Finalists listed for the WA Industry & Export Awards

Finalists of the 2006 WA Industry and Export Awards are listed below.

The winners for all categories and the Premier's Award for Excellence would be announced at a dinner at the Hyatt Regency Perth on October 20.

The awards were administered by the Department of Industry and Resources and sponsored by Austal, ANZ, Austrade, Export Finance and Insurance Corporation, Fremantle Ports, Jackson McDonald, PricewaterhouseCoopers and The West Australian newspaper.

The finalists in each of the categories are:

C Y O'Connor Award for Excellence in Engineering and Technology -
- Commtech Wireless: A leader in wireless messaging within the healthcare and hospitality industries, with technology now being used in more than 50 countries.
- NGIS Australia and Great Southern Plantations Partnership: A partnership between WA's leading location-based business information and technology consultancy and a successful hardwood plantation investment manager.
- SEDCO Communications Pty Ltd: A leader in hospital emergency communications, with systems currently installed in more than 650 hospitals.

Marketing and Design Excellence Award -
- Bay Merchants: A vibrant cafe and store in Albany, which showcases the best local fresh produce and products and uses innovative marketing.
- Gold Corporation: The Perth Mint, which is operated by the State-owned Gold Corporation and is one of the world's most admired minting organisations.
- Messages On Hold: A local company that pioneered ambush marketing in Australia and is now one of the top five on-hold providers in the world.

Innovations Excellence Award -
- Access Management: One of the largest industrial rope access companies in the Asia Pacific region.
- Polymer Fabrications Pty Ltd: A Kalgoorlie Boulder company specialising in flat plastic design and fabrication for the resource industry.
- QRSciences: Develops security and screening products which have been sold to General Electric Company, Australian Customs and the US Federal Government.

Emerging Exporter Award -
- Divex Asia Pacific Pty Ltd: Well-known for its high quality, safe and most
up-to-date underwater technology in the military and commercial sectors.
- Wild Child WA Pty Ltd: A Margaret River company selling natural health care products throughout Australia, New Zealand, the UK and Europe.

Small and Micro Business Export Award -
Divex Asia Pacific Pty Ltd: See above.
Westavino: A wine exporter that moves more than 90 Australian wines to Poland and in Russia.
Wild Child WA Pty Ltd: See above.

Small to Medium Manufacturer Export Award -
Ayres Composite Panels Pty Ltd: A world leader in lightweight panel systems for the international fast ferry industry.
Lazer Safe Pty Ltd: The world's leading innovator in high productivity operator guarding and safety control systems for metal manufacturing machines.
Palandri Wines: A dynamic company which this year had the largest single export shipment of bottled branded wines of any WA wine company into the UK.

Large Advanced Manufacturer Export Award -
- Australian Gold Reagents Pty Ltd: One of Australia's leading manufacturers and distributors of sodium cyanide, now in the top four of global suppliers.
- Gold Corporation: See above.

Agribusiness Export Award -
- Craig Mostyn Group: A diversified food, agribusiness and logistics group operating in 60 countries with an annual turnover of $330million.
- Salitage Wines: A premium fine wine producer from Pemberton.

Information and Communications Technology Export Award -
- Commtech Wireless: See above.
- Harvest Road: A provider of content management software for eLearning and eTraining markets, with about 90 per cent of its revenue derived from export.

Minerals and Energy Export Award -
- GMA Garnet Pty Ltd: A pioneer in the use of garnet in abrasive blast cleaning and water jet cutting applications. Exports totalled $32million in 2005-06.
- Rio Tinto Iron Ore Pty Ltd: A global iron ore giant which earned $5.9billion in exports in 2005, spent $1billion within WA and employed more than 3,850 people.

Services Export Award -
- Genalysis Laboratory Services: One of Australia's biggest privately owned laboratories, with international recognition for its work in providing analytical services to the mining exploration industry.
- Risktec Australasia: A crisis and emergency response training and consulting company that services the needs of the hydrocarbons industry around the world.

Education Export Award -
- GEOS Perth Pty Ltd: St Mark's International College has a reputation as a quality educational institution which provides English language courses to foreign students.
- Risktec Australasia: See above.

Sports, Events and Tourism Export Award -
- North Star Cruises Australia: The Kimberley's longest established cruise operator which boasts the luxurious adventure-cruise ship True North.

Regional Exporter Award -
- Albany Plantation Export Company: WA's leading plantation woodchip company with exports expected to increase to one million tonnes by 2007-08.
- North Star Cruises: See above.
- Salitage Wines: See above.