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 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.
Champion Employer of the Year finalists do not receive travel or accommodation to attend the NESA Awards for Excellence.
This Award recognises a former Participant who has overcome extraordinary disadvantage to achieve employment.
Covers all applicable elements of the Overarching Award Eligibility Criteria below.
In addition, open to former Participants who:
“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 2022 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.
This Award recognises employers who demonstrate excellence in employment inclusion of disadvantaged Participants.
Covers all applicable elements of the Overarching Award Eligibility Criteria below.
In addition, open to individuals:
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.
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:
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.
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.)
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.
Maree Armansin has 27 years experience in the organisational development sector and has worked in the education, training and organizational development of adults in both the public and private sectors.
Maree is passionate about making a difference in the lives of others and her work has been in humanising organisations in order to bring about mindful change.
Qualifications
Master of Education
Master of Social Science (Counselling)
Grad Dip Counselling
B Ed, Dip. Tchg, Dip. TAE
Maree is on the Board of the Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia
BA; DipEd; FAICD; MAMI
Christine is an experienced Board Chair and Director, and executive leader, recognised for her capabilities in Board governance, organisational strategy, strategic risk, and leadership. Christine is an accredited facilitator for the Australian Institute of Company Directors and also serves as a Director on the Board of Queensland Country Health Fund Ltd.
Christine has held roles as a senior executive in the public service and on Boards including as President of Institute of Public Administration Australia (Queensland), Director of the International Research Society for Public Management, Member of the Audit and Risk Committee of the Queensland Audit Office, and the QUT School of Business Advisory Board. Christine was formerly the Chair of the Board of Queenslanders Credit Union until 2018 when it merged with Queensland Country Credit Union (now Queensland Country Bank.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Applications open: 10 AUGUST 2023
Applications close: MONDAY 4 SEPTEMBER 2023
Judging: 6 – 15 SEPTEMBER 2023
Finalists announced: 25 SEPTEMBER 2023
Winners announced (at the Gala Awards Dinner): WEDNESDAY 11 OCTOBER 2023
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 Wednesday 11 October at the Sofitel Brisbane.