The judges may seek further information or clarification from any applicant or referee, at their discretion. This may be in the form of further written information or verbal contact. Judges feedback will be provided to each applicant from the Toowoomba Chamber.  Interviews will be held at the Toowoomba Chamber office.

Note:  Judges should reduce applicant scores that exceed word and video length limits.

Judges are required to score applicants responses to each question on a scale of 1-5 as follows:

• 1: Extremely Poor;
• 2: Poor;
• 3: Average;
• 4: Good; and
• 5: Excellent.

Do not hesitate to give a 2.25 or 2.5 or 2.75/5 score or similar.

Submission Requirements

A written application of no more than three pages which included a current resume and referee and a video pitch not longer than one minute in length.

Did the applicant:

• submit a current resume (maximum 2 pages) and 1 referee that can be contacted to verify the applicants description what professional and personal success means for them
• outline their most significant career or personal achievement to date
• illustrate their five year plan for themselves
• make clear the obstacles they have faced as a young business leader and how have they dealt with each of these challenges
• detail their approach to leadership, diversity and inclusion, and how it influences their actions and activities within the company
• highlight initiatives they have developed as a leader in their business, detailing their success
• describe their leadership style, what makes a good leader and any areas they need to work on in terms of their personal leadership style
• outline how their leadership positively impacted on resolving a matter in their business, their workplace and or their community
• present their contribution, interests and involvement in the community
• profile how they have contributed to the Toowoomba business community, including the period, amount, nature and level of the contribution
• articulate why they should be Future Leader of the Year 2024.

Applicant’s Written Response

Applicant’s Interview

Applicant’s Video Application

Did the one-minute video pitch describe to you:

• who they are
• what they do
• why they believe they are the Future Leader of the Year 2024.

Note: All finalists will be offered the opportunity to complete a new video for the Little Pig Consulting Business Excellence Awards 2024, Gala Dinner.

Judging assessment for the Little Pig Consulting Business Excellence Award 2024 is as follows:

• written application, 40%;
• site visit and presentation from the applicant, 50%; and
• the 30 second – 1-minute video of the business,10%.

Note:  Judges should reduce applicant scores who exceed word and video limits length limits.

Judges are required to provide feedback on each application. All assessments must identify areas of excellence and areas for improvement and are to be completed and submitted online via the Toowoomba Chamber website.

Judges’ feedback will be provided to each applicant from the Toowoomba Chamber.

The Judges Site Visits

The Judges’ site visits will give applicants the opportunity to showcase their businesses.

During the site visit, judges will want to see evidence of strategy, vision, and values coming to life in the applicant’s business.

All judges are to visit each applicant together to reduce disruption to the business.

Judges are required to score applicants responses to each question on a scale of 1-5 as follows:

• 1: Extremely Poor;
• 2: Poor;
• 3: Average;
• 4: Good; and
• 5: Excellent.

Do not hesitate to give a 2.25 or 2.5 or 2.75/5 score or similar.

Business Strategy

In their written application, was there:

• a summary of your strategic plan or business plan (maximum two pages); or
• a one-page strategic plan; or
• a written a summary of your strategic plan (300 words or less); or
• a combination of the above; and
• written or graphic representation on how your business strategy was developed.

During the site visit ask for:

• evidence of their strategic or business planning within the business?
• staff knowledge what the values and vision of the business are?
• a description of their business strategy and how it is integrated through the business, culture and people.

Business Performance and Improvements 

In their written application, was there:

• an outline the key financial indicators on how your business measures financial performance;
• an outline how you measure customer relationships, customer retention, customer growth;
• an outline other tools and measures you use to monitor performance;
• a statement of what quality assurance processes and procedures you have in place; and
• an outline of how your business focuses on continuous improvement.

During the site visit, ask for:

• an explanation of at least 3 key elements of benchmarking and performance.
• how does the business act on business act on its performance and improvement measures.
• evidence of financial performance which demonstrates profitability, liquidity, and sustainability of the business.
• examples to demonstrate how you measure customer relationships, customer retention, customer growth.

People Management and Development

In their written application, was there:

• a description of people practices in place for the life span of an employee – from hire until they leave the business;
• an outline of key elements of your attraction and retention strategies;
• an illustration of how you onboard new employees;
• a description of training and development programs;
• an outline of inclusion and diversity policies and practices;
• an outline of how they focus on workplace culture and staff engagement and staff wellbeing; and
• an explanation of their leadership model and leadership investment.

During the site visit:

• ask for a description of how they support their people and build the culture they are striving for.
• look for evidence of a thriving and happy workplace culture.
• seek out how they their attraction and retention strategies, diversity and development programs, and on boarding works.
• look for evidence of staff engagement, staff investment and wellness.

Note:  Sole Traders who choose not to complete this section will receive an automatic 3/5 score.

Customer Market and Focus

In their written application, was there:

• a summary of their marketing/promotional strategy (maximum two pages); or
• a written summary of their marketing/promotional strategy (300 words or less); and
• attached a summary of their customer service strategy (maximum two pages);
• their approach to attracting and retaining customers outlined; and
• identification of how they identify target market and customer needs.

During the site visit:

• ask for a description of their current customer and marketing strategies and challenges.
• seek information on how they implement their marketing/promotional strategy across your business.
• look for evidence of how well the applicant understands their customers.
• seek to understand their unique value proposition that makes customers need your product and/or service.
• check for measures to understand customer needs and levels of satisfaction.

Community Engagement and Activities

In their written application, was there:

• a description of how their business engages with and helps to support the broader community;
• an outline of what they do to support the local community (in-kind, financial etc.); and
• an outline of how they are involved in developing the local community.

During the site visit:

• ask for evidence of how they engage with and help the broader community.
• get an understanding of how they determine how they go about choosing where and who to give back to.
• evidence of community support and types of specific activities they are involved in.

Innovation Entrepreneurship & Resilience

In their written application, did they:

• outline their innovative practices implemented to drive success;
• outline their entrepreneurship applied to their business; and
• outline the measures in place to be resilient in the changing business environment.

During the site visit:

• seek evidence in the workplace of innovation that drove business success.
• ask for an example of a challenge, learning from failures, and how they adapted to changing market conditions, to achieve a goal.
• seek information on their expected businesses changes in the medium to long-term and what they have in place to limit impact on operations and achieve overall net benefits.
• Get them to talk about any unintended outcomes from the changes – positive and negative?

Business Summary Video

Did the one-minute video pitch describe to you:

• who they are
• what their business does
• why they believe they are excellent and an award-winning business.

All finalists will be offered the opportunity to complete a new video for the Little Pig Consulting Business Excellence Awards 2024, Gala Dinner.

The judges may seek further information or clarification from any applicant or referee, at their discretion. This may be in the form of further written information or verbal contact. Judges feedback will be provided to each applicant from the Toowoomba Chamber.  Interviews will be held at the Toowoomba Chamber office.

Note:  Judges should reduce applicant scores that exceed word and video length limits.

Judges are required to score applicants responses to each question on a scale of 1-5 as follows:

• 1: Extremely Poor;
• 2: Poor;
• 3: Average;
• 4: Good; and
• 5: Excellent.

Do not hesitate to give a 2.25 or 2.5 or 2.75/5 score or similar.

Submission Requirements

A written application of no more than three pages which included a current resume and referee and a video pitch not longer than one minute in length.

In their application and interview, did they:

• submit a current resume (maximum two pages) and one referee that can be contacted
• outline their most significant business achievement to date and what they did to achieve the result
• outline their greatest challenge as a businesswoman and how they dealt with that challenge
• detail their approach to leadership, diversity, sustainability, and inclusion, and how it influences your actions and activities in business
• describe what they do for ongoing personal development and how they plan for it
• describe how they lead
• outline how they balance their personal life with their work life
• present what they have done to make a positive impact on the community
• profile how they have contributed to the Toowoomba business community.

Applicant’s Written Response

Applicant’s Interview

Applicant’s Video Application

Did the one-minute video pitch describe to you:

• who they are
• what they do
• why they believe you are the Businesswoman of the Year 2024.

Note:  All finalists will be offered the opportunity to complete a new video for the Little Pig Consulting Business Excellence Awards 2024 Gala Awards Dinner.