Gippsland
Business
Awards

Entrants Information

Entrants guide
Eligibility
Judging
Terms and Conditions

When completing your entry you will need to:

Provide the following information:

  • Item 1 – Confirmation that your business has a base in Gippsland and employs people in Gippsland (this may be just you if a Sole Proprietor).
  • Item 2 – Description of your business i.e. business profile (500 words or less). This description (or business profile) should include:
    • A brief history of your business and its location(s)
    • An overview of your products, services, and markets
    • How you have developed and grown the business over the past two years
    • Any major achievements or milestones during the life of the business
    • How you make your business inclusive and accessible to all people
  • Item 3 – A description of your short and long term goals to secure the future of your business (100 words or less). Where possible you should include clear goals, timeframes, and quantifiable targets.
  • Item 4 – Discuss how you have taken advantage of opportunities or overcome challenges to implement initiatives to grow your business? (750 words or less.) This should include:
    • What was opportunity/challenge faced
    • How the opportunity/challenge was identified
    • Research taken into opportunity/challenge
    • How the proposed initiatives were evaluated
    • How the initiatives were implemented
    • How business growth was measured
  • Media Information – Provide a brief (100 word) promotional summary to be used for promotional purposes in the event you become a finalist.

Before submitting your entry, please ensure you have prepared:

  • The summary of your business
  • A business logo you can upload (jpeg or png format only)
  • Answers to items 1, 2, 3, 4 and Media Information
  • Optional: a short video to support your application.
  • We suggest that you prepare your answers in a Word document saved to your computer and copy and paste your answers to the website, so you have a copy for your records.
  • Please add info@gba.org.au to your contacts list to make sure emails regarding your nomination go straight to your inbox and not your spam folder.

To be eligible to enter all businesses must meet the following:

  • Businesses can only enter one category of the awards.
  • The business must reside in one of the seven (7) Local Government Areas of Gippsland – Bass Coast Shire, South Gippsland Shire, Baw Baw Shire, Latrobe City, Wellington Shire, East Gippsland Shire and Cardinia Shire (post codes 3812, 3814, 3815, 3912, 3980 and 3984) – andfit within one of the categories listed.
  • Is a sole trader, not for profit, partnership or Pty Ltd company that has a base in Gippsland and employs people who live in Gippsland – this includes owner-operators.
  • Is not a government-funded business or a government agency. Entities that are the responsibility of and/or funded by other agencies and/or that currently receive significant financial support from other funding (for example, local, State or Australian Government, philanthropic organisations) are not eligible to enter.
  • Hall of Fame Award recipients are not eligible to re-enter.
  • Previous category winners and Business of the Year winners cannot enter in the latter of the next annual GBA awards or for a one (1) year period from the date they received their award.
  • Previous winners of the New Business category are ineligible to enter this category.

Overview

The judging process is conducted in three stages.

Stage One (initial judging of entrants)

In stage one, all entries submitted are assessed against the eligibility criteria and responses evaluated. Those entries whose submission meets GBA’s criteria and gain a higher than average aggregate numerical score against the questions are further evaluated at stage two. All entries are judged independently by two (2) judges who are business professionals. All judges are carefully selected and co-ordinated to ensure that the judging process is fair, objective and free of bias or influence.

Note: All entries are judged within their nominated entry category.

Stage Two (recommended finalist judging)

The recommended finalists are judged independently by two (2) judges that have not previously judged these entries. Judges at this stage once again assess the entry against all the criteria.

Stage Three

During this phase, finalists will undertake a detailed telephone interview with a personal visit or silent shopper call/visit completed as deemed appropriate by the judging panel. Additional reference checks may also be conducted where required by the judging panel.

At this stage entries are assessed across eight main areas:

  • Leadership
  • Innovation
  • Stakeholder (employee, customer, community) satisfaction
  • Regulatory compliance
  • Business planning
  • Environmental
  • Use of technology
  • Inclusive of all

Category winners and ‘Business of the Year’

The judging panel comes together to adjudicate and determine from the finalists whether a winner can be identified within the respective categories.

The entire judging panel then discusses and adjudicates on the possible candidates for and selection of Business of the Year.

Judging methodology and assessment

Entries will be judged on the basis of the information available, eligibility and responses to the questions in the submission.

All entries are evaluated and assessed in accordance with the Gippsland Business Awards judging assessment criteria and methodology. A numerical grading system is utilised and weighted against the various sections of the submission during the assessment phase.

Entrants give Gippsland Business Awards (GBA) permission to use details about their business in printed, electronic and internet based media as considered appropriate in promoting GBA. Entrants agree that:

  • a representative from their business will attend any presentation events in which the business qualifies as a finalist
  • entrants representatives will be available to assist in publicising the next GBA
  • entrants acknowledge that the decision of judging panels is final and that no correspondence will be entered into
  • entrants will comply with all other terms and conditions as outlined
  • entrants understand that the GBA is a competition and unfortunately it is not possible to provide feedback on individual entries
  • entrants also acknowledge that the GBA, in its sole discretion, has the right to alter or cancel part or all of the these awards at any time
  • entrants have a duty of care to disclose any statutory offences or misdemeanours pertaining to their business operations
  • entrants may only enter in one category per year
  • entrants agree that at its discretion, the Committee may reallocate an entry to a different category