About The Awards
These awards are for local businesses, not-for-profit organisation and individuals helping to build Kalamunda’s economic, community and cultural vibrance.
Now in their 19th year, these awards are a prestigious platform to gain recognition for local entities and the positive impact their dedication has on our vibrant community.
The awards are open to any entity or individual running operations within the City of Kalamunda for at least 12 months. The size and complexity of your operations will not affect your ability to show your excellence.
There is no cost to enter and you do not have to be a member of the Kalamunda Chamber of Commerce to participate.
Award submissions will be assessed by a panel of independent judges , interviews, a mystery shopper program and by popular vote. Every participant will receive valuable feedback on the strengths and weaknesses of their submission.
Although not everyone can win an award, you will find the process of taking a bird’s eye view of your business will be rewarding. Entrants achieving an exceptional score, will be presented with a prestigious gold medal certificate.
Kalamunda Chamber of Commerce Executive Committee Members and staff are only eligible to enter or be nominated for those awards which are decided by the independent judges.
The Benefits of Participating
This is your opportunity to do what all business owners should regularly do, take a deep dive into your business’s operational and administrative processes and unlock transformative benefits, from cost savings to scalability to greater efficiency and a better customer experience.
The immediate direct benefits are social media exposure, increased visibility and valuable feedback from the independent judges
In addition all winners will receive a customised business plan based on their submissions and $1,950 worth of coaching, mentoring and social media assistance.
It is not all about winning a trophy, the return for your investment in time participating in these awards , is increased visibility, credibility and continuous improvement.
By nominating for an award, not only will you experience internal organisational improvements but you will receive free publicity and exposure, networking opportunities and a competitive edge.
Participants tell us that entering the awards gave them increased insight into the workings of their operations leading to positive change and greater efficiency.
Award Categories
There are 16 Award Categories covering the whole gamut of activity within the City of Kalamunda:
- Excellence in Tourism & Events
- Excellence in Hospitality
- Outstanding Independent Retailer
- Excellence Online
- Outstanding Not For Profit
- Outstanding Personal Services
- Outstanding Professional Services
- Outstanding Trade Specialist
- Outstanding Allied Healthcare Services
- Outstanding Local Product
- Outstanding Community Activation
- Excellence in Environmental Sustainability
- Business Person of The Year
- People’s Choice
- Business Station Emerging Enterprise of the Year
- Chairperson’s Enterprise of the Year
Click the button to read the full description of each award to see which category is best suited to your enterprise:
How To Nominate
Nominate yourself or nominate all your local favourites – you can nominate any number of local enterprises including your own. You will have to use a separate nomination form for each enterprise.
The nomination process is very simple just choose the award category and supply some simple details of yourself and the enterprises you are nominating.
This is you opportunity to shine a light on success within the City of Kalamunda
Your nomination should take a few short minutes, click the button below and get started!
The Judges will review your nomination against the award criteria to ensure that the nominated awards are relevant to your enterprise and you will then be asked to make an online submission.
Making Your Submission
If you have nominated your own entity or have been nominated by someone else, there will be an initial review to ensure that you have been nominated in the appropriate category and you will then be asked to make a submission or recognise the assessment process if not by submission.
For many of the award categories there is a questionnaire for you to complete and for some sections of that questionnaire you can enhance your submission by uploading files or photos.
Many participants also make submissions via video and this is encouraged.
You can pause part-way through your submission and complete it later but you are encouraged to complete your submission “offline” and copy and paste your answers into the online questionnaire – this ensures that you don’t lose your work in the event of a problem with the transmission of your responses
For some categories there is a brief questionnaire and a mystery shopper process whereby you will be assessed by someone visiting your premises or experiencing your goods or services.
Don’t hesitate to contact us if you run into difficulties with your submission.
How The Winners Are Decided – Meet The Judges
Once the nominations and submissions are complete the judging process begins.
You might have been visited by a mystery shopper who will have completed a questionnaire or you might have been contacted for interview or to provide more information or clarification of your submission.
All submissions are automatically entered into the people’s choice award. Your names are broadcast on social media and we then count the votes from the public.
A marking rubric has been developed to assist the judges in making their assessments.
Our panel of judges is selected from various businesses and business support organisations. They are unbiased professionals who volunteer their expertise to judge the submissions.
These judges are bound by a code of conduct and strict confidentiality rules and must declare any conflict of interest prior to the judging process. Judges are not eligible to enter the awards.
Shortlisted finalists in the panel-judged categories and people’s choice awards will be notified in advance of the Gala Award Dinner. All winners will be announced at the Gala Award Dinner.
You can meet the judges by clicking on the button below
The Awards Ceremony Gala Dinner
The Gala Dinner is to be held at Chalet Rigi on Saturday 8 November. Make sure you put that date in your calendar and buy your tickets now.
Our MC again this year is well loved local entertainer, radio and television personality and musician, Tod Johnston – this is an evening not to be missed.
Each category winner is announced at the dinner and the awards trophies are given out.
It’s a wonderful night in the beautiful surrounds of the amazing Chalet Rigi and an opportunity to meet other members of the Chamber, sponsors and local dignitaries.
Tickets can be purchased by clicking on the button below:
Key Dates
Nominations are now open and will remain open until mid September. The requests for submissions will be sent out in the second week of August and the judging commences in late September.
The Gala Dinner and awards ceremony is on Saturday 8 November.
- Nominations Close – Sunday 14 September
- Submissions Open – Monday 11 August
- Submissions Close – Sunday 21 September
- People’s Choice Voting Opens – Friday 12 September
- People’s Choice Voting Closes – Sunday 28 September
- Judging Commences – Monday 29 September
- Judging Ends – Sunday 26 October
- Gala Dinner and Awards Ceremony – Saturday 8 November
Last Year’s Winners
The winner’s circle. Here are the 2024 deserving winners of the Outstanding Enterprise Awards. You could also be a winner but you’ve got to be in it to win it!
- Excellence in Tourism, Hospitality and Events (Hospitality Category) – Plume Estate Vineyard
- Excellence in Tourism, Hospitality and Events (Events Category) – Rollerama
- Excellence in Retail – Zanthorrea Nursery
- Outstanding Not For Profit – Friends of Upper Lesmurdie Falls
- Outstanding Personal Services – Foothills Beauty
- Outstanding Professional Services – Desborought Accountants
- Outstanding Trade Specialist – The Doggy Lady
- Mayor’s Award for Community Activation – Kalamunda Garden Festival
- Vision and Strategy Award – Replenish
- Outstanding Creative Enterprise – Collective Design Agency
- Outstanding Local Product – HHH Spirits single malt whiskey
- Business Person of the Year – Jasmin Harley from Foothills Beauty
- People’s Choice Award – Rollerama
- Business Station Emerging Enterprise Award – Hogg Culture Brewing Co
- Chairperson’s Enterprise of the Year – Quantum Electrical – Kalamunda Electrician
Note for the 2025 Awards there is a change to some of the categories.
Rules
There is always small print but we have tried to keep the rules and regulations relating to these awards to a minimum but for the sake of fairness:
- Achievements must relate predominantly to the period of 24 months ending on the date of the Award Gala Dinner
- The judges’ decision is final and there will be no correspondence entered into between the judges and entrants
- Participating businesses must be trading. Organisations who are inactive or under administration proceedings will be disqualified but are invited to reapply should their trading status change
- Entrants may be successful in more than one award category
- If part of your submission consists of video please upload that video to YouTube as a private video and submit the link. Alternatively videos can be uploaded to Dropbox or Google Drive
- Uploaded text files and photographs should be less than 2Mb with photos resized to ensure they are less than 1Mb each
- Finalist’s Submissions must be received no later than 11:59pm on 28 September 2025
- Kalamunda Chamber of Commerce Executive Committee members are only eligible to nominate themselves for the panel-judged awards although they can be nominated by others for other non-panel judged awards
- The judges may decide not to make an award where entries are not of a sufficiently high standard
- Once submitted Submissions cannot be amended but they can be withdrawn by contacting the Chamber
- The chamber reserves the right to adjust the rules at any time in the interests of fairness and transparency
Terms & Conditions
Just a few more lines of small print
- Award submissions are transmitted electronically by nominators to the Kalamunda Chamber of Commerce and to the Judges. Although the Kalamunda Chamber of Commerce will not further distribute or publish any submission material without permission it is unable to guarantee privacy of material included in the submission
- Applicants will be notified as soon as practicable if their application is judged to be ineligible for any reason
- Nominators indemnify the Kalamunda Chamber of Commerce for any direct or indirect losses incurred as a result of their nomination
- Kalamunda Chamber of Commerce is not liable in the event of nomination material being lost during or after submission and nominators should keep a copy of their nominations
- Tickets for the Gala Award Dinner are limited and available on a first come first served basis
- In the event that the Gala Award Dinner is cancelled, other than tickets provided to sponsors on an in-kind basis, all tickets will be refunded in full. Alternative arrangements will be made for the distribution of the award trophies and certificates