Categories that are judged at national-only level
Nominations in these categories proceed straight to judging at a national level. The national panels of judges comprise representatives from across Australia, not just from the nominee’s state.
Good Practice recognition recipients and national finalists in these categories are announced at state level AbaF Awards events.
Only three finalists are chosen from across the country regardless of the number of nominees.
Winners of the Commitment and Young & Emerging Artists award categories will then progress to compete for the Partnership of the Year.
Categories that are judged at state level
These nominations are judged by panels of judges from the nominee’s state who determine which are to receive Good Practice recognition, and select the state winner.
Winners at state level progress to be judged at national level by a panel of judges from across Australia.
Nominations that are judged to be national winners of the Arts & Environment, Arts & Health, Community, Partnering, Regional and SME Awards compete for the Partnership of the Year.
Certificates
All state winners and national finalists are presented with certificates at their state event. It is important that nominees have a representative at their state event to accept their certificate if they win.
Company names for nominations
The company names you provide on the contact form will be used to refer to your company in all AbaF material. Please advise AbaF’s Manager Events and Special Projects if there is any change after you have submitted your nomination.
Confidentiality
All information contained within your nomination is confidential. It will only be read for AbaF Awards purposes. Nominations that win at national level will be forwarded to The Australian to help facilitate their writing of winners profiles.
Company and financial information is an important component of each nomination and will not be used beyond the purpose of the AbaF Awards.
Should your nomination be profiled in the Gold Book, AbaF will reproduce information with your consent.
All AbaF Awards judges sign confidentiality agreements.
Conflict of interest
AbaF Awards judges must declare any conflicts of interest prior to the judging process. The judge will be excused from judging the category in which the conflict may arise.
Contact names for nominations
AbaF requires one contact from each partner company in the nomination. This person must sign the nomination form to confirm that all information contained within the nomination is true and correct.
The signatories are also the primary contacts for all AbaF communication which may include requests for extra information, images, logos, clarification of information contained within the nomination, invitations to state, and if applicable, national, AbaF Awards events.
This contact person may be different to the person chosen to represent the company at the state or national Awards events. If so, the contact person must advise AbaF of the correct company representative after they have received their invitation to the event.
Feedback
Feedback on your nomination is offered after the national Awards event. Please contact the Manager Events and Special Projects if you would like to receive feedback.
Nominees who are considering renominating in subsequent years are strongly encouraged to seek feedback.
Good Practice recognition
Good Practice recognition is given to nominations that judges deem as meeting a high standard in relation to the criteria.
Recipients of Good Practice recognition will be acknowledged at Awards events and will be entitled to use the Good Practice recognition “stamp” provided by AbaF.
This stamp will be emailed to recipients after their state awards event as jpg and tif files for nominees to use on their website, annual report, etc
Not all nominations receive Good Practice recognition. Only nominations that receive Good Practice recognition are recognised at the state events.
Images
All images and logos will only be used in relation to the AbaF Awards and the Gold Book in the event of a successful nomination. Should AbaF wish to use an image for another purpose, consent from the copyright holder will be sought.
Each nomination must be accompanied by at least five still images relating to the artistic output of the nominated partnership, relationship or program. Nominees are encouraged to provide more than five images when possible.
Make sure images are of high quality and print quality (Larger than 2MB in size and a minimum resolution of 300dpi). If you are unsure, send the original file from your camera without formatting or altering it.
Images provided on disc are for AbaF’s use. Should nominees want judges to look through the images, five hard copies should also be included.
Moving images relevant to the arts component of the nominated partnership are requested but not mandatory.
The preferred moving image format is for high quality QuickTime images.
If nominees want judges to watch the moving images, five discs must be supplied; if just for AbaF’s use, one copy will be sufficient.
Logos
All companies involved in the nomination must provide their company logo on one disc.
Copyright
Copyright forms must be submitted - these forms are included within the nomination forms. One copy of these forms is required.
Judges
AbaF Awards judges are chosen for their knowledge and experience with between arts, business and donors. The judging panels include a mix of business and arts representatives from across Australia.
All judges volunteer the considerable time and energy required for judging the nominations.
All judges sign a confidentiality agreement and declare all conflicts of interest before judging.
Nominations at state level are judged by representatives from the nominees’ state.
Nominations at national level are judged by representatives from across Australia.
View 2011 AbaF Awards judges on the Awards judges page of the AbaF website.
Leadership Awards
The Dame Elisabeth Murdoch Arts Business Leadership Award and the Richard Pratt Business Arts Leadership Award are presented to individuals who have made a sustained, exceptional contribution to Australia’s cultural life. For full details please see the nomination forms.
The Goldman Sachs Philanthropy Leadership Award is given to an individual, family, group, foundation or other entity that has encouraged increased philanthropic giving to Australia’s cultural life.
National finalists
National Finalists will:
- be announced at their Awards state event and received a framed certificate to mark their achievement
- be featured on the AbaF website along with their winners photo taken at their Awards state event
- be eligible for the national Award in their category, which will be announced at the national event
- receive one complimentary ticket to the national AbaF Awards dinner, with the option to purchase one additional ticket
- be acknowledged in their state’s AbaF e-newsletter
- be profiled in the Gold Book
- receive a National Finalist “stamp” in the format of jpg and tif files for use on their websites, in printed publications, etc
Partnership of the Year
This is the premier Award presented at the national AbaF Awards dinner. National winners of eight categories – Arts & Environment, Arts & Health, Commitment, Community, Partnering, Regional, SME, and Young and Emerging Artists are eligible to be named Partnership of the Year.
Nominees will only find out on the night of the national Awards dinner if they are in contention for this award.
Representation at state or national events
Nominees must ensure that they have a representative at their Awards state event and, if they progress to be eligible for a national Award, at the national AbaF Awards dinner.
AbaF does not advise the winners of the results in advance of the events.
Speeches
As a general rule, nominees are not invited to make a speech, but please confirm all details of your state event with your State Director or State Coordinator.
Only the winners of the leadership Awards and the Partnership of the Year Award are invited to make a speech.
Leadership winners are advised of their win before the national AbaF Awards dinner and are invited to prepare a speech.
Winners of the Partnership of the Year Award are not advised of their win before the national event. As nominees will not be aware that they will be in the running for the Partnership of the Year before the event, all nominees in categories eligible for this Award should prepare a short speech in the event of the win.
Tickets to the national AbaF Awards dinner
Only tickets nominees can purchase tickets for the national AbaF Awards dinner. All nominees for a national Award are entitled to one complimentary ticket, and the option to purchase one more. All other Awards guests are by invitation only.
Tips for writing a nomination
AbaF has a list of tips to help nominees write a strong nomination. Tips for a competitive nomination are available here.
Trophies
All winners at the national AbaF Awards dinner will be presented with a glass trophy created by Richard Whiteley richardwhiteley.com.
Unsuccessful nominations
AbaF encourages nominees who have not won the national Award in their category to seek feedback and renominate.
Many state and national Award winners have not won on their first attempt but have entered for a number of years. Many report that the writing of the nomination itself is tremendously beneficial as it helps to reflect on their partnership or program and benefits them in ways other than just their AbaF Award nomination.
Winners – national
National winners will:
- be announced at the AbaF Awards national event and receive a handcrafted glass trophy
- be featured on the AbaF website along with their photo taken on the Awards night
- be profiled in the Gold Book
- be acknowledged in AbaF e-newsletters
- receive a National Winner “stamp” in the format of jpg and tif files for use on their websites, in printed publications, etc
- be profiled in The Australian as part of the AbaF Awards coverage
Winners – state
State winners will:
- be announced at their Awards state event and receive a framed certificate to mark their achievement
- featured on the AbaF website along with their photo taken at their Awards state event
- be eligible for the national win in their category which will be announced at the AbaF Awards national dinner
- receive one complimentary ticket to the national AbaF Awards dinner, with the option to purchase one additional ticket
- be profiled in the Gold Book
- be acknowledged in AbaF e-newsletters
- receive a State Winner “stamp” in the format of jpg and tif files for use on their websites, in printed publications, etc
For more information or clarification plese contact your local AbaF office or the Manager Events and Special Projects.