From Smart Software to Sustainable Building, The Innovators That Defined The Consensus Awards 2026
Sydney, 15 June 2016 — Australia’s technology innovators, entrepreneurs and leading IT professionals and journalists were recognised last night at the 2016 Consensus Awards, presented by The Hon. Ed Husic MP, Member for Chifley and Shadow Spokesperson for Digital Innovation and Startups, at Sheraton on the Park in Sydney.
The evening brought together the technology community to recognise achievement across the Consensus Software Awards, Consensus Innovation Awards, Consensus GreenTech Awards, Consensus IT Professional Awards and Consensus IT Writers Awards.
Benchmark takes out the 2016 Software Award
Benchmark Estimating Software, developed by Benchmark Global, was named the 2016 Consensus Software Award Winner.
Designed as a complete estimating and bidding solution, Benchmark combines estimating, quoting, progress claims, variations and project reporting within one platform.
Its adaptability and international potential particularly impressed the judging panel. Benchmark had already grown to more than 3,000 users across more than 20 countries, been translated into eight languages and established a dominant position within the Australian asphalting industry.
SmartSYS™ by Cronus Group was recognised as Highly Commended in the Software Awards for its cloud-based business reporting, analytics and diagnostic platform.
Innovation recognised beyond traditional software
The 2016 Consensus Innovation Award was presented to How Far is Up?, an interactive iPad storybook created by Betty Sargeant.
Designed for children aged four and above, the app combines education and storytelling to explore distance and space while encouraging children and adults to read and interact together.
Already internationally recognised for its design, functionality and approach to shared mobile-device reading, How Far is Up? demonstrated the breadth of innovation being developed within Australia.
GreenTech innovation turns agricultural waste into opportunity
The 2016 Consensus GreenTech Award was presented to AMPAN Panel Board, recognising technology developed to transform agricultural waste from rice production into environmentally friendly particle board for the building industry.
The innovation demonstrates the potential for Australian technology to address both environmental challenges and commercial opportunities by creating new uses for agricultural waste streams.
Four technology leaders recognised for their contribution to the industry
The Consensus Awards also recognised four individuals through the 2016 Consensus IT Professional Awards:
Leanne Howard, Shara Evans, Barry Nash and Ben Martin.
The awards recognise professionals whose contribution extends beyond individual commercial achievements to leadership, industry development, innovation and the advancement of Australia's information technology community.
Excellence in Australian technology journalism celebrated
Australia's technology media was also recognised through the 2016 Consensus IT Writers Awards, celebrating excellence across feature writing, investigative journalism, news, technical journalism and digital publishing.
Among the category winners were David Braue, recognised for Best Feature; Ros Page, for Best Investigative; and Jeremy Kirk, who received awards for Best News and Best Technical journalism.
One of the evening's most significant individual honours, the Kester Lifetime Achievement Award, was presented to veteran technology journalist Stan Beer.
Named in honour of respected Australian IT journalist Kester Cranswick, the award recognises an outstanding lifetime contribution to technology journalism and is presented only when an appropriate recipient is identified.
Independent recognition of Australian innovation
Established to identify and recognise outstanding innovation through independent assessment, the Consensus Awards bring together experienced judging panels drawn from technology, business, academia and industry.
By 2016, Consensus had conducted more than 450 evaluations of innovative technology solutions, resulting in more than 150 Consensus Award Winners.
Independent analysis of the program's earlier winners found that nine out of ten had subsequently achieved significant commercial success, highlighting the Awards' long-running ability to identify promising technology and innovation.
Consensus Founder and CEO Julian Day said the diversity of the 2016 recipients demonstrated the depth of talent across Australia's technology sector.
From globally scalable commercial software and environmental technology to digital education, professional leadership and technology journalism, the 2016 Consensus Awards celebrated not simply new ideas, but innovations and individuals capable of creating meaningful impact.
The 2016 Awards also reflected Consensus' growing international ambitions, with plans underway to extend the awards model into additional international markets and create greater opportunities for recognised Australian innovators overseas.