Nominations for Australia’s largest celebration of startup innovation shut on Friday June 19.
Now in its fourth yr, there are 15 awards within the 2026 Best in Tech Awards together with the always-popular Most Revolutionary Startup, and Startup of the 12 months.
A number of awards, together with the AI Gamechanger, Future Chief, Finest Accelerator, Incubator or Startup Workspace, and the GSD Award – for somebody who will get sh*t completed – have fun components of the ecosystem that make it succeed and extra enjoyable to be part of.
Startup Every day editor Simon Thomsen mentioned that in simply three years, the Finest in Tech Awards have grown to turn into a spotlight of the startup yr.
“We launched the Finest in Tech awards in 2023 to have fun and honour the day by day grind, dedication and sheer bloody brilliance of individuals within the startup sector,” he mentioned.
“Over the previous three years we’ve had greater than 750 entries, which says one thing in regards to the measurement and enthusiasm of everybody within the ANZ startup sector, and recognised some unbelievable startups.
“In our first yr, the judges declared Wollongong inexperienced hydrogen startup Hysata Startup of The 12 months. Lower than 12 months later they’d raised a file $172 million Series B.”
Over the previous two years, ladies have featured strongly within the awards. You possibly can examine all the 2025 winners here.
The best way to enter the 2026 Finest in Tech awards
Nominations for 15 classes within the 2026 Best in Tech awards shut at midnight on Friday, June 19.
Any try to submit late entries would require a big brown paper bag of small, unmarked notes, addressed to the editor.*
Nominate an individual, firm or occasion for the 2026 Best in Tech awards here.
The awards are open to Australian and New Zealand tech startups based in both nation in addition to ANZ residents and residents.
The judging panels will select 4 finalists for every class, introduced on Monday July 27.
The winners can be introduced at a gala dinner at The Ivy Ballroom in Sydney on Thursday, September 10.
2026 Finest in Tech classes
Listed below are the classes and standards:
1. Startup of the yr
This award recognises an excellent early-stage startup that’s demonstrated sturdy development, market management and innovation in creating new methods of doing enterprise or defining new market classes.
Open to startups with fewer than 100 staff, it celebrates companies combining bold imaginative and prescient with sturdy execution and business traction.
Judges will assess development, buyer adoption, product innovation and management inside their sector. Nominations ought to show momentum, scalability and the potential to ship lasting affect of their trade or past.
2. Scaleup of the yr
This award recognises an excellent unlisted scaleup that has demonstrated distinctive development, market management and powerful enterprise efficiency.
Open to startups which have accomplished a Collection B elevate or past, this award celebrates success in scaling operations, buyer base and business affect.
Judges will assess efficiency throughout key development metrics together with income, buyer acquisition, staff enlargement and market traction. Nominations ought to show sustained momentum, operational excellence, strategic management and a transparent pathway to continued development and trade affect.
3. Most revolutionary startup
This award recognises a startup redefining what’s potential via daring concepts, breakthrough considering and the revolutionary use of expertise to resolve significant issues. It celebrates startups creating new markets, difficult established fashions, or delivering transformative services and products with the potential for important affect.
Judges will assess the originality of the innovation, the effectiveness of its execution, and its present and future affect. Nominations ought to show clear market relevance, scalability, and the way the startup is driving constructive change via innovation.
4. Finest regional startup
This award particularly recognises an excellent startup primarily based outdoors Australia’s capital cities that’s delivering sturdy development, innovation and affect in its area.
Judges will search for proof of enterprise momentum, market traction, daring execution and management. Nominations ought to show a transparent imaginative and prescient for development, the startup’s broader regional affect, and the way it’s creating alternatives, jobs or innovation inside its local people.
5. Trade champion
This award recognises a person who has made an excellent contribution to strengthening and advancing the Australian startup ecosystem.
Open to founders, traders and trade leaders, this award celebrates these whose affect extends past their very own business pursuits to assist the broader neighborhood.
Judges will search for proof of management, advocacy, mentorship, ecosystem-building and a demonstrated dedication to serving to others succeed. Nominations ought to spotlight significant contributions which have improved alternatives, entry or outcomes for startups, pushed by generosity and a real dedication to the sector’s development.
6. Finest sustainability startup
This award recognises a startup utilizing innovation and powerful enterprise fundamentals to create measurable environmental or sustainability affect. Open to companies in any sector, it celebrates fashions addressing challenges akin to local weather, waste, power, sources, or broader sustainability outcomes via long-term considering and scalable options.
Judges will search for clear proof of affect, innovation and business viability. Nominations ought to show measurable enhancements, a sustainable development technique, and the way the startup is contributing to a more healthy planet and extra sustainable future.
7. Finest new concept
This award recognises an early-stage startup, lower than two years outdated, with a daring imaginative and prescient and powerful potential to make a significant affect in its sector. Open to companies at any stage, together with pre-revenue or pre-funding, this award celebrates innovation, originality and clear problem-solving.
Judges will search for a compelling concept, market alternative, and the energy of the founders’ imaginative and prescient and execution. Nominations ought to show how the startup may create constructive change and the progress already made in direction of that aim.
8. Finest technical chief
This award recognises an excellent CTO or expertise chief whose imaginative and prescient, experience and execution have been crucial to a startup’s success.
Judges will search for proof of technical excellence, strategic management, product or platform innovation, and measurable affect on development, efficiency or buyer outcomes. Nominations ought to show innovation with the potential to form industries or enhance the best way individuals reside and work.
9. Finest new founder
This award recognises an excellent first-time founder demonstrating early promise and significant affect. It celebrates an entrepreneur who’s recognized a transparent market alternative and is constructing revolutionary options with ambition, resilience and powerful execution.
Judges will search for proof of daring considering, buyer traction, product growth, and the power to show concepts into motion. Nominations ought to show the founder’s imaginative and prescient, management and dedication to fixing vital issues, alongside the expansion potential and the probability of making lasting constructive change.
10. The AI gamechanger
This award recognises a startup or scaleup utilizing synthetic intelligence to ship significant transformation throughout workflows, enterprise operations, knowledge evaluation, buyer expertise, or the best way individuals work together with expertise.
This award celebrates sensible and impactful AI purposes that remedy real-world issues, enhance effectivity, unlock new capabilities, or create solely new methods of working. Judges will search for clear proof of innovation, measurable outcomes, and broad potential affect throughout industries or communities. Nominations ought to show how AI is delivering tangible advantages, driving development, or reshaping markets.
11. Finest startup advertising and marketing
This award is for the scrappy advertising and marketing groups who’ve delivered real affect with a startup-sized finances and a dream, whether or not that’s a marketing campaign, social account, e mail nurture stream, or different advertising and marketing initiative.
Entries ought to element earlier than and afters with clear deliverables, which may embody conversion charges, pipeline, MQLs, press protection or different tangible advertising and marketing metrics.
12. Startup worker of the yr
This award celebrates the often-unsung individuals whose work helps startups scale and succeed. The winner will show particular person achievement, in addition to embodying values akin to adaptability, collaboration, ambition, and a willingness to transcend the scope of their function to assist the corporate thrive.
It’s open to staff at any degree (excluding founders and co-founders) who’ve demonstrated distinctive efficiency, management, innovation, or affect of their function to ship development, resilience, or aggressive benefit.
13. Finest accelerator, incubator or startup workspace
This award recognises the packages, organisations and coworking communities that play a crucial function in serving to startups launch, develop and succeed. It’s open to accelerators, incubators, startup hubs and coworking areas in Australia and New Zealand.
Nominations ought to show how the organisation has created an atmosphere the place startups can develop sooner, join extra successfully, and enhance their possibilities of long-term success.
Entries can be assessed on the standard, innovation and affect of packages, companies and founder assist, together with the energy of mentoring networks, academic programming, investor entry, neighborhood engagement, and any distinctive or revolutionary approaches to supporting founders, akin to tailor-made packages, new supply fashions, trade partnerships, or specialised sources.
14. Future chief
This award recognises an rising chief within the ANZ ecosystem exhibiting distinctive potential to turn into an influential voice, advocate and changemaker. It’s open to founders, operators and ecosystem contributors early of their startup careers.
Judges will search for proof of affect past their instant function, together with mentoring, community-building, thought management, advocacy, or ecosystem engagement. Nominations ought to show imaginative and prescient, affect, and a transparent dedication to serving to form the way forward for the sector.
15. The GSD award
Get Shit Carried out is an trade affect award for an organisation and/or particular person honouring their contribution to the general success of the tech ecosystem and monitor file in reworking issues for the advantage of many.
It might be an trade or group, an accelerator, a startup or founder/s, investor/s or others who has assisted in making the sector thrive in any variety of methods, from lobbying to coverage setting, assist, funding, philanthropy, tradition setting and most significantly, simply getting shit completed (GSD).
For this specific award, the judges will have the ability to nominate individuals and/or organisations they imagine are worthy of recognition.
* That could be a joke, thanks for studying that far.
