NESA Awards for Excellence 2024
Importance of the Awards
Since being implemented in 2004, the NESA Awards for Excellence have highlighted the impact of employment services in partnership with employers and participants to improving the economic and social well-being of individuals, families and communities through employment inclusion.
The NESA Awards for Excellence:
- Foster high standards and provide a benchmark for excellence within the employment services sector
- Recognise employers who demonstrate excellence in the recruitment and retention of disadvantaged participants in partnership with employment services providers
- Encourage employers to adopt and support employment services programs
- Honour participants who have overcome disadvantage to obtain and sustain employment
- Provide role models for other participants
- Recognise employment services professionals who demonstrate excellence in the conduct of their role
- Promote professional development within the employment services sector
- Enlighten the wider community about the adversity and disadvantage experienced by unemployed people and the effort required to overcome barriers to achieve employment
- Reinforce the value of the sector, fostering participant, employer and public confidence
Award Finalist Benefits
- The right to use NESA’s Awards Seal on collateral for two years
- Promotion in national, state and local media
- A high quality, framed certificate for all finalists
- Greater recognition within the sector and with key external stakeholders
- Invitation to the VIP-only Champion’s Reception held immediately prior to the Gala Awards Dinner
- One ticket to attend the Gala Awards Dinner for each finalist or finalist representative
- The finalists for Employment Consultant and Achiever of the Year are provided with travel** and one night’s accommodation to attend the NESA Awards for Excellence Ceremony.
In addition to Finalist Benefits, Winners of each Award Category Receive:
- A prestigious Award Trophy
- An Awards Seal and guidelines for use to promote the win
- Promotion on NESA’s website and inclusion in the Annual Report
- Additional PR campaigns
The Employment Consultant who nominated the Achiever of the Year is also provided travel and one night’s accommodation to accompany their nominee to the NESA Awards for Excellence.
All required airfares are return economy from the finalist’s closest major, regional or metropolitan airport.
Transport to and from the airport and event venue are at the nominee’s expense.
Award Winners will be Announced at the
NESA Awards for Excellence
Gala Dinner
Thursday 5th December 2024, Sofitel Brisbane Central
Don't Forget to Purchase your Gala Awards for Excellence Dinner Ticket
AWARD CATEGORIES
Achiever of the Year
SPONSORED BY Alffie
Category Description:
This Award recognises a former Participant who has overcome extraordinary disadvantage to achieve employment.
Category Eligibility:
Covers all applicable elements of the Overarching Award Eligibility Criteria below.
In addition, open to former Participants who:
- Received employment assistance from a provider of an employment program or service managed by the Australian Government: Department of Employment and Workplace Relations; Department of Social Services; or the National Indigenous Australians Agency and
- Achieved substantive employment resulting in achievement of a full employment outcome ** after 1 July 2023 and remains in sustained substantive employment on the date of the awards – 5th December 2024
“Substantive employment” is defined as employment in one or more concurrent jobs with sufficient hours and/or income to qualify for a full employment outcome.
“Full employment outcome” is in accordance with the requirements of the program/service in which the Participant was engaged at placement into employment.
** For clarity the Participants placement may have occurred prior to July 2023 but the outcome must have been achieved during the Awards qualifying period.
Please ensure selection criteria responses focus on the former Participant (rather than the organisation or Consultant assisting them). The former Participant must be aware of their nomination and consent to its submission in these awards. NESA recommends that completion of the submission occur in partnership with the nominated former Participant and they provide consent to share information.
CHAMPION EMPLOYER OF THE YEAR
SPONSORED BY READYTECH
Category Description:
This Award recognises employers who demonstrate excellence in employment inclusion of disadvantaged Participants.
Category Eligibility:
Covers all applicable elements of the Overarching Award Eligibility Criteria below.
In addition, open to employers:
- That were assisted to recruit staff and nominated by a provider of a program or service managed by the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations during the qualifying period: 1 July 2023 – 30 June 2024.
EMPLOYMENT CONSULTANT OF THE YEAR
Sponsored by Aware Super
Category Description:
Category Eligibility:
Covers all applicable elements of the Overarching Award Eligibility Criteria below.
In addition, open to individuals:
- who provided employment assistance to Participants and employers in the qualifying period: 1 July 2023 – 30 June 2024
EMPLOYER ENGAGEMENT PRACTITIONER OF THE YEAR
SPONSORED BY PROSPERT
Category Description:
This Award recognises professionals who demonstrate excellence in engaging employers to create sustainable employment opportunities, supporting disadvantaged Australians to achieve inclusion and success in the workforce.
Category Eligibility:
Covers all applicable elements of the Overarching Award Eligibility Criteria below:
In addition, open to individuals:
- Who provided employment engagement and assistance to create job opportunities during the qualifying period: 1 July 2023 – 30 June 2024
Entry Rules and Guidelines
General Eligibility
Applicable to all Award categories
- All Awards relate to activities undertaken during the qualifying period 2023 – 2024 financial year
- All Awards are open to current NESA members and the Participants and employers assisted by them
- Nominees must also meet the specific eligibility requirements for the Award category in which they are nominated
- All submissions and supporting information are treated as confidential
- Assessment of nominations is managed according to the NESA Awards for Excellence Judging Process
- Multiple nominations are permitted with a separate submission required for each nomination
By submitting a nomination to the NESA Awards for Excellence, you:
- Give permission to NESA and its Awards Convenors to describe your achievements at the Gala Awards Dinner and to promote your achievements to the media
- Understand that your identity and that of the submitting organisation will be disclosed during the Awards process
- Are granting NESA permission to reproduce supplied photographs (except where otherwise requested), the organisation’s logo and non-pecuniary information from your submission
- Understand that your contact details may be shared with official members of the media pursuing stories regarding the awards and award nominees
- Agree to abide by the judging panel decisions and accept that there will be no appeals
- Agree to attend the Awards presentation in person or virtually subject to travel restrictions (e.g. COVID-19, natural disaster) or significant personal circumstances.
Note: NESA or its Awards Convenors will contact finalists for the Achiever of the Year category or their representatives to review the nomination and agree on the information that is permitted to be shared with the media or used in NESA communications.
NESA retains the right to:
- Contact finalists prior to the Awards presentation as deemed necessary
- Withdraw the granting of a particular honour if the award entrant or nominated representative is not present to accept the award in person or virtually
- Withdraw from judging any submissions received through a nominating organisation that goes into administration, voluntary receivership, liquidation or is declared bankrupt after the awards closing date.
Nominations must include:
- An answer to each criterion
- Uploaded files where they have been requested
- A quality head and shoulders photograph or other suitable image of the nominee for individual nominees, or a quality group photograph or image for team nominees if applicable
HAVE YOU CONSIDERED...
Your organisation may be eligible for more than one award?
HOW TO SUBMIT
Award nominations are submitted online; via separate online portals for each Award Category, accessed via the APPLY NOW buttons above.
Before you start the online submission process, please ensure that:
- You have reviewed and meet the General Eligibility criteria (link above), as well as the Specific Eligibility requirements for the Award category which you are nominating
- You have read the Selection Criteria for the award category which you are nominating
- You have read the Entry Rules and Guidelines
Instructions and tips for how to submit:
The online submission form must be completed in one pass; you cannot save a partial response and return to it later.
Please have the following information prepared, before starting your online submission.
- Photo of the entrant (where required)
- Contact details of the primary person responsible for the submission
- Selection Criteria responses, including any documents for upload.
- In your selection criteria responses, please refer to your organisation using exactly the same name that is entered in the “Nominating Organisation” field in the nomination form. Do not use abbreviations, alternative trading names or shortened forms.
- For any criteria with a word limit provided, please have your responses prepared in a separate electronic text document that you can then copy and paste into each individual text box in the online submission form. Your response/s will not be accepted if you exceed the word limit. Your word count is displayed for each response.
- Supporting material – You may provide up to five A4 pages of evidence to support the claims made in the nomination. Please combine all supporting material into a single document (.pdf or .doc(x) files). Cross-referencing supporting material in the criteria response is essential. Supporting information may include, but is not limited to, photos, data, graphs, and copies of commendations or other letters of recognition.
- Any documents to be uploaded must not exceed 10MB per file.
Upon completion of your submission, an e-mail will automatically be sent to the primary person (nominated in your submission) to confirm successful receipt of your nomination. The confirmation e-mail will include a copy of your submission, including file attachments for your own records.
(If you do not receive the confirmation e-mail immediately, please check your e-mail Junk folder or SPAM filtering systems prior to contacting NESA on 03 9624 2300.)
AWARDS JUDGING
The NESA Awards for Excellence judging process is rigorous, transparent, and taken very seriously by the Independent Judging Panel. Judges invited to participate in the Awards are people who have notable expertise in relevant areas such as recruitment, business, health, community services and social inclusion. Revision of the Award assessment process occurs annually to ensure we uphold the highest standards of integrity.
Every nomination is subject to a comprehensive and rigorous assessment process using a standardised scoring and weighting system with auditing, variance, and due diligence checks to ensure consistency with the Award criteria.
NESA announces a maximum of three finalists for each award category. The judging panel will exclude nominations that do not achieve an acceptable benchmark score from the determination of finalists. At their discretion, the judging panel may identify nominations worthy of additional commendation, recognition, or Award. A panel of at least two judges, including an Award Convenor, undertakes assessment of each Award category. Each judge independently assesses each nomination in the category, scoring each criterion and providing written comments including feedback on how to strengthen the nomination.
After assessment of all nominations for the category are complete, the Award Convenors conduct an audit, crosschecking all scores given by the category judging panel to identify any inconsistencies in scoring. Where this occurs, Award Convenors review the nomination before contacting the judge(s) to discuss the rationale for their score. As appropriate, the Award Convenor may convene a deliberation conference to discuss the nomination(s) or criteria for which scoring has been discordant and/or request a re-assessment by one or more judges.
After completion of the assessment process, the top three scoring nominations become the Award category Finalists and announced publicly. Announcement of Award winners of each category occurs at the Gala Awards Dinner held in conjunction with the NESA National Conference.
NESA staff support the judging process but do not participate in the assessment of or review nominations. Management of nominations occurs with strict confidentiality processes in place.
INTRODUCING THE JUDGING PANEL
KATRINA MELLICK
Katrina Mellick, founder of Holistic Humans & Business is an accomplished CEO, former Deputy Mayor, and longtime director, at both the local, State, and national levels.
Drawing on decades of business, governance, and civic leadership experience, as well as holding Bachelor’s degrees in Education and Psychology, and a Graduate Certificate from the Australian Institute of Company Directors, Katrina works with leaders and organisations to deliver strategic objectives, both in Australia and internationally.
Katrina’s unique perspective, drawing on her eclectic knowledge – from the latest behaviour neuroscience to ancient teachings, allows her to identify both the potential and the challenges facing the people, culture, and performance of organisations, enabling her to curate impactful programs and packages to achieve sustainable high performance and transformational solutions for leaders and organisations.
Katrina is a Life Member of NESA having served on the Board for over 10 years.
MICHELLE CRAWFORD
Michelle Crawford’s work is informed by 30 years in the community sector. She is highly regarded for the energy and commitment she brings to collaborative partnerships with stakeholders including business, government, philanthropists, donors and community organisations.
Michelle was appointed Executive Director of Specialisterne Australia in December 2023, with responsibility for local operations and oversight of the transition of the organisation to a regional hub, as part of Specialisterne Global
Michelle is passionate about making the world a better place and creating hope. She is driven by a desire to address injustice and inequality, work she sees as fundamental and necessary for a fairer and inclusive society,
Michelle serves as a Director on the Board of First Nations Foundation. She is a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, and an Alumnus of Leadership Victoria’s Williamson Community Leadership Program; Cranlana Centre for Ethical Leadership; Workforce Innovation & Development Institute; and Harvard University, John F Kennedy School of Government.
Michelle holds a Masters in Social Science, Graduate Diploma in Adult Education and Bachelor of Business. She is also an active Rotarian and Immediate Past President of Rotary Central Melbourne.
Dr. Peter Laver, AM
After 40 years working with BHP in senior positions, Peter retired in 1998 to pursue other interests where he remains passionate – education, science, innovation and employment. A former Chancellor of the Victorian University of Technology, Peter has held more than 30 Chair, President, Vice-President and Director positions.
This has included for organisations such as the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, National Board of Employment Education and Training, Victorian Learning and Employment Skills Commission, Community Advisory Council for the Community Support Fund, and the Prime Minister’s Science Prizes. In addition, he provides voluntary expertise to many not-for-profit organisations.
GEOFF WALSHAW
Geoff is a successful CFO, with over twenty years finance experience, working across a number of sectors including internationally reputable FMCG companies, Not-for-Profit and Government.
Geoff has also contributed towards continuous improvements in implementing new office processes and procedures to realise greater efficiencies and productivity within the office as well as in reviewing existing financial policies.
As a dedicated and knowledgeable CPA professional, Geoff brings to an organisation, not only a passion for understanding business, but a mindset that constantly seeks opportunities to improve performance and financial sustainability.
Judges' Top Five Tips
Tip 1.
Take time to read and understand the criteria thoroughly – analyse the criteria to ensure you understand exactly what is required in your response. If you are unsure clarify the criteria with NESA.
Tip 2.
Make sure your response fully addresses the criteria. For instance, if a question asks you to provide a timeline then ensure you detail the response chronologically.
Tip 3.
Avoid writing expansive, sweeping claims or generic declarations. Such statements actually undermine the strength of a nomination, as typically, they contain very little substance and cannot be either proven or disputed.
Tip 4.
Be specific about your or the nominee’s achievements. Provide evidence to support your claims against the criteria and wherever possible use more than one statistic to prove the point. There are many forms of evidence that you can use to support your claims; data, performance reports, letters of commendation, case studies or examples – choose the form that best relates to the criterion and if the criterion asks for specific evidence e.g. data or a case study, provide what is asked for. If you use the option to upload supporting material, ensure you cross-reference the evidence in the criteria responses and clearly title the uploaded attachment.
Tip 5.
If you are writing about yourself, then be yourself. Judges want to get to know you from the pages of your nomination. They want to gain insight into the type of person you are e.g. your values and passion for what you do. If you are writing about someone else be sure to capture the real person in the nomination. We recommend that completion of nominations occur in partnership with nominees to ensure as much information about them as possible is captured in your submission.
IMPORTANT DATES
Applications open: FRIDAY 4TH OCTOBER 2024
Applications close: FRIDAY 8th NOVEMBER 2024
Judging: 8TH NOVEMBER – 15TH NOVEMBER 2024
Finalists announced: 20TH NOVEMBER 2024
Winners announced (at the Gala Awards Dinner): THURSDAY 5TH DECEMBER 2024
By placing an entry in the Awards, the submitting organisation is confirming their commitment for a nominating Employment Consultant to attend the Awards for Excellence in person (or virtually upon special request) on Thursday 5th December 2024, at the Sofitel Brisbane Central.