2026 ARA Awards
Recognising Clarity in Reporting in Uncertain Times
What Entrants Have Said…
Guardians has entered the Australasian Reporting Awards for many years (previously as NZ Super). We value the ARA’s continuing commitment to promoting best practice reporting standards in the region, which we see as vital to good corporate practice and the healthy functioning of our respective capital markets.
Entering the Awards has allowed us to benchmark our annual reports against world best-practice reporting criteria, and against our industry peers across the region. The ARA’s educative activities, including individualised constructive advice from the adjudication panels, have helped us to steadily improve our approach to reporting over the years as we continue to strive to provide relevant and fulsome information to our stakeholders.
We are delighted to have been awarded the 2021 ARA Report of the Year Award. I congratulate the whole Guardians’ team for their commitment and hard work.
The Judicial Commission is required to report annually to the New South Wales Parliament regarding its work and activities. The Commission strives to achieve quality, transparent and accurate reporting of its operations. This is reflected in our values as an organisation and our participation since 1994 in the Australasian Reporting Awards (ARA) annual benchmarking process.
Since entering the awards 26 years ago the Commission has received eleven consecutive gold awards, 8 silver and 5 bronze awards. In addition, in 2020 the Commission was awarded the Governance Reporting Award – Public and Not-For-Profit Sector and the ARA Chair’s Commendation for demonstrating year-on-year excellence in reporting. In 2021 the Commission was awarded the inaugural award for Best in Public Administration – State Sector and was a finalist for the Governance Reporting Award and Report of the Year.
Acknowledgment of the standard of its report gives the Commission a sense of achievement, and we believe the report reflects the high quality work the Commission performs each year. By entering the ARA Awards, the Commission has been able to benchmark our report against best practice criteria and has benefited from the expert guidance of the ARA adjudicators and judges.
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.
For more information about the criteria for the General Award, the Sustainability Reporting Award and the Special Awards refer to the Criteria page.
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 Reporting Award 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. Organisations must enter the ARA General Award to be eligible to enter the Special Awards.
There is a Special Award for reporting on Governance and Special Awards for Integrated Reporting, Online Reporting, Communication and Best Cover Design.
The Audit Office holds a privileged position as one of a small number of independent agencies that provide checks and balances integral to our system of government. It is important that we operate in line with the standards we expect of our auditees, and that we demonstrate transparency and good governance.
The Annual Report is a key part of our commitment to continuous disclosure, and we voluntarily adopt full and open performance reporting. Our culture values the production of high quality, insightful and transparent reports, and we recognise that our Annual Report is an important opportunity to showcase the hard work of our people, to capture the true impact of our work, and to identify opportunities for improvement.
In 2021, we received our 12th consecutive Gold Australasian Reporting Award, and the Special Award for Governance Reporting for the public and not-for-profit sectors. We are proud of this recognition by the Australasian Reporting Awards and appreciate that it helps us role model excellence in year-end financial reporting and corporate governance practices to the rest of the sector, and ultimately helps improve the quality of annual reporting across Australia.