Business

The Defiant Ones category, for new tech breakthroughs, was introduced last year and floated at fourth place, but it took the lead this year. Out of 15 new categories in 2022, we saw Wildfire, Company of the Year and Women in Business rise to the Top 5 pushing Out of the Garage for scaling globally and B-Good for a good business off the top chart.

From the macro perspective, there is no mistake that Australian businesses strived for excellence this year to combat unstable markets, hence why the Excellence Category Track was the most entered, followed by the Good and Operators.

George Hedon, CEO & Founder, Pause Awards

Our incredible judging pool of over 50 industry luminaries from across the globe have completed the First Round of judging in a record time, mostly due to our new Judge Portal system that distributes the scores.

The Final Round is done by the Judging Board, chaired by Lee Tonitto, Managing Director at Tonitto and Partners along with Ben Ford, Head of Growth at Frollo, Christina Gerakiteys; Co-CEO at SingularityU Australia; Sonia Clarke, Director, Future of Work, PwC and Tom Leyden, CIO at Longview who have debated and deliberated the winners.

The Pause Awards are highly competitive! The judges are experts in their field to ensure the highest quality of winning entries each year. The judging is based on the merit of an entry. We’d like to congratulate everyone on their brilliant efforts in navigating the 2022 turbulent and unexpected market forces!

Finalists of Pause Awards ‘22:

CULTURE

Diverse Co. – Wisr
Medium Team Culture – IMC
Work Sweet Work – Honeycomb Strategy
Work Sweet Work – Megaphone
Work Sweet Work – MindArc
Work Sweet Work – Precision IT
Work Sweet Work – PwC Australia
Work Sweet Work – Wisr

EXCELLENCE

Company of the Year – Aquarzon
Company of the Year – Aussie Broadband
Company of the Year – Birchal
Company of the Year – Bodd
Company of the Year – United for Care
Defiant Ones – Bare Cremation
Defiant Ones – Compass IoT
Defiant Ones – Driveschool Enterprises
Defiant Ones – Great Wrap
Defiant Ones – Hnry
Defiant Ones – Labflow by Comply Group
Defiant Ones – Matrak Enterprises
Defiant Ones – Switch4Schools
Hammer – Aquarzon
Hammer – Aussie Broadband
Hammer – Birchal
Hammer – Marketplacer
Hammer – Music Health
Hammer – Pentanet
I Wish I’d Done That – Bare Cremation
I Wish I’d Done That – Driveschool Enterprises
I Wish I’d Done That – Great Wrap
I Wish I’d Done That – Labflow by Comply Group
I Wish I’d Done That – LunchFox
I Wish I’d Done That – Squizify
I Wish I’d Done That – Switch4Schools
I Wish I’d Done That – Tern-x
I Wish I’d Done That – The Smoothie Bombs
On the rise – Aerologix
On the rise – Bare Cremation
On the rise – Linkmate
On the rise – Music Health
On the rise – The Separation Guide
Women In Business – Angela Harbinson
Women In Business – Christina Hobbs
Women In Business – Kate Pollard
Women In Business – Vanessa Doake

GOOD

B-Good – Linkmate
B-Good – Neometro
Circular Pioneer – Circle In
Circular Pioneer – DiaperRecycle
Circular Pioneer – Goterra
Going Green – Great Wrap
Going Green – Verve Super
Going Green – evee
You’ve Got Ethics – Aquarzon
You’ve Got Ethics – The People Spot
You’ve Got Ethics – Verve Super

GROWTH

Design First – Quad Lock
Design First – Tern-x
Out of the Garage – Matrak
Out of the Garage – Quad Lock
Out of the Garage – STEM Punks
Wildfire – Aquarzon
Wildfire – Food Frontier
Wildfire – Linktree
Wildfire – Midnight Health
Wildfire – Pentanet
Wildfire – Your Stuff Made

OPERATORS

C-Suite – Dom Pym
C-Suite – Ronen Heine
C-Suite – Yogendra Segar
Do You Know Who I am – Mark Brownlee
Future Builder – Alex Goulios
Future Builder – Cube Online
Future Builder – Jordan Shreeve
Future Builder – Slava Kozlovskii
Hottest Hub – Hub Australia
Launch Pad – INCUBATE (University of Sydney)
Launch Pad – Startupbootcamp Australia
Launch Pad – Stone & Chalk
Super Connector – Michelle Mannering
Super Connector – Paz Pisarski

The winners will be announced at the Pause Awards Night & Afterparty on 5 December at classy BOND Melbourne, and in the media the following day. Please get your team tickets via this link.

If you attend, we will send you a Free Entry ticket for a private ‘Breakfast with Champions’ – Sponsored by AWS Startups on 7th DEC as well. At the breakfast, a selected panel of winners, investors and people from the ecosystem (TBA on 6 DEC) will share their learnings from the success and failures in business. 

Huge thanks to all who entered, supportive partners and big congrats to finalists! 

See you at the Awards Night & Afterparty.


Send us an email to info@pausefest.com.au if you need further assistance. BOOK TICKETS TO AWARDS NIGHT & AFTERPARTY.


Congrats to all winners at Pause Awards '22!
Pause Awards - Standard Trophy
2022 Hall of Fame winner – Prof. Fiona Wood
Pause Awards '23 entries open on 17 May
Pause Awards Trophy

Big shout to all Pause Awards '22 winners!


READ MORE

Category tracks



Creating a safe and open space in which everyone thrives and the collaboration flows through all levels and titles with the power of the one team. The entries should demonstrate how the transformation has been achieved across core business functions, that have delivered a positive impact and growth for business, staff, stakeholders and customers. Judges will only refer to written entries during the evaluation process. No additional research will be undertaken, and for this reason, we recommend you give detailed and sharp answers.

Celebrating commercial effectiveness through success in the marketplace by leaving a dent in the universe, no matter what the size of the company. The entries should demonstrate the highest levels of expertise, leadership and vision in the application of their business strategies. Judges will only refer to written entries during the evaluation process. No additional research will be undertaken, and for this reason, we recommend you give detailed and sharp answers.

Standing up for your purpose and going beyond together as a team aligned on the single mission to positively impact the environment, people and community. The entries should demonstrate ideas intended to change the world; work which sets out to positively impact ingrained gender inequality, social imbalance or injustice. Judges will only refer to written entries during the evaluation process. No additional research will be undertaken, and for this reason, we recommend you give detailed and sharp answers.

Only awarded to a single entry in each category track, Grand Prix is the highest accolade in Pause Awards. To win the Grand Prix, the entire Judging Board must unanimously agree that the entry deserves the accolade of being the best in class.

​​Focusing on the productivity and elegance of execution to deliver impactful ideas to a market (or many) with the power to cut through the noise. Entries should demonstrate how the innovation and optimisation of the customer journey led to scaled consumer engagement and commercial success. Judges will only refer to written entries during the evaluation process. No additional research will be undertaken, and for this reason, we recommend you give detailed and sharp answers.

Elevating every voice in the ecosystem is not just important for its collective success, industry development but also for the future growth. The entries should demonstrate ingenuity which leads to the creation of new products and services, through leadership, by elevating the internal culture and communities they serve. Judges will only refer to written entries during the evaluation process. No additional research will be undertaken, and for this reason, we recommend you give detailed and sharp answers.


Categories


  • Diverse Co.

    For nurturing an inclusive environment. This award recognises a workplace that has successfully and intentionally encouraged innovation among diverse employees.


  • Large team culture

    For fostering innovation. This award recognises a workplace with over 1000+ employees that has outpaced their cohort in fostering a culture of innovation.


  • Medium team culture

    For fostering innovation. This award recognises a workplace with 21-999 employees that has outpaced their cohort in fostering a culture of innovation.


  • Small team culture

    For fostering innovation. This award recognises a workplace with less than 20 employees that has outpaced their cohort in fostering a culture of innovation


  • Work sweet work

    For a great workplace culture. This award recognises a company that has managed to improve or attain outstanding levels of employee engagement, retention and satisfaction.


  • Company of the Year

    For the best company. This award recognises a company leadership, success, ambition to excel against all odds with the solid future development plans.


  • Defiant ones

    For new tech breakthroughs. This award recognises a company that defines the future of the industry they play in.


  • Hall of fame

    For a lifetime achievement. This award recognises a game-changer who paved the way by breaking new grounds and inventing new categories.


  • Hammer

    For nailing it. This award recognises a company's success – on their own terms – in the market.


  • I wish I'd done that

    For sheer brilliance. This award recognises a company's simple and clever idea in a niche market.


  • Indi

    For new and First Peoples. This award recognises a successful company with its founders from indigenous or ethnic heritage that gained success in the market.


  • On the rise

    For early stage mavericks. This award recognises an early stage startup that has done well in its first three years.


  • Prodigy

    For being exceptional. This award recognises a young person with exceptional qualities or abilities.


  • Women in business

    For breaking the mould. This award recognises a successful female leader and entrepreneur who is paving the way forward for the future generations.


  • B-Good

    For a good business. This award recognises a company that has done well to change our economic system to positively impact all stakeholders through their commercial practice.


  • Circular Pioneer

    For making a difference. This award category recognises a company that is pioneering their circular efforts.


  • Going green

    For delivering impact at scale. This award recognises a company that is actively leading and delivering impact and scale through sustainable efforts in clean energy, climate change, healthy environment, social and economic justice etc.


  • You've got ethics

    For the leadership in environmental social governance. This award category recognises a company that is promoting accountability, good governance, leadership in Corporate Social Responsibility and solving societal problems.


  • Design first

    For design lead products. This award recognises a company that is using design to drive product innovation with the entire company onboard.


  • Inception

    For visionary thinkers. This award recognises a person that came up with the transformative idea that can change the world for better.


  • Out of the garage

    For scaling globally. This award recognises a company's global growth, expansion, and success.


  • Unexpected twist

    For a great pivot. This award recognises a company that has taken an unexpected pivot in their business or career.


  • Wildfire

    For conquering a marketplace. This award recognises a company that has made a significant impact on the marketplace in the shortest amount of time.


  • Backbone

    For backing the future idea. This award recognises a VC firm with a portfolio of companies that have made a significant contribution to the growth and success of the AU economy.


  • Brave Angel

    For early stage support. This award recognises an angel investor that has garnered a portfolio of companies and has a good track record of helping founders succeed.


  • C-Suite

    For the best leadership. This award recognises the highest-ranking executive that has impeccable leadership, management and interpersonal skills.


  • Do you know who I am

    For the silent achiever. This award recognises a person that has been responsible for the success of their company from the backstage.


  • Future builder

    For grit to start a new venture. This award recognises a founder at any level and life stage who has decided to start jumping the hoops of their own business.


  • Hottest hub

    For the best community. This award recognises a co-working space that provides boutique experience, world class facilities with community management.


  • Launch pad

    For activating the support systems. This award recognises an accelerator that has a good reputation in providing the best startup program with industry connections.


  • Super connector

    For being the community champ. This award recognises a person for a significant contribution to the success of their clients or the community.

Pause Awards '23 is launching on 17 May
00d : 00h : 00m : 00s
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