Creating a Winning Annual Report: What Matters Most

If you’re involved in preparing your organisation’s annual report — writing, editing, managing content — you already know the basics. But when you aim higher (for awards, peer recognition, or simply to lead), there’s a shift from “adequate” to “distinctive.”

The Australasian Reporting Awards Criteria and the ARA Guide to Preparing Annual Reports are good anchors to help you sharpen your approach. Below are the top‑level principles and practical tips to help your report stand out — essentially, how to think through the criteria rather than just check them.

Here’s how to align your annual report with the top‑level criteria the Australasian Reporting Awards (ARA) use to judge winners.

Why the Criteria Matter

The ARA doesn’t pick winners based on popularity or quotas. Reports succeed by meeting high, objective standards. The General Award evaluates the entire annual report against the criteria. Special Awards and the Sustainability Award build on that foundation. By designing your report around those criteria, you increase your chances of achieving Gold, Best in Industry, or even Report of the Year.

You can review the full criteria here: ARA Criteria.
And for a practical how‑to, the ARA Guide to Preparing Annual Reports is an essential companion.

What Top Reports Do Differently

Top 7 Focus Areas for a Winning Report

Below are the key dimensions drawn from the ARA criteria and guide. Use them as a lens when planning, writing and designing your report. These are recurring strengths in award-winning reports. Use them as lenses while planning, drafting and designing.

1. Balanced & Reasonable Picture

Reports that only highlight wins risk being discounted. Judges expect realism. The ARA emphasises that reports should provide "a balanced and reasonable picture" of performance, addressing both positives and challenges.

Tip: Include sections on setbacks, constraints, uncertainties or trade‑offs. Use footnotes or commentary to show why certain decisions were made.

2. Stakeholder Relevance & Materiality

A report must speak to what matters to its readers. The criteria stress that reports should “address issues of concern to stakeholders” and be relevant to their needs.

Tip: Use stakeholder consultation, surveys or interviews to shape which topics you report on. Highlight how stakeholder feedback influenced what’s inside.

3. Comparability & Benchmarking

Judges look for consistency across years and comparability across organisations. The criteria cite “facilitate comparability, benchmarking and assessment of performance.”

Tip: Use standard definitions, restate prior years, show sector or peer averages. Call out where your performance diverges and why.

4. Integrated Link Between Strategy, Performance & Outlook

Great reports don’t treat context, results and future separately — they tell a cohesive story. The criteria require a narrative around objectives, performance, outlook and key events.

Tip: Use “how we got here → where we are → where we’re going” framing. Cross‑link strategic goals to actual results, risks and future plans.

5. Strong Governance & Ethics Disclosure

Transparency around governance is non‑negotiable. The Governance Reporting Award (a Special Award) also encourages deeper disclosure about board practices, decision‑making and oversight.

Tip: Use the “if not, why not” approach: if you don’t adopt a practice, explain why. Disclose board diversity, committee structures, remuneration, and any internal breaches or investigations.

6. Readability, Navigation & Design

No matter how strong the content, if readers get lost or frustrated, the impact falters. The criteria set out expectations for “presentation, communication and navigation.” arawards.com.au

Tip: Use a strong table of contents, cross‑references, glossary, and internal links (for online or PDF formats). Use charts, infographics and white space strategically — not as decoration.

7. Financials Must Be Beyond Compliance

The financial statements are a core pillar. The criteria expect both narrative discussion and complete statements. arawards.com.au

Tip: In early pages, summarise key financials, ratios and trends with commentary. In the statements section, ensure cross‑referencing, clarity of accounting policies and full disclosures are present.

How to Embed These Points Into Your Workflow

Here’s a suggested way to build these criteria into your report process:

1. Early planning / scoping
   In your initial outline, map the criteria dimensions above to chapters or sections (e.g. “Risks & Challenges”, “Performance vs Strategy”, “Stakeholder Issues”).

2. Mid‑draft review
   Pause your draft and map content to criteria. Ask: “Have we acknowledged trade‑offs? Have we connected performance to strategy? Is navigation clear?”

3. Design pass
   Review the layout with the lens of clarity and usability. Seek feedback from someone less involved for intuitiveness.

4. Pre‑submission “criteria audit”
   Use the ARA criteria as a checklist and run a final pass. Spot where content is thin or where visual design hinders meaning.

5. Post‑entry feedback loop
   Whether or not you win, use adjudicator feedback to inform next year. Many organisations improve year-over-year by evolving in line with the criteria.

Checklist: “ARA‑Ready” Review Before You Submit

Below is a working checklist you and your team can use as a last pass before finalising your report. Feel free to convert this into your internal QA or sign‑off process.

Area	Yes / Needs Attention	Notes or Action Items
Balance & Honesty	Yes Needs Attention	Have we included challenges, limitations and uncertainties?
	Yes Needs Attention	Is the narrative too rosy or selective?
Stakeholder Relevance	Yes Needs Attention	Were stakeholders engaged in identifying material topics?
	Yes Needs Attention	Are disclosures clearly mapped to stakeholder concerns?
Comparability & Consistency	Yes Needs Attention	Are key metrics defined consistently across years?
	Yes Needs Attention	Did we restate prior years where needed?
	Yes Needs Attention	Do we benchmark against peers or sector norms?
Narrative Integration	Yes Needs Attention	Do strategy, performance and outlook connect logically?
	Yes Needs Attention	Are strategic goals linked to results and risks?
Governance & Ethics	Yes Needs Attention	Are structure, board, committees and culture disclosed?
	Yes Needs Attention	Are executive changes, breaches or gaps disclosed?
Readability & Navigation	Yes Needs Attention	Is there a clear table of contents, index or navigation aid?
	Yes Needs Attention	Are visuals captioned and meaningful (not decorative)?
Financials & Disclosures	Yes Needs Attention	Are full financial statements and notes included?
	Yes Needs Attention	Are accounting policies, cross-references and explanations present?
Design & Format	Yes Needs Attention	Is the layout clean and aligned with branding?
	Yes Needs Attention	Are fonts, colour use, white space and graphics serving clarity?
Special Requirements / Awards	Yes Needs Attention	If entering special awards, have you added extra required content?
Proof & Quality	Yes Needs Attention	Are spelling, grammar and links all checked?

Next Steps

Entries for the 2026 Australasian Reporting Awards are now officially open.

Use this checklist as a final quality check to make sure your annual report aligns with the ARA’s criteria — and gives your organisation the best chance to be recognised for excellence, clarity, and transparency in reporting.

Whether you’re aiming for Gold, an Industry Award, or simply seeking meaningful feedback, clear, consistent reporting always stands out.

Enter the 2026 ARA Awards
Download the Entry Form (PDF)
Review the ARA Criteria

We look forward to seeing your entry, and celebrating the organisations leading the way in clear, high-quality reporting.

— The ARA Team