AREAs judging panel announced by realestate.com.au

The AREAs, an industry awards program that spans the property and media industries, will make 17 awards in its inaugural competition.

It is open to estate agents, residential and commercial, developers, home builders, project marketers and media agencies.

The awards will cover the three categories of innovation, service excellence and contribution to the community.

REA Group customers are eligible to enter the following awards:

 Game Changer of the Year

 Contribution to Community x 2 – one of which is a People’s Choice Award, open to the public for voting

 Excellence in Customer Service  Project Campaign of the Year

 Commercial Property Campaign of the Year

 Property Campaign of the Year

 Brand Campaign of the Year

 Direct Response Campaign of the Year

The People’s Choice Award is a separate award that will be voted on by consumers after a short-list has been established by the panel of judges.

The winner will be determined by the highest number of votes received.

Coming from the media, property, data, technology and not-for-profit sectors, the judging panel include:

 Andrew Winter, real estate expert & host of the LifeStyle Channel’s Selling Houses Australia

 Chris Gray, CEO Your Empire; leading investment property expert and media commentator

 Danni Addison, CEO, Urban Development Institute of Australia, Victoria

 David Spriggs, CEO, Infoxchange

 Dick Karlsson, Co-Founder and Chief Sales & Marketing Officer, Diakrit

 Dr Heather Holst, Deputy CEO, Launch Housing

 Greg Dickason, EGM Real Estate & Partnerships, CoreLogic RP Data

 Paul Fisher, CEO, UnLtd

 Greg Troughton, CEO, Real Estate Institute of South Australia

 Steven Persson, CEO, The Big Issue

 Tim Burrowes, Editor - Mumbrella

 Tim McKibbin, CEO, Real Estate Institute of New South Wales

The panel will be reviewing the property industry’s best examples of service and marketing excellence.

"To be an agent today and survive is a huge challenge, we have a constantly evolving marketing environment and whilst embracing the continual flow of the next 'must do' still I'm pleased to say the real winners are agents remembering this is a totally people driven industry where outstanding service and human referrals are still vital," Andrew Winter said.

He offered a tip for those thinking of entering the AREAs before the July 1 cut-off.

“What I’ll be looking for are submissions that clearly tell a story – a beginning (what was the situation), a middle (what did the person or business do) and an end (what was the impact). If you follow that format you’ll be on the right track."

REA Group CEO Tracey Fellows said the AREAs aimed to help recognise and celebrate people doing amazing things in property and media.

REA Group has been recently included in LinkedIn’s Top Attractors list, featuring the top 25 companies where Australians would most like to work now, based on LinkedIn data.

It was the sole company featured from both the digital and media industries.