How the awards are judged

Awards methodology stages

1. 01.

   Download award category criteria

   Criteria for all award categories, including questionnaire and required supporting information, can be downloaded here.

2. 02.

   Make a nomination

   Australia’s mortgage and finance sector is given the opportunity to nominate a friend, colleague or peer for the Better Business Awards.

   The public is informed of the opening of the nominations for the events program via The Adviser, with additional marketing of the event distributed via social media, partners, industry stakeholders, online media and other channels for the mortgage industry. The objective is to ensure inclusiveness and wide participation from across Australia’s mortgage and finance industry.

   Nominations can be made directly by an individual or company. If you would like to nominate a business partner, colleague, industry participant, business, subcontractor, university, association or any connected eligible entity for a Better Business Award, click here.

   Nominating is easy and will take less than a minute; nominations across multiple categories can be done in one form.

   NOTE: Self-nominating participants who meet eligibility criteria can move directly from stage 1 to stage 3.

3. 03.

   Lodge submission

   Nominees are offered the opportunity to provide a submission for those award categories they are nominated for, or wish to participate in if self-nominating.

   Nominees (businesses or individuals) can, where relevant, submit for multiple award categories where they meet the award’s criteria. To review all category details, click here.

   Submissions do take time and effort. Expect each nomination to take up to three to four hours; some category submissions may take longer. Participants are encouraged to make fewer submissions but at a higher standard and quality to best ensure positive performance in the awards program.

   All submissions are electronic and must be received through our secure awards platform.

   The awards platform is safe and secure. It’s ISO/IEC 27001 certified, compliant with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), PCI DSS, and more. No information received via the awards process or portal is used for any reason other than for assessing the submission and is only shared with those judges who are judging each specific award.

4. 04.

   Finalist shortlisting

   All submissions undergo a thorough audit process, checking demographic and other information against category eligibility criteria based on the information provided in the submission.

   Those submissions deemed eligible against submission criteria are reviewed and assessed by a panel of Momentum Media events and editorial team members and executives, plus industry stakeholders where required, to determine the finalists for each category.

   Broker categories that rely heavily on business volumes are verified through aggregators.

   The number of finalists varies for each award category.

5. 05.

   Finalists announced

   Finalists are contacted directly by the Momentum Media team advising that they are finalists. Finalists are then announced publicly via The Adviser and the Better Business Awards website. Finalists will be announced during the month of February.

   All finalists who are Premium Members of The Adviser will be emailed a finalist’s pack with seals and other collateral to support their marketing and other promotions associated with securing a finalist position at the Better Business Awards.

   For non-premium members, when finalists purchase their ticket, they are provided with a finalist seal that they can display on their website or in their office. Finalists are also provided with a press release to help them spread the word to their network.

6. 06.

   Submissions judged

   Finalist submissions are delivered to a panel of respected professionals and business leaders, who assess each submission against the criteria of each award category. The judging panel can be viewed here.

   The judges score each part of the submission across the category’s criteria, giving an aggregated score. A number of judges will individually assess each submission for each category, offering a blended score and assessment.

   The combined judging scores for each submission for each category are tabulated, with the highest-scoring submission deemed the winner.

7. 07.

   Announcement of winners

   One winner will be announced per award category, with the awards presented at the Better Business Awards dinner. For full details about the event click here.

   For additional details on the methodology or for any information regarding your submission, please contact our team here.