Connect is Supply Nation’s annual flagship event for the Indigenous business sector. The event brings together Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander businesses, corporate organisations and government departments to foster strategic opportunities and celebrate supplier diversity excellence.

Indigenous businesses and attendees from some of Australia’s leading organisations will gather on Gadigal Land to conduct business, learn, engage and celebrate at Connect 2025.

Connect 2025 will take place on Wednesday 20 and Thursday 21 August 2025 on Gadigal Land at ICC Sydney. 

Stay up to date via the Connect website. You can also sign up for Connect updates using the form at the bottom of this webpage or follow our social media channels, so you don’t miss important event announcements. 

Connect tickets will go on sale in late March 2025. 

Nominations for the Supplier Diversity Awards 2025 are open. Visit this page to learn more and start your nomination.  

Nominations close at 11:59pm AEST, Sunday 6 April 2025. 

The Supplier Diversity Award finalists will be announced online in June 2025. 

The Supplier Diversity Award winners will be announced at the Connect 2025 Gala Awards Dinner on Thursday 21 August 2025 at ICC Sydney on Gadigal Land. 

If an individual or organisation won an award in 2023 or 2024, they are not eligible to be nominated for the same category in 2025. Please note criteria and weightings can change over time so there is no guarantee that the same individual or organisation will be a finalist or win in different years.  

Nominations for each category are reviewed by an independent judging panel and scored against the published criteria. The top three entries in each category are declared ’finalists’ and the recipient of the highest score is declared the ‘winner.’ 

For each category, the judges review the list of nominees and declare any conflict of interest. They are then recused from judging that category. A minimum quorum of two judges must judge each category. 

The judges’ decisions are final, and no correspondence or discussion will be entered into after the judging. Due to the number of entries and privacy reasons we are unable to give feedback on why an entry has not been included as a finalist or winner. 

The entire judging process is audited by BDO, a global audit firm, to ensure a fair and balanced process is adhered to. 

No. It is not possible for individuals and organisations to win multiple awards outside of the Dr Dean Jarrett Award. Each category is judged separately. 

The winner of the Dr Dean Jarrett Award recognising Outstanding Impact is selected from the finalists of all other award categories. 

As part of the nomination process, entrants are required to upload content to the awards platform. The materials provided may be used for marketing purposes to promote finalists or winners unless otherwise specified. 

Finalists must not disclose the outcome of their nomination to anyone (including Supply Nation staff) until the official, public announcement is made. 

All finalists are strongly encouraged to: 

• Purchase ticket/s to the Gala Awards Dinner 
• Prepare a 30 second speech in the event that they win 

Yes. Sponsors may enter a category that they do not sponsor. 

To express your interest in sponsoring the 2025 Supplier Diversity Awards, contact us at sponsorship@supplynation.org.au.