Judging
The AWA judging process is simple and thorough, performed by some of the industry’s leading experts.
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The Process
Australian Web Awards entries are assessed using a combination of ‘judging disciplines’, such as content or development, and ‘judging criteria’ which is a scale from 1 to 5. Each site is reviewed and judged by multiple judges.
Judging disciplines
Each entry will be judged in up to 6 disciplines, and they are:
- Design
- Development
- User experience
- Content
- Accessibility
- SEO
Judging criteria
Each judging discipline contains criteria based on a simple 1 to 5 scale. Here’s how that works:
- 1 is the minimum level accepted – if an entry doesn’t get at least a 1 for each discipline it won’t qualify for the awards.
- 3 is the midpoint – this is where an entry would need to be to be considered as a finalist for an awards.
- 5 is considered excellence – an entry that goes above and beyond and is outstanding (ideally what look to award in each category).
Each entry will be judged on its performance against the criteria and awarded points in each discipline to accrue a combined score. As an example, if there are 6 disciplines, an entry could have a total score between 6 and 30.
Judges
Fredy Liévano Gutiérrez
Fredy Lievano brings over seventeen years of experience leading technical teams and developing software solutions, with a strong focus on using technology to drive meaningful impact within teams and organisations. His work across a wide range of businesses and projects has equipped him with a broad and versatile skill set, enabling him to build and lead high-performing teams while empowering individuals to do their best work. Fredy has been a board member of the Australian Web Industry Association since 2021 and has served as Secretary since 2023. His work has been recognised with multiple industry awards, including the Awwwards, BIIG Awards, ITNe
Michael Bollig
Michael is an experienced human-centred design lead and experience strategist. His collaborative & value-driven approach bridges the gap between technology, customers and business to drive outcomes for digital transformation success.
Michael thrives solving complex problems for mining & energy, enterprise, retail and government customers, often in complex regulatory and technical environments. He has spent over 15 years working on major digital transformations involving digital experience platforms and more than a decade as a national judge for the Australian Web Awards.
Pamela Meagher
Pamela, a Certified Practising Marketer, is an award-winning digital marketing strategist. She has delivered results for over 600 local and global products/services; gaining award recognition for content development, website strategy, and innovative digital solutions.
Pamela’s industry leadership includes mentoring for the Australian Marketing Institute and guest lecturing at Swinburne University. In addition, she has contributed as an SEO Meetup Organiser, Australian Marketing Institute Award Judge, and Australian Web Awards Judge.
Jarrad Langdon
Jarrad Langdon is a long standing judge of the Australian Web Awards, now entering his tenth year on the panel. As Managing Director of Jala Design, he brings a strong focus on WordPress, accessibility, performance and long term maintainability. Jarrad has worked extensively with arts, not for profit and corporate organisations, assessing entries through the lens of strategy, execution and real world impact.
Steve Jaenke
Steve Jaenke is a senior Australian SEO strategist and founder of Digimark, with over 20 years’ experience delivering commercially proven SEO outcomes. He is a recurrent judge for the Australian Web Awards and a recipient of national and international marketing excellence awards. Steve has helped businesses generate over $30 million in revenue through strategic marketing and scalable digital systems.
Bob Croft
Bob has over 11 years of marketing experience in the APAC region and has worked with over 400 businesses across the APAC region and scale businesses of all sizes.
Bob helped all-size businesses solve their problems/pain points and grow revenue through technologies. He also has unique skill sets in BTL marketing/1:1 direct communication. He provides both strategic advice and executions.
He is also one of the judges and mentors for the Australian Marketing Institute – AMI. Besides, he is an author for Martech Zone in the US and India.
Sarah Jee Watson
Sarah Jee is a Perth-based Digital Experience Consultant with over 15 years of experience helping organisations design digital products that are clear, usable, and grounded in real user needs. She works across government, tourism, and the private sector, with a particular interest in designing for older users. Notable projects include work for the Australian Federal Police, the Victorian Government, and Margaret River Busselton Tourism Association. As a judge, she looks beyond aesthetics, assessing work on clarity, usability, and whether it actually serves the people it was built for.
Doyle Buehler
Doyle Buehler is on a mission to help businesses go from Good to Great in the disruptive digital landscape. He believes that by honing our curiosity, creativity & strategic thinking, entrepreneurs can design & create certainty, clarity, and a better understanding of their business, creating remarkable value with immense impact and experiences built to last at www.strategystorming.co
Matt Oxlade
Matt Oxlade is a digital strategist and Digital Innovation Lead at the Local Government Association of Queensland (LGAQ), supporting all 77 Queensland councils to lift their digital and data maturity through low-cost, high-impact solutions. He founded the LGAQ Lab, the first of its kind for a local government association in Australia, delivering award-winning projects including AI flood detection, AI-driven complaint management, and LiDAR-based evacuation systems for Indigenous communities.
Sharon Latour
Sharon Latour is the founder of Marketing Bee, an internationally award-winning agency specialising in innovative and impactful digital strategies for retail products. The agency’s expertise lies in fostering meaningful connections with customers to drive business growth while collaborating closely with brand and marketing managers. She is also an active contributor to client groups and consults on various boards.
Ray Kwong
Ray Kwong is a Product Designer with over a decade of experience, from award-winning digital agencies delivering web and brand experiences for major clients, to the past 8 years designing AI-powered platforms in medical diagnostics. He specialises in complex systems, leading end-to-end design of AI-driven workflows and scalable design systems that support expert decision-making in high-stakes environments.
Tony Cormack
Combining passions for design, people and community Tony’s design journey has led to an international career over 27 years working on market leading projects across digital, identity, brand and publishing.
For the past 20 years Tony has embraced all things digital and brand with a wealth of experience in producing usable, exciting and engaging user centred brand experiences – including extensive experience working on e-commerce, tourism, not for profits, and loyalty projects.
“From my days initially designing computer games magazines to leading enterprise level digital experiences, my passion has always been for how the user engages, uses, plays and enjoys those designed experiences”
Paula Glynn
Paula’s expertise spans CRO, digital analytics, SEO and user experience (UX), with a practical approach grounded in data, audience behaviour, and business outcomes. She is passionate about creating websites and digital experiences that not only rank well, but also engage users and convert effectively. Paula brings a strategic lens grounded in performance, user experience, and innovation — championing excellence in digital presence, search impact and measurable results.
Googe Farrugia
Danny Liang
Danny is an award-winning web designer, developer, and Co-founder/Creative Director of MOBLE, crafting bespoke web solutions, development, and marketing automation for not-for-profits, SMEs, tech startups, and government organisations – including Western Sydney University, Optus, and Mosman Council. Passionate about enhancing organisations’ online presence and streamlining operations through innovative technology, he is a dedicated educator bridging academia and industry via mentoring internships, graduate programs, guest lectures, serving as an industry representative on an ACS course review panel, and co-supervising PhD candidates.
Sam Penny
Sam Penny is a Senior SEO Specialist who’s worked both agency side and in-house. He is currently the SEO Manager at Rest Super, an $85B superannuation fund.
Thomas Lutrov
Claudia Nathan
John Rosato
With 15+ years in the trenches of organic and paid performance, John knows exactly what separates a good website from a game-changer. Currently leading marketing at Soul+Wolf and driving growth as Co-Founder of Break Binge Eating, he specializes in stripping away the digital noise to deliver radical, commercial growth.
Prue Jones
Hailed by LBB Online as one of the world’s leading creative experts, Prue has spent the last 25 years of her career as a leader in the fields of advertising and design and is currently Executive Creative Director of Experience at R/GA. A Good Design Ambassador and a regular on juries of local and international creative award shows including Cannes Lions, Spikes Asia, ADC and WARC, she has worked on innumerable local and global brands and understands the business and consumer challenges brands face in a world that is increasingly complex and as the digital technologies humans use proliferate and change.
Jay Demetillo
Jay Demetillo is a seasoned design leader with 15+ years of experience across New York City, San Francisco, China, Singapore, and Australia, bringing a genuinely global perspective to his work and his craft.
He has designed for some of the world’s most recognized platforms, including Twitter, Pinterest, Yahoo, and Grab, and has contributed to landmark projects such as the Bay Lights installation, SFPark, GrabFood, Grab’s Facial Recognition and AudioProtect features. Currently at Canva, Jay led, designed, and launched Canva Sheets.
Beyond shipping product, Jay has shaped the next generation of designers as an adjunct professor at the California College of the Arts and as a speaker and lecturer across China for ACG. His commitment to design education runs deep, particularly his work mentoring designers across Southeast Asia.
Jay brings a sharp eye for work that balances craft with purpose, and champions design that reflects the full diversity of the people it serves.
Maddi Skeggs
Maddi is a Melbourne-based UX and UI designer on a mission to transform people’s lives through innovative, delightful, and impactful digital experiences. With over eight years of experience, she has honed her craft across the entire design process—research, ideation, prototyping, visual design, and delivery—creating web, app, and strategy projects for clients looking to make waves in their industries.
As a Design Lead at Inlight, Maddi brings a unique blend of deep thinking, creativity, and pragmatism to every challenge. She’s known for clear communication, thoughtful design rationales, and an ability to turn ideas into outcomes that exceed expectations. Whether it’s leading a presentation for stakeholders or rolling up her sleeves to tackle complex design problems, Maddi goes above and beyond because just ‘good enough’ isn’t in her vocabulary.
Elwood Ruffle
Elwood is an award-winning UX leader and the founder of consultancy RDC. Over the last 20 years, he has shaped digital products for brands like Siemens, Bunnings, and the BBC. Today, his work sits at the intersection of design and emerging tech, focusing on empowering the designers of the future through decentralised ecosystems and physics-based algorithmic UI protocols. As a past EOTW speaker, he was thrilled at the opportunity to return as a judge for this year’s awards.
Amira Meyer
Amira Meyer is a visionary digital executive with a Master of Design and 20+ years experience across government, finance, retail products, education, and utilities. A former Master’s level university lecturer, Amira has mentored emerging Australian digital talent. She leverages deep expertise in human-centered design to bridge the gap between complex problem-solving and commercial viability. Her mastery of digital leadership and product management allows her to expertly evaluate innovation, ensuring every experience she judges is as intuitive as it is impactful.
Ash Nallwalla
Ash Nallawalla is a fractional SEO for hire and author of Accidental SEO Manager (Amazon). His background is mostly in in-house enterprise SEO roles, but has owned and managed SEO agencies and consultancies.
Caylee Temple
Caylee Pharoah is the Chief Operating Officer at Localsearch, leading Customer Operations across Australia. Specialising in scalable service delivery, operational excellence, and customer experience, Caylee focuses on systems, team enablement, and measurable outcomes. A senior operations executive, Caylee is known for redesigning operating models to enable scale, protect margin, and improve customer experience while building sustainable, high-performing teams.
Rhiana Heppenstall
Rhiana is the Accessibility Lead software engineer at 3P learning, one of the largest educational software companies in Australia. She combines her background in educational psychology and a love of computers into making software accessible for people with disabilities. She is also a passionate educator and disability advocate, spending her free time presenting at conferences and running workshops on this important topic.
Suman Dahal
Suman Dahal is a sales, marketing, and technology professional with over 25 years of experience in the IT industry, beginning his journey in 1998 building HTML websites in Nepal. Since then, he has worked across multiple areas of digital technology, developing a deep understanding of how marketing, data, and technology come together to drive business growth.
Throughout his career, Suman has worked with leading email marketing and marketing automation platforms, including roles with global companies such as Omniture and Adobe. This experience has given him strong expertise in digital analytics, marketing technology, and enterprise-level digital strategy.
For the past 15 years, Suman has been running NetON, a Melbourne-based digital agency that provides SEO, digital marketing, and technology-driven marketing solutions for clients across Australia and internationally. Through NetON, he helps businesses improve online visibility, implement marketing automation, and build scalable digital growth strategies.
Alongside his agency work, Suman also runs Bright Night Gin, an award-winning Australian craft gin brand. This entrepreneurial venture provides him with first-hand experience in ecommerce, digital branding, and B2C marketing, allowing him to apply and test digital marketing strategies in a real-world consumer business environment.
Shannon Towell
Shannon Towell is your Inclusive Design Partner, making accessibility look and feel good. With over a decade of experience in UX, branding, and web design, she works with organisations across Australia and internationally to build digital experiences that welcome everyone. Shannon is a vocal advocate for accessible design, regularly speaking and mentoring on why inclusion isn’t optional. She’s based in Melbourne and believes good design works for all users, not just some.
Stephen Downward
Stephen Downward is head of Digital Experience at Atomic 212°, where he leads strategy across a portfolio of global and national brands. With a background spanning technical SEO, content strategy, and digital experience optimisation, Stephen helps organisations adapt to the evolving search landscape shaped by AI, social discovery, and emerging platforms. His work focuses on translating complex data into practical growth strategies that drive measurable impact for clients.
Millie Clery
Millie Clery is the founder of Jude Digital, a Canberra based digital agency creating clever websites and digital experiences. She loves getting hands on with the work, sketching ideas, testing new design approaches, and poking around under the hood of websites to make things work smarter. Curious by nature and a bit nerdy in the best way, Millie cares deeply about digital work that feels good to use and actually works.
Andi Weis
Andi has been designing and building for the web since 2002. After more than two decades leading design teams in startups and enterprise, he now runs an independent practice working with founders on strategy and execution. He values clarity, usability, technical craft and purposeful aesthetics and brings a practical eye for what actually works when assessing digital work.
Andrew Stone
Andrew is an accessibility advocate, and strives to break down barriers in both our physical and digital worlds, helping to create inclusive experiences that improve the quality of life for everyone. Whether working on small, medium, or enterprise-level projects, he focusses on embedding accessibility into culture and processes, always putting humans first.
Jena Hackett
Jena Hackett is Creative Director of We Are Coast, a design and digital agency specialising in brand strategy, web design, and marketing communications. She brings strategic thinking and creative problem-solving to digital challenges, with a track record across Australia’s design landscape. Known for her genuine approach and eye for detail, Jena helps businesses navigate growth – balancing meticulous craft with ambitious ideas.
Josh Sherwood
Josh is a Lead Content Designer at Atlassian, specialising in content strategy, terminology, and user research. He champions user-centred, plain-language experiences and brings a passion for words to complex product problems. Formerly in agency roles consulting to government and universities, he now helps shape product and content strategy across Atlassian apps
Anna Morgan
Anna Morgan is a senior UX/UI designer from Jude Digital in Canberra, with extensive experience delivering accessible, user-centred digital products and brand systems for Australian Government and private sector clients. Originally trained as a graphic designer, Anna has a strong understanding of design foundations and principles, alongside real-world constraints and emerging technologies. Anna is known for her considered designs, collaborative approach, and commitment to high-quality solutions.
Stefano Senese
With nearly a decade at Soul+Wolf, Stefano brings 10 years of experience across digital delivery, client strategy, and ecommerce growth. After 7 years as the Delivery Manager, he now leads client services, owning onboarding, solution design, and post-launch growth across their portfolio of complex Shopify x ERP implementations. He is known for a problem-first approach to account management, aligning technical solutions with real commercial outcomes.
Kamilla Bakiyeva
Kamilla began her career in what she thought was journalism, building an online publication to publish her writing and act as a digital portfolio. The world of SEO naturally came with that, sparking the passion for preserving high quality user-first content. Since then, she has navigated both agency and in-house roles, specialising in performance strategies, digital-experience, and personal favourite, complex website migrations. By blending her creative nature with a data-driven mindset, Kamilla acts as a bridge between digital and creative teams to deliver impactful, high-growth results.
Jeremy Gryguc
Jeremy is a senior strategist at The Brand Agency Perth, WA’s most awarded creative agency. Jeremy provides strategic guidance for clients in categories ranging from utilities, government, not-for-profits to arts and culture. He helps clients using a broad and versatile skillset, designing and facilitating research to deliver insights into audiences and crafting strategies that impact how people perceive and experience brands for the better.
Kath Parkis
With over 19 years of experience as an entrepreneur and investor, Kath has a track record of launching, growing, and scaling successful businesses in the e-commerce and technology sectors.
Kath has extensive knowledge and skills in luxury fashion, fast-fashion, software, retail technologies, e-Commerce, communication solutions, & digital education. She has run multiple B2C & B2B businesses over the past 19 years & has developed a wealth of learnings along the way.
Yosep Tenly
Yosep Tenly is a senior full-stack developer with over a decade of experience building and delivering web-based digital solutions across the government and media industries. His expertise spans the full web stack — frontend development, backend systems, cloud infrastructure, and technical account management — giving him a well-rounded lens through which to assess modern web experiences.
With a background in both agency and in-house environments across Australia and Singapore, Yosep has led digital technical initiatives at scale, including award-winning work recognised at the ITnews Benchmark Awards for Best Local Government Project. He is passionate about clean, performant web development and continually expanding his technical knowledge to keep pace with the evolving digital landscape.
Luke Sherwin
Luke Sherwin is a former global CMO with leadership experience across Switzerland and New York. He has a proven track record shaping leading Australian brands previously working for Telstra and the University of Queensland, as well as partnering with clients such as the Brisbane 2032 Olympic Games, Coles and National Storage. Luke is a multi-award-winning marketing leader known for creating impactful and engaging experiences that drive commercial growth by aligning brand, digital, data, customer experience and performance marketing.
Stefi Peykova Krishnan
Stefi Peykova Krishnan has dedicated her career to designing for complex systems across health, government, and emerging technologies. She has led the creation of a national precision medicine platform for childhood cancer, now recognised with Gold and Best in Class at the Australian Good Design Awards. She leads with empathy and vision, turning ambiguity into clear, responsible infrastructure so that technology serves people safely, ethically, and with purpose.
Claire Webber
Claire is a Senior Digital Accessibility Consultant at Intopia. She loves working with teams to create inclusive experiences. You’ll find her training designers, accessibility auditing, reviewing design systems, doing design reviews, and coaching teams. She is passionate about design, accessibility and inclusion. She loves teaching others about accessibility and setting teams up with the knowledge and know-how to create inclusive experiences.
Mark Tomlinson
Mark Tomlinson is a Melbourne-based software engineer and creator of [sugarcube], an open-source toolkit for building design-token-driven front-ends. His work focuses on helping agencies and small teams build maintainable systems for the web – combining design tokens, modern CSS architecture, and developer tooling. He is particularly interested in the foundations that make websites easier to scale and maintain over time.
Natasha Williams
Tash Williams is the co-founder and CMO of Word of Mouth Digital, a Sydney-based agency specializing in growth-focused digital marketing for eCommerce, service-based industries, and hospitality.
With deep expertise in brand positioning, performance marketing, and customer acquisition, she leads strategy for her teama and stable of clients that drives measurable results. Known for her data-driven approach and commercial mindset, Tash helps brands scale through innovative campaigns, strategic partnerships, and high-impact content.
Matt Greenlaw
Matthew leads the Marketing & Communications team at Healthed, Australia’s leading private provider of education for GPs. With 15 years’ experience in digital marketing, he has delivered countless WordPress builds, sent millions of emails, and managed end-to-end content for organic and paid social channels. His sports marketing background includes roles at the NSW Institute of Sport and Football NSW. Matthew obsessively enjoys building-out automated customer journeys and optimising email marketing templates to enhance click-through.
George Vasilou
George is the founder of SLICK, a creative agency established in 2005 in Perth. With a strong foundation in design and innovation, he has led SLICK to deliver impactful and award-worthy solutions. His passion for creativity and user-focused design continues to drive the agency’s success in crafting meaningful digital experiences.
Haylee Lucan
Haylee Lucan is a product and delivery leader specialising in strategy, implementation and optimisation across complex digital ecosystems at Bone Digital. She has led large-scale digital transformations for KFC Global, Toyota, Alexander McQueen and recently delivered strategic work for La Trobe University, La Trobe Financial and The Equality Institute. Haylee translates product vision into measurable business outcomes, balancing behavioural insights and analytics-led optimisation to continuously improve digital performance at scale.
Jamie Esterman
Jamie is a UX designer and digital strategist with over 20 years of experience helping businesses create digital experiences that are user-centred, high-performing, and commercially effective. As Director of Adelaide-based agency Crumb, he works across UX, UI, front-end development, content strategy, and conversion optimisation, always grounded in behavioural science, data, and research. More recently, he’s been exploring AI-driven design and development, looking at how AI can enhance both the creative process and the end-user experience. A returning judge for the Australian Web Awards, Jamie looks for work that goes beyond aesthetics and genuinely serves its users.
Dr Danielle Kennedy (PhD)
Clayton West
With 26 years in digital design, Clayton West has built a career spanning Perth, Munich, Hamburg and London. He works across web, motion and interactive design, drawing on deep industry knowledge and global experience. Clayton is known for clear thinking, solid execution and a grounded creative approach, with a growing focus on AI as part of modern design practice. Clayton has never rubbed baby oil into his chest, and anyone that says otherwise is a liar.
Paras Aggarwal
With over two and half decades of experience in design, both as a practitioner and a leader, Paras has worked across the globe solving complex problems for customers. In his recent roles in Australia, Paras has led design practices at large corporates and startups. In pursuit of purpose-led change, Paras founded AmplifiU, an early stage AI EdTech startup based in Sydney, yet solving problems for K-12 teachers all over the world.
Jeff da Silva
Jeff da Silva is a creative designer and art director with almost two decades of experience specialising in brand identity, UX/UI, visual design, typography, and layout for digital and print. He has delivered high-quality work across agency and in-house teams, with a strong focus on craft, usability, and refined visual execution.
Dave Eddy
Dave is Managing Director at Redback Solutions. Founded in 1999, Redback is one of Australia’s longest-running digital agencies. They specialise in website design and development, digital marketing and content. From small-medium companies, to large institutions, universities, government, NGOs and Ecommerce brands, their team of 30 have experience producing results for a broad range of clients, receiving multiple national and international awards.
James Fitzjohn
James is the Director & Executive Consultant at Brew.
Brew is a boutique consultancy that combines business and marketing strategy with digital CX services to provide clarity and direction for brands who are looking to achieve growth.
Erin McIlroy
Erin McIlroy is an Accessibility Product Design Lead at Canva and an IAAP Certified Web Accessibility Specialist. She champions inclusive design through education, AI, and co-design across Canva. Erin leads research and testing with the disability community to ensure lived experience shapes product experiences. She supports accessibility across the platform and leads work that strengthens design quality and fairness at scale.
Damien Payne
Damien is an award-winning web developer specialising in Drupal web projects. With a background in the not-for-profit sector his focus is on delivering value to the Australian community and working on websites that create meaningful community impact. He works on a range of dynamic content rich sites for government, not-for-profit, and community organisations, with a strong emphasis on accessibility, usability, and building long-term sustainable solutions.
Sarah Dam
With a career in web development spanning back to the last century, Sarah brings a wealth of front-end development expertise to the table. Having worked across the UK, Sydney, and Melbourne, and now as Front-end Developer Lead at Luminary, Sarah understands the intricacies of creating exceptional web experiences. A strong advocate for supporting developers and their teams, Sarah hopes to have the opportunity to support and celebrate innovation as a member of the Web Awards judging panel.
Andy Howard
Andy has designed and implemented digital innovations on a national scale and consults to private and public organisations Australia-wide. His work has helped organisations achieve outstanding commercial results and has been globally recognised for its effectiveness.
Liz Van Dort
After landing in the digital world in the 90s, Liz Van Dort has seen the industry develop from the ground up. With a focus on developing usable content and information solutions, transforming digital experiences and building online tools, she has worked across corporates, consulting, advertising and non-profits, and spent ten years in state government. Clear, purposeful and functional messaging is what gets her up each day, and in her current role at VicRoads she and her team manage digital content across multiple channels.
Mark Gretton
Innovative strategic leader, currently working as CTO at award-winning agency, CHEP Network. 20+ years experience working in the UK & Australia with some of the world’s and Australia’s largest brands (Ford, Samsung, Mercedes, Coles, Nestle, ANZ Bank Mazda, Danone etc.) to help drive their marketing and digital experience programmes forward.
John Wearne
With over 20+ years experience spanning graphic design and product design, helping both start ups and enterprise businesses solve customer problems.
A career covering marketing platforms, tv on demand and the fintech space. Today leading Product teams, drawing on his breadth of industry expertise to help grow and evolve design capabilities to meet the needs of scaling organisations. Driven by placing the customer at the heart of product practice, a strong believer in identifying customer pain points to deliver business value.
Sarah Glaied
At Wax Interactive, our commitment to crafting exceptional digital experiences is the essence of my role as Client Services Director. Overseeing digital strategy, UX design and web application projects. The journey from concept to execution is a collaborative effort, where my leadership fosters innovation and operational excellence.
Sam Roshan
Driven founder of Blank Theory, a strategy-led digital agency that delivers impactful results. With a sharp focus on e-commerce and lead generation, Sam combines creativity and data to help brands thrive in competitive markets. Known for cutting through the noise, he turns business objectives into measurable outcomes. Passionate about innovation and never settling for “good enough.”
Chris Clark
With over 25 years of experience, Chris currently serves as the Head of E-commerce at Milton & King, a global leader in wallpaper production spanning Australia, the United States, and Europe. His entrepreneurial spirit thrived as the owner of Thirteen Digital for 12 years, where he distinguished himself and his team by designing, developing, and producing award-winning websites, showcasing his prowess in both UI (User Interface) and UX (User Experience) design. Notable clients such as Elements of Byron, Queensland Government, Museum of Brisbane, and Fortitude Music Hall bear testament to his expertise in creating seamless and engaging digital experiences.
Chris’s impact extends beyond his entrepreneurial ventures. He was also the founder of Newlight Media from 2000 until its acquisition by Gallery Group/Clemenger DDB in 2010, further solidifying his influence in the digital design landscape.
David Phung
Dave is a specialist in transforming enterprises through disruptive technologies and human-centred design. He has delivered digital innovations for the likes of Fidelity Investments, the Australian Open, US Golf Association, Sony PlayStation amongst others. In 2022, Dave and his team received a Cannes Lion for innovative use of technology in sport — one of the highest honours in the creative industry. Currently, as the Chief Disruptor at GPTStrategic, Dave leads the implementation of GenAI strategies for a diverse array of clients.
Joshua Clark
Josh is the Head of Customer Success APJ at Staffbase and brings over seven years’ experience across technology, digital platforms, and web design. He has partnered with organisations to design and deliver intuitive, scalable digital experiences, working closely across IT, communications, and design teams. With a strong appreciation for thoughtful digital design and execution, Josh is passionate about technology that enables meaningful engagement and long-term value.
Marjo Kaszonyi
James Ansell
James has over 16+ years of digital experience, account management, strategy, delivery experience across three continents working at some of the industries best advertising, marketing, innovation and digital product companies in London, New York, Sydney and Brisbane.
He has worked directly with a number of incredible people, across a number of disciplines, to gain experience in new business and business development, strategic planning, branding, communications architecture, product innovation, delivery, account management and creative expression. He’s also picked up 3 x Effies for Creative Effectiveness across AUNZ and APAC.
Jason Guo
Jason is a seasoned IT professional with over 20 years of experience, specialising in web-based applications and infrastructure. He has played a pivotal role in high-profile projects for the Australian Government, such as Parliament 2.0, CMS for Trove, and websites such as Australia.gov.au, NDIS.gov.au, DVA.gov.au, and ACNC.gov.au.
In these projects, Jason’s contributions have ranged from software architecture design, CMS development to the implementation of advanced enterprise search technologies, all aimed at enhancing user experience and information accessibility.
Caleb Mcglew
Caleb is a digital marketing expert and website creator with a passion for digital solutions architecture. Skilled in Website Creation, Social Media Marketing, Google Advertising, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Communications, & Brand Development. Strong operations professional who loves to solve problems through creative solutions.
Philip Allen
Phil is a digital strategy expert and the co-owner of Dapth, a forward-thinking digital consultancy based in Perth, Western Australia. With over two decades of experience, he specialises in developing and implementing cutting-edge digital strategies that drive business growth. His expertise spans Digital Strategies, Content Strategies, Web Strategies, Intranet Strategies, and commercial application Strategies.
Jason Isaks
Jason is a product, design and technology leader with over 20 years’ experience building user first digital products that scale. As Founder of Murbu and Chief Product Officer at AmazingCo, he works hands-on across product strategy, UX, growth, and engineering—turning complex, hard problems into clear, high-performing platforms. His work is driven by intuitive design, pragmatic technical solutions, and a practical, innovative use of AI to improve digital experiences and outcomes.
Christopher Harris
Chris is a visionary leader and accomplished entrepreneur with extensive experience in brand management, digital transformation, advertising, marketing and business growth. As the Founder and CEO of Open Worldwide, Welcome and The Social Party, he has successfully built a dynamic group of agencies that form a comprehensive services ecosystem across multiple disciplines.
Chris’s expertise and contributions to the industry are widely recognised. He serves as a Member and Judge at the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, as well as a judge for the International Web Awards. He is an active member of ADMA, AMI and AIM, and has received numerous web, digital and media awards for his outstanding work.
Scott Pelham
Scott is a seasoned UX/UI designer and researcher with 10+ years’ experience across the private and public sector. His company, Iterativ, specialises in UX design and, as part of his research PhD, Scott is collaborating with the Department of Fire and Emergency Services to develop an innovative internal tool to empower users and boost staff efficiencies.
Jason Arnold
Jason has spent over 20 years in the digital industry, holding various technical and strategic roles before specialising in user-centred design. Most recently, he served as the User Experience Lead at the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care. Driven by evidence-based research, Jason focuses on solving complex problems through innovative solutions. He brings extensive cross-disciplinary experience to the Australian Web Awards judging panel, advocating for excellence and high standards across the industry.
Richard Smith
Richard is an accomplished design leader with over 15 years of leading cross-functional design teams.
He has spent most of his career at the intersection of product, brand and systems working with notable brands such as Google, Commonwealth Bank, Qantas, McDonalds and American Express.
Richard has worked in a mixture of design consultancies and experience agencies leading teams at M&C Saatchi, VML, CX Lavender and Folk where he has won over a dozen international awards.
Joshua Braines-Mead
Josh is the founder of Wonderboy, an independent digital studio based in Melbourne. A rare hybrid creative, his work has been internationally recognised for its seamless blend of strategic design and development. He is also an active design mentor, advising leading universities to support the next generation of creative talent. Josh believes in raising the bar for the Australian web industry by celebrating excellence and innovation across modern web development.
James Black
James Black is a developer with a passion for building digital experiences that put the user first. With a decade of experience across both the front and back end of the web, he currently designs intuitive, accessible interfaces for the healthcare industry. James believes that exceptional web design isn’t about the tech stack; it’s about delivering a seamless, frustration-free journey from the first click to the final outcome. He brings a pragmatic, user-focused eye to the judging panel, rewarding projects that combine solid problem-solving with outstanding UX.
Oliver Muñoz
Oliver Muñoz is the founder of Uncommon, an award-winning boutique studio specialising in crafting exceptional digital experiences. With over a decade of experience spanning digital, creative, and design agencies across the United States, Australia, and Mexico, Oliver has collaborated with industry-leading companies worldwide.
At Uncommon, he unifies diverse teams of specialists under a shared creative vision, ensuring projects deliver both impactful results and seamless user experiences.
Oliver’s design philosophy is rooted in purpose. He believes that design’s ultimate role is to solve problems for users by striking the perfect balance between functionality and aesthetics. This user-centric approach drives his commitment to producing work that is not only visually compelling but also meaningful and effective.
Adam Ruse
Adam Ruse is an award-winning UX/UI leader whose work has been recognised on the Australian and global stage. He has a proven history of solving complex business challenges through clear, accessible, and thoughtfully crafted digital experiences, translating strategy into scalable design systems that drive performance, usability, and long-term value. Adam is passionate about advancing design standards and believes great digital work should be inclusive, measurable, and built to last.
Emma Carter
Emma Carter is a design leader with over 20 years of experience and a 3x published author. She founded an award-winning UK design agency in her early 20s before relocating to Australia, where she led high-impact transformations at global consultancy Thoughtworks, served as International Head of Design at PEXA — launching a design system that saved 1,000+ developer hours in two months — and is now the Head of Design at MYOB. Emma is a champion of human-centred design, partnering with executives to elevate design maturity and embed user-focused practices at scale.
Nick Smith
Nick Smith is a Senior SEO Specialist who has worked both agency and in-house. He is currently working for adidas with a focus on Asia Pacific.
Terri-Anne Simmonds
Terri-Anne Simmonds is a senior digital strategy and transformation leader with over 25 years of experience across government and the private sector. As Head of Digital Experience at the Australian War Memorial, she led landmark digital initiatives including public transcription projects that brought first-person historical accounts to life online. Recognised for delivering complex, large-scale digital experiences and driving meaningful public engagement, Terri-Anne brings deep expertise in strategy, user experience and digital innovation to her role as judge.
James Carter
David Constantine
A creative business leader and executive creative director, passionate about the impact of design for people, organisations and communities. One time studio owner, AGDA State President, AGDA National Board Member, design educator. Sometime speaker, mentor, writer. Judge, Pause Awards, Australian Web Awards. Aspirant Polymath.
Published in: Art Marks: Counterprint, First Things First: Gestalten, Asia-Pacific Design No. 10 (APD 10): Sandu, CITIx60 City Guide: Melbourne: Viction:ary, So1o 2uo 3rio: Viction:ary, Geo/Graphics: Viction:ary, Absolute Stationery Design: Ginko Press.
Profiled by: Design Week, Desktop Magazine, Computer Arts Magazine, FormFiftyFive™, AustralianInFront, Étapes, BP&O, Underconsideration, Indesign Live, Australian Design Review.
Recognised in: AGDA Awards, Designers Australia Awards, Premier’s Design Awards, Best Awards, Create Awards, Melbourne Design Awards, GOV Design Awards, Design Week Awards, WOLDA, Golden Quills, Communicator Awards, Victorian Museums and Galleries Awards.