AWARDS SHOW
with judges
Meet our incredible judges in this short 20 min interview about their careers and what excites them about this year's Pause Awards. You can find more interviews here on our YouTube Playlist.
50+ AWARDS JUDGES
Judging panel are made up of founders, entrepreneurs, investors and leaders across different industries and companies such as The Australian, GGV Capital, Antler, Red Cross, PwC, DDB, Woods Bagot and many more. This year we have over 40 judges across the globe, but mostly from Australia, joining us to review your entries.
Final deadline has been extended to Friday 15 OCT 2021 at midnight AEST.
“I'm really excited to see innovation from entrants, in particular how they are using technology and partnerships to drive amazing shared user experiences.”

Joe Mayock
Head of Creative, Six Black Pens
David Swan
Tech Editor, The Australian
Farley Blackman
CEO, YBF Ventures
“I'm excited to see the weird and wonderful ways entrants are leveraging creativity to create meaningful long lasting impact for their teams and help bring the future forward.”

Josh Gardiner
Director, Gardiner Communications
Paul Lange
Business Optimisation & Growth Accelerant
Christina Gerakiteys
Co CEO, SingularityU Australia
“Do you know who I am Award” - I like it because more silent achievers should be recognized.”

Callum Fitzhardinge
Associate Creative Director, MediaMonks
Peter Bray
Founder, Bray & Co.
Shamila Gopalan
CEO & Founder, HerWit
“I'm excited to see the innovative, ethical and purpose driven ways people are innovating. I'm particularly keen to see what new and exciting business ideas female founders have come up with!”

Penelope Barr
Head of innovation, Product Lab & CEO, Allens Linklaters
“In order to make a better world we need to shift the framework on what behaviors and actions are seen as "successful." Awarding impactful businesses signals to the world that having positive impact is important and should be seen as a key indicator of success.”

Nathaniel Diong
CEO, Future Minds Network
Stephen Foxworthy
Managing Director, Fjord
Ben King
Head of CSR & Public Affairs, Finder
Damien Hashemi
Head of Design, ARQ
Sonia Clarke
Director - Future of Work, PwC
Damian Sharpley
Strategy Partner, CX Lavender
“Keen to see what's uppermost on the minds of those submitting and how they think to solve key challenges.”

Mario Van der Meulen
Head of CX Strategy & Design, Tribal Worldwide
Paola Rocchetti
Art Director, Void n’ Disorder
Katarina Bogut
Digital Producer, ACMI
“This type of award holds up a beacon for others, a lighthouse for organisations to learn, share and grow the work of creating impact and it’s possibilities for everyone in our community. Together, we can challenge typical ways of thinking, acting and operating.”

Hannah Nickels
Client Solutions Manager, Facebook
Ruth Young
Chief People Officer, Mobi2Go
Adam Pryor
Co-Founder, OpenSolar
"I WISH I’D DONE THAT AWARD" - I don't mind that other people launch great companies. In fact, it's inspiring. I'm excited when I see a company I wish that I'd built. It makes me want to stay creative and to keep pushing.”

Anne Miles
Founder & Managing Director, Suits&Sneakers
“I want to know how entrants have gracefully solved customer problems with technical solutions that scale. How have they applied deep thinking and meticulous product build to create something that feels easy, helpful and delightful?”

Dr Natasha Dwyer
Senior Lecturer, Victoria University
Jordan Green
Innovation Expert
Uno de Waal
Head of Product, Between 10and5
Jillian Zsidy
Vice President, Melbourne Angels
Lee Tonitto
Managing Director, Tonitto & Partners
“I was blown away by the truly innovative nature of the 2020 entries and can't wait to see what this year brings!”

Vanessa Toholka
Senior Product Manager, Allens
Matt Taylor
Creative Consultant
Danielle Mastronardo
Head of PR and Marketing, FINCH
"I'm excited to see how people/teams have applied insight in innovative ways to overcome business challenges."

Matt Gardan
Big Chief, Digital Native
Rachael Shea
Chair, Design Program Committee & Senior Lecturer, SAE Creative Media Institute
Lynda Coker
Director, Volt Bank / Scale Investors / Seed Space VC / The Studio
“I'm pumped to see entries for the Creative Genius Award. Creativity can take on many forms, not just arts or design, and creative thinking in business, strategy or technology gets me just as excited as anything else. Having the ability to execute is equally as important, so I'm looking forward to seeing some really well-rounded entries here.”

Daniel Hewitt
Founder & CTO, FutureLabs
Suni Stolic
Head of Customer Experience, Squiz
Gary Wertheimer
Managing Director, Giw
“The classic - out of the Garage Award. Firms that have come from the dream and proven themselves to the world. It recognises the genuine toil and doggedness that is required to move beyond the startup phase.”

Laurent Marcus
Creative Technologist, Special Group
Giovanni Bucci
Director - Motion Designer, Void n’ Disorder
Ben Ford
Head of Growth, Frollo
“Our impact is the result of what we set out to do with our purpose. It is the single most important thing to measure and reflect on. Having a guiding light, and businesses and startups to look up to is incredibly important for the entire community.”

JUDGING PROCESS
Judges are asked to score against below criteria and to provide feedback if needed on some entries.
While each category is different, overall judges will be looking for and scoring:
Business success > SCORES 30%
Define your business success and give it a context. Explain the challenges and objectives.
Smart tactics > SCORES 30%
What strategies have you deployed? How resilient is your approach and what are the insights?
Positive impact > SCORES 40%
Show your results and execution. How did it impact internal/external stakeholders and the society?
Our jury panel has carefully selected senior industry-leading professionals from all around the world. Each year we refresh the jury with particular emphasis on our categories, gender and ethnic balance.
In 2021 we aim to hit over 50 judges, that’s triple from last year. And finally, our judges work separately to asses the entries. There is no group discussion and politics that may affect the final result. Every entry is assessed fair and on its own merit.
There will be two judging rounds, Shortlist and Final Round.
In both rounds, scoring is done anonymously and confidentially. If no entry meets the criteria above for a given category, there will be no winner for that category. Judges must recuse themselves from voting on their own company, those who don't will be withdrawn.










Top 5 things you should know
Any business can apply, not just startups. We are industry agnostic.
You can apply from anywhere in the world.
There is no limit how many entries you can have.
Early stage startups under two years can now enter the Underground Award.
Your entry needs to be executed in the past year as of 1 July 2021. Max two years if you haven’t entered it before.
Security concerns
We don't share any financial information publicly. But you can also make a note in your submission if you don't want to be promoted as a business. T&C’s are outlined here.
Need more help?
Our awards team can help. Whether you have a specific query or would like an advice, find out how to get in touch so we can help.



