Purpose-driven startups like Great Wrap, Bare Cremation and Separation Guide are among the big winners of the annual Pause Awards.

Held in Melbourne and supported by VicGov, the 5th Annual Pause Awards recognize innovation and people building Australia’s startup ecosystem, with 60 judges reviewing hundreds of entries across 50 categories. assessing the merit and impact of a company and its growth.

Of the 50 winners, six double title winners went to it Kale Cremation, Scheidingswijzer, Wisr, Circlein, Pentanet, Evee and Tern-x.

Great cover and Verve Super won three awards each.

There were only 7x Grand prize prizes from 32 categories, Grand Prix stands for best in category, awarded if the jury is unanimous. Those awards went to Bare Cremation, Great Wrap, Music Health, The Separation Guide, Midnight Health, Vanessa Doake and Verve Super.

Pause Awards chairman Lee Tonitto said the ccompanies that came in this year were mostly small companies with fewer than 10 employees, but there were some significant growth in company submissions with over 100 employees. The average founding age has dropped by eight years this year to 29, compared to 37 in 2021.

The 2022 participants showed that businesses play a key role in creating a more just and regenerative world. The entries were authentic and bold in their approach to tackling some of society’s biggest challenges and driving real and measurable change where it matters,” she said.

Event organizer George Hedon said they have taken it a step further this year with a new entry portal and website 14 new categories.

“This awards program is not just about recognizing the true winners, through excellence, performance and effectiveness in the Australian market we celebrate ingenuity and total commitment to address serious issues in response to local and global challenges and unstable markets,” he said.

In this year’s Top 5 charts is the the education sector rose one place to fourth place, while food & beverage in particular industr disappeared completely, replaced by imported health. The ‘Challenging‘ category, for new technological breakthroughs, assumed leadership from ‘I wish I had‘ for sheer brilliance.

National Living Treasure and Perth-based plastic surgeon Dr Fiona Wood were named the 2022 Hall of Fame winner for the invention of her groundbreaking spray-on skin technique, Recell, used to treat burn patients. Dr. Wood founded Avita Medical to commercialize the procedure

“I am honored to be recognised. The Pause Awards build better ecosystems by truly recognizing people doing real things, and I’m so proud to be one of them,” she said.

The full list of Pause Awards Winners is available here.