About the Awards
There are three types of ARA Award: the General Award which covers the whole annual report; the Sustainability Reporting Award which focuses on sustainability considerations; and the Special Awards which address particular aspects of reporting.
An organisation must enter the General Award to be eligible to enter the Sustainability Reporting Award and one or more of the Special Awards.
General Award
The General Award provides a measure of the standard of reporting that has been achieved and is not a competition. The entire annual report is benchmarked against the ARA Criteria. A report may achieve a Gold, Silver or Bronze Award, or No Award, according to the extent to which it satisfies the criteria. The very high standard of Gold Award reports makes them model reports for other organisations to follow.
Best of Industry Sector Awards were introduced in the 2021 Awards to recognise outstanding performance in addressing the General Award criteria above and beyond receiving a Gold Award. The winners of these Awards are selected from among the Gold Award recipients in each industry sector. The Gold Awards in each sector are subjected to further review to select the sector winner.
All entrants in the General Award are eligible to receive a Best of Industry Sector Award. Entry to the Best of Industry Sector Awards is automatic.
The Report of the Year Award is presented to the most outstanding annual report entered in the General Award. The winner is selected from among the winners of the Best of Industry Sector Awards.
About the Best of Industry Sector Awards
To introduce the Best of Industry Sector Awards, the fourteen (14) specific industries described in the ‘Additional Criteria for Specific Industries’ were consolidated into eight equitable Industry Sectors based on what they have in common and entry numbers.
The eight Industry sectors are:
Community & Welfare
Financial Services
Health, Research & Education
Infrastructure, Retail and Services
Resources and Production
Public Administration - National
Public Administration - State
Public Administration - Local
The Health, Research and Education Sector includes:
Health and Health & Medical Research
Education and Research
The Infrastructure, Retail and Services Sector includes:
Communications & IT
Infrastructure, Logistics and Transport
Professional Services and Trade Associations
Recreation and Entertainment
Retail
The Resources and Production Sector includes:
Manufacturing
Primary Industry
Property & Construction
Resources & Mining
Sustainability Reporting Award
This Award provides a measure of the standard of reporting achieved and is not a competition. Reports that satisfy the ARA Sustainability Criteria to different extents receive a benchmarking Gold, Silver or Bronze Award for Sustainability Reporting.
The Sustainability Report of the Year is selected from among the Gold Awards.
Organisations must enter their Annual Report in the ARA General Award to be eligible to enter the Sustainability Reporting Award.
Special Awards
The Special Awards are competitive Awards in which Finalists and Winners are selected.
There is a Special Award for reporting on Governance and Special Awards for Integrated Reporting, Online Reporting, Communication and Best Cover Design.
Organisations must enter the ARA General Award to be eligible to enter the Special Awards.
Criteria
For more information about the Criteria for the General Award, the Sustainability Reporting Award and the Special Awards refer to the Criteria page.