About

We are an independent innovation agent, established in 2018 as a means to recognise the most ambitious and forward-thinking businesses. Originally part of the Pause Fest, the world’s leading festival for business and creativity in Australia.

We can’t wait to welcome the new and repeating champions of business in Australia, because the success is worth celebrating! The awards are inclusive and focused on all aspects of the ecosystem building by highlighting the champions and unearthing the secret gems. Reflecting on the mammoth growth of the local ecosystem, Pause Awards now honours under five key category tracks: Growth, Excellence, Operators, Good and Culture.

Only 1000 words stand between you and the Pause Award, and our judges. They score the facts, results, innovation and impact created in the marketplace. And if you are a stand out you may even win the Grand Prix trophy, our highest accolade.

We expect to honour many great business achievements this year, and we hope that yours is one of them.

Pause Awards started in 2018 as part of Pause Fest internal nominations by the programming team for the companies that excel.

For over a decade, recognising the top achievers and keeping the high standards was always in line with the Pause Fest ethos as the innovation catalyst in Australia. Pause Awards became a natural extension of that recognition and global reputation.

Not all awards are
created equal.

We celebrate innovative Australian businesses for their excellence, performance and effectiveness. Pause Awards is a symbol of progress, achievement and community. We aim to be the epicentre for ambitious and forward-thinking businesses in our ecosystem and to inspire future generations. We respect the real people who do real things.

We promise to be the home for champions, and to deliver on that vision, we’re dedicated to providing exclusive, high quality and bespoke experiences – from our refreshed website and Entry Portal all through to our special trophy design with TrophyNFT by various 3D artists. And of course the night of nights – Award ceremony with Welcome Reception and the official Afterparty. We treat our business champs like a professional athletes.

Our values are simple: Ecosystem first, and then community – where we build valuable experiences and grow together. The bigger our community gets, the better benefits will be. So let’s grow!

Why do we care about the tech and innovation ecosystem? Because without it, there would be no progress and growth. It gives us the purpose to live, create, care and belong. 

The Australian ecosystem is booming. The Startup Genome 2022 report says the Sydney ecosystem is now worth US$68 billion (A$97.8bn) and Melbourne’s at US$17bn (A$24.4bn).

In 2021, approximately US$5bn was invested into Australian and Kiwi startups – making it a record-breaking year for Australian technology businesses. On top of that, the year saw significant growth rounds for the likes of Canva, Airwallex, and ROKT, which are now valued at US$40bn, US$5.5bn, and US$1.9bn, respectively.

Noting A Cloud Guru sale to Pluralsight for US$2bn as well as Square’s purchase of Afterpay for US$29bn, it is safe to say that Australian tech businesses have now, more than ever, become attractive acquisitions for established overseas players.

We want to encourage businesses across Australia to keep growing and become the industry leaders that propel our ecosystem forward.

We want to encourage businesses across Australia to keep growing and become the industry leaders that propel our ecosystem forward.

We’re here to champion the ecosystem’s growth continuously and are on the lookout for the most successful companies, people and ideas in the market to award their success, resilience and positive impact.

We’re here to champion the ecosystem’s growth continuously and are on the lookout for the most successful companies, people and ideas in the market to award their success, resilience and positive impact.

Pause Awards is one of the highest accolades in business achievement because entries are evaluated in two rounds by a judging panel comprising leading figures from the business and tech worlds. And they’re all looking for actual, tangible results.

The benefits of entering include:

Challenge yourself – compete with the best in class.

Build credibility with the Pause Awards stamp of approval.

Tell your success story to the world, break the news.

Get premier access to the intimate winner’s only experiences.

Own limited edition designer trophy and Pause NFT

Get your own page in the Business Index, and hit TOP10 charts

Write your own content and share it to our newsroom.

And above all of those benefits listed, winning an award is a great staff motivator, boosting the company culture and trickles down to better productivity and well, you guess it – better product!

Finalists will be published on the Pause Awards news page, and winners will become part of the Pause Index where they will have their own profile pages. We will also share your businesses through our socials and newsletter audiences. In addition, the award Trophy, NFT, certificate and all other 17 benefits will also be available to winners.

The staple of every award competition is its trophy, Pause Awards is very different. Our trophy is the creation of love for design and innovation.

You can win a Standard award or a Grand Prix in each category. The Judging Board internally decides on the Hall of Fame and People’s Choice award is decided through public vote. There is no limit to the number of awards per category; it’s all about the quality and best metrics. The awards are given only on achieving a high average score marked in two rounds by our judges and Judging Board.

To win Grand Prix, our best in category accolade, your entry must stand out from the rest and Judging Board must unanimously vote for it. Grand Prix is only awarded if judges feel strongly the entry deserves it, and it’s not given light hearted.

All three physical trophies, the Standard, Grand Prix and Hall of Fame, accompany the artistic digital version of Pause NFT, minted on OpenSea and holds a future value for the winner. Each year a different 3D Artist will design the Pause NFT trophy, so you can see how a Pause Award trophy can extend into another dimension of digital art and the metaverse.

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  Why the Pause NFT trophy?

  NFT stands for a non-fungible token. NFT is simply the receipt (aka file) of an original ownership stored and distributed on the blockchain that can be traded and transferred. While an NFT is a receipt of original ownership of the trophy, it also often includes an image, video, or even a 3D model.

  We liked the idea of minting an NFT of the physical trophy because we want to transfer 100% of the ownership to each winner. It’s as simple as that! You’ve won it, and you should own it. Pause Awards is the first award program in the world to propose a concept like this.

  Here are five more use cases of how NFT can be helpful in the near future:

  1. To transfer land deeds, provide proof of ownership and even keep track of the artwork.
  2. Allowing access to exclusive content without accounts.
  3. To protect intellectual property and patents.
  4. Can provide proof of attendance, degree earned, and other important information.
  5. To replace tickets in the very near future. For example, parking passes.

  NFTs will provide an ease of use for many services. They will also increase transparency in many transactions, especially when it comes to the ownership of physical properties such as artworks, real estate, a concept or idea, and such.

  Currently, NFTs are sold as artworks, and most of them hold very little to no value; some of them can be scams. But very few are incredible with great stories backed by a strong community, and they can be beautiful artworks too. There are many NFT galleries that sign specific artists to create such artworks.

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  What’s the benefit of Pause NFT?

  Some of you, like many, may not hold any cryptocurrencies and don’t understand the full value of owning an NFT. But the Pause NFT trophy will mark the beginning of an interesting new adventure for you.

  Right now, and in the very near future, you can expect to:

  • Use Pause NFT as a Twitter avatar.
  • Start your NFT collection of event badges and artworks.
  • Interact with new technology and get clued up for things to come.
  • Get special invites for in-person VIP events.
  • Exhibit your NFT in group gallery shows.
  • Take your 3D trophy as NFT into the metaverse at Decentraland.
  • Sell or trade your Pause NFT trophy.

  But don’t worry, we’re also learning along the way as it’s all a very new and unexplored territory with huge potential.

  Pause Awards is breaking new grounds by introducing the Pause NFT trophy to help you learn more about the potential of this new technology. And for those who are more proficient, this is an opportunity to expand their collections, add more value and play along.

  Plus, doing this sets us apart from other award programs!