While the Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees (AIST) annual Awards for Excellence may be a blip on the radar for those not in the superannuation industry, for those involved it might just be the highlight of the year.
In fact, one of the presenters at this year's awards likened it to the Australian Football League's Brownlow medal awards for the super industry.
The awards, held earlier this week at Melbourne's Sofitel Hotel, provided an opportunity for members of the industry to come together and honour those players who have excelled in the area of communication with members, employers and other stakeholders.
And those in the room were certainly feeling the love.
When Care Super general manager investments Greg Nolan was announced as the winner of the Super Investment Professional Award for Excellence, his shocked expression was priceless. He seemed genuinely shocked and humbled.
Care Super had had a consistently solid performance and had featured prominently in top fund performance tables for many years, AIST chief executive Fiona Reynolds said.
Reynolds said the awards were important as they honoured industry participants who are on the frontlines.
"After the awards last year I got lots of thankyou emails from winners," she said.
The most coveted award out of the 10 handed out was the Platinum communication award. This year HESTA Super took out the honour for its innovative Facebook campaign that targeted student nurses aged between 18 and 23.
Reynolds said the campaign garnered a take-up rate of about 800, which for such a small outlay, was an industry first.
"This is another example of the innovation in the not-for-profit sector," she said.
UniSuper's simple approach in its campaign to teach members how to choose between a defined contribution fund and a defined benefit fund contributed to is Gold communication award win.
Meanwhile, ESSuper product manager John Sedawie took home the Super Marketing and Member Services Professional Award for Excellence.
In handing out the award, SuperRatings founder Jeff Bresnahan said it was essential all super funds had a strong marketing plan, moving forward into 2010.
Another major award, the Super Team award, was won by the Australian Meat Industry Superannuation Trust (AMIST).
Despite being a small team of five, Reynolds said that the team had worked collaboratively to change the image of AMIST and implemented the delivery of better member services.
For AMIST chief executive John Livanas, the award was recognised what AMIST has achieved over the last few years and is proof the smaller funds still have the support of the industry.
