City of Sydney Media Release | 28 August 2008
LORD MAYOR Clover Moore MP last night announced Atlassian is the winner of the Business of the Year in this year's City of Sydney Business Awards.
Atlassian, a small software company started by two young graduates in 2002, was praised not only for its business success, but also its commitment to the community and the wellbeing of its staff.
This young company encourages employees to ride to work, donates software licenses to charities and has allocated one percent of all staff working hours, revenue and equity to charitable causes.
"This year's City of Sydney Business Awards saw an enormous number of entries, as well as a record number of attendees to the Gala Awards Dinner, with small and medium businesses throughout City of Sydney taking the opportunity to gain recognition for their hard work and achievement", said Lord Mayor Clover Moore MP.
"A thriving and creative small-to-medium business sector is very much part of our vision for Sustainable Sydney 2030, so it's encouraging to see the impressive level of participation, the commitment of time, energy and imagination these awards generate."
Twenty-two businesses from categories including financial services, innovation, disability inclusiveness and retail fashion were voted the best in their field by public voting over the past two months, before going through a formal judging process.
Small and medium businesses who nominated for the Awards encouraged customers to vote using SMS or the Sydney Business Awards website, saving paper and expanding their social networks.
Along with winners in each of the 22 categories, 2008 saw the creation of a new recognition of businesses trying to do their part for the environment - the Lord Mayor's Sustainability Award.
COSMOS and G Magazine are the winners of this inaugural Award, in recognition of not only spreading the message of environmental sustainability through their publications, but also embodying the messages they publish.
By sourcing papers and inks with low environmental impacts, working with environmentally conscious advertisers, encouraging staff to ride to work or use hybrid vehicles and offsetting any unavoidable emissions to become Australia's first carbon neutral media company under the NSW Greenhouse Gas Abatement Scheme, COSMOS and G Magazine are making themselves leaders in the business community.
To ensure that the city of Sydney Business Awards also embody a message of sustainability, the Gala Awards Dinner, held at Doltone House (2007 Business of the Year) were a carbon neutral event, with event organisers making sure that every aspect, from transport to food and energy has the lowest possible impact on the environment.
All energy used for the event was 100 per cent renewable, supplied by EnergyAustralia, and full audit of the event's carbon emissions will be carried out by event partners Carbon Planet, with any unavoidable emissions to be offset.