Celebrating trailblazing workforce initiatives and tomorrow’s defence and national security leaders

The black-tie, military mess dress gala ceremony will be held on Wednesday, 12 June 2024, at the Four Seasons, Sydney, and will be hosted by Defence Connect and its sister brands Cyber Daily, Australian Aviation, and Space Connect.

Atturra’s chief executive officer Stephen Kowal told Defence Connect that the awards are crucial for developing and growing the nation’s defence and national security workforce.

“As we develop our integrated and diverse workforces, we have to focus on diverse and innovative ways of engaging staff from the point of commencement,” Kowal explained.

“When the talent pool appears to shrink, we have to consider how we support growth and development from other areas. For example, Atturra currently runs a career change pathways program, including actively engaging return-to-work parents or others with extended periods out of work who may therefore have out-of-date tech skills, to retrain them across our product and services suite, and place them into project roles.

“Our people are our future and across national security and defence, we face a strategic environment that requires a workforce that is resilient and ready to act.

“It is important that we develop our people and keep them within our industries. Recognising their efforts can go a long way.”

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The awards are open to all businesses operating in Australia’s defence and national security supply chain, with winning entries recognised in front of industry leaders.

Award categories include best technical, operations, and communications specialists under 35, national leading reserve/volunteer support, and training development programs.

Each category is individually judged by former Defence leaders, academics, business executives, entrepreneurs, and innovators under a peer review process.

Liam Garman, editor for defence and security at Momentum Media, said the Defence & National Security Workforce Awards provides a unique opportunity to applaud both the nation’s brightest rising stars and those business initiatives that are driving workforce innovation.

“The Defence & National Security Workforce Awards provides businesses in the defence and national security sector an opportunity to celebrate the achievements of their rising stars, shine a spotlight on their innovative workforce programs, and showcase why they are the industry’s employer of choice,” he said.

Defence Connect thanks principal partner Atturra and supporting organisations such as Agile Market Intelligence, as well as charities Bravery Trust, Legacy, Invictus Australia, and Soldier On.

To enter the awards, register your account through our secure awards platform and fill in the details of your submissions. When you’re happy with your submission, press save and lodge it.

Robert Dougherty

Robert is a senior journalist who has previously worked for Seven West Media in Western Australia, as well as Fairfax Media and Australian Community Media in New South Wales. He has produced national headlines, photography and videography of emergency services, business, community, defence and government news across Australia. Robert graduated with a Bachelor of Arts, Majoring in Public Relations and Journalism at Curtin University, attended student exchange program with Fudan University and holds Tier 1 General Advice certification for Kaplan Professional. Reach out via email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or via LinkedIn.