For over a decade, the iTnews Benchmark Awards have given end user organisations, their IT leaders and teams an opportunity to gain recognition for their ambition, innovation and the value they have delivered to government, industry and the public. This year we will be recognising both the projects and the people behind Australia's best IT initiatives.

The 2024 iTnews Benchmark Awards will be presented at a gala dinner and conference on the 13th March at Doltone House, Hyde Park Sydney.

This year's awards are sponsored by NRI, CrowdStrike, Equinix, Rackspace Technology, Atlassian, Freshworks, Ping Identity, World of Workflows and Jabra.  

And the finalists are... 

Project Finalists

Best Federal Government Project 

Services Australia - myGov App

Australian Electoral Commission - The Modern Workplace Program

Australian Taxation Office - Project Switch

Australian Digital Health Agency - my health app

Best State Government Project

Department of Human Services (SA) - Domestic Violence Management Solution – Family Safety Portal

eHealth NSW - IT consumption-based pricing/recharge tool

Building Commission NSW - Building Assurance Solution

NSW Telco Authority - NSW Digital Connectivity Index

Department of Transport and Main Roads (QLD) - Source 2 Pay

Department of Fire and Emergency Services (WA)  - Marine Radio over Internet Protocol

Best Local Government Project

Northern Beaches Council - New Mobile Devices Managed Service  

Northern Beaches Council - Application Whitelisting

Hobsons Bay City Council – Project Unify

Best Finance & Professional Services Project

Westpac - Leading Banking App

Queensland Country Bank - Infrastructure Transformation Project

My Plan Manager - Automated Claims Experience

Commonwealth Bank of Australia - DevOps Hosting Platform on Cloud

ANZ – Visualising and managing technology estate

NAB - Reducing SMS scam opportunities

Best Industrial & Energy Project

ADCO Constructions - ADCO Live - National Subcontract Procurement Platform

CouriersPlease – Parcel cage tracking with IoT asset track & trace

SA Water - Predictive Cathodic Protection Maintenance IoT Project

Yarra Valley Water - Faults and Outages Map

Yarra Valley Water - Enterprise Data Analytics Platform

SA Power Networks - Reducing risks from identity-based cyberattacks

Best Education Project

G8 Education - Family Services Team Project

Queensland Department of Education & Instructure Global Limited - QLearn

QUT (Queensland University of Technology) - Digital Connections Program

Monash University - Project Halo

Office for the Early Years, Department for Education, SA - The Early Years SA mobile app

Best Retail Project    

Village Roadshow - Dynatrace Implementation - Sleepless Nights

Big Red Group - Unified platform for all BRG's brand experiences

Best Telecommunications & Media Project

Northern Beaches Council - Installation of SD-WAN & Satellite solution

Queensland Country Bank - Infrastructure Transformation Project

NSW Telco Authority - Next Generation Digital Connectivity initiative

Best Health Project 

DPV Health - Healthcare CRM as digital front door and single client view

eHealth NSW - Radiology Information Systems and Picture Archiving & Communications System

Johnson & Johnson - Ethicon2U

Indigo Australasia - geat2GO

Australian Digital Health Agency - My health app

IRT Group - Falls Predictor

Best Not for Profit Project   

Epilepsy Foundation - The Epilepsy Smart Australia Program (ESAP)

The Salvation Army Australia - The Salvation Army National Contact Centre Project

Catholic Care Diocese of Broken Bay - Uniting Disparate Shadow Systems for Success

Technology Leader Finalists

Federal Government Technology Leader                   

Peter O'Halloran, CDO, ADHA

Radi Kovacevic, CIO, Home Affairs

State Government Technology Leader                      

Dr. Eva Balan-Vnuk, Executive Director/Government CIO, SA Gov

Dr. Zoran Bolevich, Chief Executive, NSW Health

Justin Thurley, CIO, Tas Gov

Chris McLaren, Chief Customer and Digital Officer, QLD Gov

Local Government Technology Leader                     

Naren Gangavarapu, Chief Information and Digital Officer, Northern Beaches Council

Tom Gao, Chief Technology and Digital Services Officer, City of Sydney

Gaya Gounder, CIO, Camden Council

Tracy Whitelaw, CDO, LGAQ

Finance & Professional Services Technology Leader             

Andrew Cresp, CIO, Bendigo & Adelaide Bank

David Walker, Group CTO, Westpac

Dr. Andrew McMullan, Chief Data and Analytics Officer, Commonwealth Bank

Tim Hogarth, CTO, ANZ

Michelle Bey, Chief Innovation Officer, Transformation Lead & Head of AI Strategy, Landers & Rogers

Jay Hira, Director, National Cyber Security Practice, Minter Ellison

Industrial & Energy Technology Leader                   

Dominic Hatfield, General Manager Digital & CIO, Sydney Water

Judith Powell, CIO, Transgrid

Shane Thatcher, CIO, Origin Energy Group

Paul Williams, CIO and Head of Technology, Pacific National

Education Technology Leader           

Sinan Erbay, CIO, RMIT

Dr. Christine Burns, CIO, UNSW

Anthony Molinia, Chief Digital & Information Officer, University of Newcastle

Retail Technology Leader               

John Hunt, CIO and Director of Group Enablement, Woolworths

Hugh Fahy, CTO, David Jones

Leigh Barnes, Chief Customer Officer, Intrepid

Telecommunications and Media Technology Leader

Gereurd Roberts, CDO, Seven West Media

Anna Clive, CIO, Aussie Broadband

Health Technology Leader          

John Sutherland, CIO, HammondCare

Michelle Fitzgerald, Group Chief Digital Officer, St Vincent's Health Australia