Award Categories & Sponsors

This award is open to individuals that can demonstrate great success and leadership while growing their business and industry.

The ‘Business Person of the Year’ award category has been sponsored by Commonwealth Bank.

This award recognises businesses that have has been operating for no more than two years and are demonstrating excellence in business practice and business growth.

The ‘Start Up Business’ award category has been sponsored by the Albany Business Centre and Great Southern Development Commission.

This award is for businesses that employ up to ten employees (full-time or equivalent) and that demonstrates excellence in business.

The ‘Business with up to 10 Employees’ award category has been sponsored by Raine & Horne Albany.

This award is for businesses that employ more than ten employees (full-time or equivalent) and demonstrates excellence in business.

The ‘Business with over 10 Employees’ award category has been sponsored by HHG Legal Group.

This award acknowledges an employee for exceptional service to a business. Any employer can apply for this award to recognise an employee from their business.

Application for this award is to be completed by the nominator only (not nominee).

The ‘Employee of the Year’ award category has been sponsored by Rio Tinto

This award category celebrates a business that demonstrates excellent environmentally sustainable practices. Examples include zero-no waste, the use of green energy, or the use of environmentally sustainable natural resource management strategies.

The ‘Environment & Sustainability’ award category has been sponsored by Synergy.

This award is for tourism and hospitality businesses who demonstrate excellence within the Great Southern tourism and hospitality sector, for example providing a unique and exceptional product, package or value add to another business, helping to showcase our region.

The ‘Excellence in Tourism and Hospitality’ award category has been sponsored by by Development WA

This award recognises a business that is value-adding to WA's raw agricultural outputs in the region and incorporates the supply of a consumer facing goods and manufacturing function to the business. This category does not include the food service aspect of the manufacturing businesses.

The ‘Food & Beverage Manufacturing’ award category has been jointly sponsored by DPIRD

This award recognises excellence in home-based businesses where majority of work is carried out from home and the business does not own or rent any premises.

The ‘Home Based Business’ award category has been sponsored by Albany Advertiser

This award is for excellence in Indigenous-led organisations.

The ‘Indigenous Organisation of the Year’ award category has been sponsored by ANZ

This award recognises a business that has demonstrated an innovative approach to a product, process or marketing that has solved a problem in their business, their community or the region.

The ‘Innovation in Business’ award category has been sponsored by Albany Prestige Realty

This award recognises an individual that has shown significant achievements as a trainee or apprentice within the Great Southern community through evidence-based learning and contribution to local business.

Application for this award is to be completed by the nominator only (not nominee).

The ‘Trainee/Apprentice of the Year’ award category has been sponsored by the MEGT

This award is to recognise outstanding achievement and contribution by an individual aged 35 years or under on 30 June 2024.

The ‘Young Business Person of the Year’ award category has been sponsored by Training Alliance Group.

It is with great pleasure that we collaborate with the City of Albany to present the Len Smith Medal - Outstanding Individual in Tourism.

This newly introduced award recognises individuals who have demonstrated inspirational visionary leadership in the Albany tourism industry, proactively supported professional development opportunities, consistently excelled in innovation and quality standards for tourism products and customer service, and maintained an outstandingly generous, positive, and community-minded approach, creating lasting legacies for the local tourism sector.

Len Smith was a long-standing member and former Life Member of the Albany Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Application for this award is to be completed by the nominator only (not the nominee).

Judges Choice.

This is awarded to one of the 2024 business award finalists from the other categories.

The ‘Great Southern Business of the Year’ award category has been sponsored by the City of Albany.