Pest Manager of the Year Awards

Background

The Australian professional pest management industry is currently undergoing fundamental changes as a result of regulatory, consumer and technology influences.  Professionalism in business and adherence to quality standards are areas that the pest manager of today needs to embrace in order to ensure success in the future.

Pest Manager of the Year is an annual event run by AEPMA and sponsored by BASF to promote the wider pest management industry. 

Aims

To:

• Promote the professionalism of the pest management industry to the public and other stakeholders;
• Highlight the professional pest management industry to the public;
• Grow the professional pest management industry; and
• Encourage learning and increased professionalism of the pest management industry.

Benefits

The pest management industry benefits by such an Award scheme through:

• Promotion of raised industry standards and excellence via public recognition of finalists and the winner;
• Increasing grass roots industry support to professionalism and acceptance of the need for ongoing improvement through training and continuing professional development; and
• Providing an opportunity for stakeholder organisations to publicly demonstrate leadership and their support for industry excellence.

2025 Entry Rules

How the Award Scheme Will Operate

Sponsoring organisations:

• AEPMA
• BASF

Categories

• Business Award
  Three classes: Pest Management firms employing 10 or more people, Pest Management firms employing fewer than 10 people and Pest Management firms employing fewer than 3 people (The Kylee Enwright Micro Business Award).
• South Pacific Pest Manager of the Year
  Open to businesses both large and small operating in the South Pacific region.

Eligibility

In order to be eligible for the Award, an applicant must be a licensed and practising pest manager in Australia or the Asia Pacific region.

Any pest management firm operating in Australia is eligible to enter regardless of AEPMA membership.

Outside of Australia, AEPMA membership is a pre-requisite to participation in the Award.

Current AEPMA Board members (Directors) are not eligible to enter the any AEPMA competition or award if they are an owner, director or part of the senior branch management team that is entering the competition or award.  

Nomination and Application Process

Nominations can come from any firm within the urban and commercial pest management industry in Australia and from AEPMA members in the Asia Pacific region.  However, entrants who have won an Award in the same category for two years in a row are precluded from winning that Award for two years after the date of their last award.

Selection Criteria

The Pest Manager of the Year Award seeks to recognise the achievements of an individual business demonstrating professionalism within Australia’s urban and commercial pest management industry.  Applicants will be judged by their excellence in the following criteria:

• Know-how – demonstrating a commitment to continual updating of knowledge and skills;
• Professional image – how the business has sought to improve the professional reputation of themselves, their company and/or the industry within the community;
• Customer relationships – the building of relationships with customers to understand and respond to their requirements; and
• Innovation – taking responsibility for improving their performance and/or development of reduced risk pest management systems.

Applications must include:

• Completed application form and supporting documentation – submitted online – see below in “Submission of Entries"

Submission of Entries

Nominations open on the 1st March 2025

Entry forms should be completed by COB 31st May 2025 to the AEPMA National Office. The submission can be completed online.

Online Submission

Please select which category you wish to enter from the links below.  You will receive a confirmation email once you have registered your business and contact details.  This email will contain an entry link, from which you will be able to view and edit your submission until it has been completed and submitted.

 

Timetable

March 2025	– Nominations Open
31st May 2025	– Nominations Close
June 2025	– Judging
August 2025	– Winner Announced at Pesticon 2025

Judging

• The judging panel will consist of four members – two AEPMA members, one independent and one commercial industry sponsor.
• Judging will be completed in 2 stages.  The first stage will consist of all entries being judged together, the top 3 companies from each category will be selected based on their written & website material and will progress to the second stage of the judging process.  The highest aggregate score in any category will become the category winner.
• The overall winner of Pest Manager of the Year will be the company with the highest score from either category 1 or category 2
  “ A Pest Management firm employing 10 or more people OR a pest management firms employing fewer than 10 people”

The Judges’ decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
 

Prizes and Presentation

Prizes and incentives may include the following:

• A prize determined each year by the Sponsors and AEPMA National Board.

Public Relations Program

Industry journals will be encouraged to cover the Pest Manager of the Year Award and to run articles encouraging nominations and applications.  A Press Release and social media activities will also be released nationally detailing all Award winners.

Feedback to Entrants

Feedback will be provided to entrants showing the highest score for each question, the average score per question and the entrant’s score.  In this way, feedback is provided to entrants.  All feedback is confidential to individual applicants.