Winners of the 2023 TMMRW Awards Share Their Vision for a Better Future

Since launching in 2021, the TMMRW awards (formerly The Circle Awards) have shone a spotlight on change-making brands and businesses, offering a hopeful look into the work that’s being done across multiple sectors to create a better tomorrow.

Judged by a panel of industry leaders, including Peppermint founder Kelley Sheenan, this year’s awards saw 25 winners recognised in categories covering research, circular economy and regenerative business practices, emerging technologies and design, plus Hall of Fame and Special Achievement awards. 

Founder Nick Hoskin applauded the passionate and resilient changemakers who submitted entries for this year’s awards, saying, “We’ve been astounded by the level of creativity and commitment that the businesses that have entered this year have shown.

“The changemakers the jury has collectively chosen to recognise are setting the gold standard. We’re so proud to be celebrating them, and hope that by doing so, we can move the needle even further towards a better future.”

To celebrate this year’s awards, we spoke to three of the winners about their vision for a better future and what their win means to them.

THE SOCIAL OUTFIT | Laura Anderson, Marketing and E-Commerce Manager

Hall of Fame Winner 

Tell us about your business…

The Social Outfit is a fashion label with a difference. Our mission is to support refugee women to kick-start their Australian careers. We are a registered charity operating a work-integration social enterprise that creates ethical, sustainable fashion that is celebratory by design and showcases the skills, creativity and strengths of the refugee and new migrant women we support. 

What has been your focus or interest this year, and what are you hoping to build, grow or maintain next year? 

As of the end of 2023, we have trained over 850 and employed over 97 people from refugee and migrant backgrounds. For 81% of those who worked with us, The Social Outfit was their first Australian job. We are well on track to meet our goal of supporting 1000 training outcomes and employing over 100 by our tenth birthday in June 2024. 

We believe in an Australia where refugees and new migrants are warmly welcomed and settle well, celebrating our diversity, collective skills and strengths.

What does a better tomorrow look like to you? 

We believe in an Australia where refugees and new migrants are warmly welcomed and settle well, celebrating our diversity, collective skills and strengths.

You were recently recognised in the Hall of Fame at the 2023 TMRRW Awards – how have you maintained energy, passion and action in your business over the years?

Seeing firsthand the positive impact on the women we support has always maintained the momentum of The Social Outfit. Supporting and upskilling our community is the whole reason we exist. Through shopping at The Social Outfit, you provide us with the means to support, employ and upskill more women just like our retail trainees and sewing technicians as well as the wider refugee and new migrant communities.

BE THE FUTURE | Sally Giblin, Co-Founder

Special Achievement Award

Tell us about your business…

Be The Future is on a mission to captivate Australia’s children with the magic of climate solutions through playful, interactive experiences.

Our impactful play experiences include themed invitations to play and creative group activities to take home, with items either made from nature or reloved, upcycled, recycled or sustainably made.

We also have awe-inspiring, interactive shows and workshops for five to 12-year-olds that empower children to embed climate solutions in their community. Plus, we offer playful creative activations such as Mermaids with a Porpoise.

What has been your focus or interest this year, and what are you hoping to build, grow or maintain next year? 

Our focus this year has been experimenting with playful, creative ways to engage families and educators in climate action. From podcasts, nature art competitions and storybooks to games, art activations and immersive experiences, we’ve tried a lot!

Highlights have included a reclaimed waste mermaid art activation across Bondi Beach, Sydney, and Runswick Bay, Yorkshire, for World Ocean Day, with media coverage on BBC, Channel 10 and Channel 7, plus over 20 tour bookings for events, festivals and fairs. We were also engaged to deliver over 25 climate play experiences from July 2023 with local councils, early learning centres and primary schools

In 2024 we’re looking at milestones including partnering with 20 councils, early learning centres and primary schools, hosting 120 climate play experiences and empowering 2400 young children!

My purpose is to inspire others to take dramatic, urgent action on our climate and biodiversity crisis, so our kids can have a brilliant future on this amazing planet.

What does a better tomorrow look like to you? 

A world where people and nature thrive. My purpose is to inspire others to take dramatic, urgent action on our climate and biodiversity crisis, so our kids can have a brilliant future on this amazing planet.

You were recently recognised with a Special Achievement award in the 2023 TMRRW Awards – what does this recognition mean to you and your business? 

Winning a Special Achievement TMRRW Award is not only helping us to grow awareness of Be The Future but it’s enabling us to create a positive impact more quickly and widely so we can continue spreading climate positivity and innovating for a better future for the kids we all love.

READ MORE – Baking a Difference: Meet the Man Using Cookies to Empower Vulnerable People

DESIGN BY NATURE | Anna Carlile, Creative Director

Hall of Fame Winner 

Tell us about your business…

Design by Nature is an Australian brand strategy and design studio on the lands of the Wurundjeri Woi-Wurrung people of the Kulin Nation. Celebrating 25 years, we have been uncompromisingly values-driven and purpose-led from the start. We partner with people who share our passion for sustainability, equality and positive impact; together, we design for a better world. We’re a certified B Corp, and we’re proud to be one of the first sustainability-focused communication design studios, which continues to inform how we work and who we work for. We only take on projects that positively impact people and the planet, whether in gender equality, health, social justice, human rights or the environment. We believe we all have a responsibility to create a fair, safe and prosperous future. 

What has been your focus or interest this year, and what are you hoping to build, grow or maintain next year? 

In 2023 we settled into our new space in the Mercator Building at the Abbotsford Convent. We love being part of this creative community nestled in nature. It’s a perfect fit for our values and what we love. We celebrated our second year of being B Corp certified and are now preparing for recertification and looking at opportunities for improvement, which includes swapping our superannuation over to Australian Ethical and swapping our banking to Bank Australia for starters.

With our clients, we were really excited to work closely with St Kilda Legal Service co-designing a new name and brand: Southside Justice. We published our third design and lifestyle book on connecting with nature, authored by our director Anna Carlile and published with Hardie Grant – Wild Life, 50 Projects to Rewild from the Inside Out – and a new Walks In Nature: Tasmania book.

A better tomorrow looks more just and fair; it’s a healthy environment that’s sustained with healthy and connected communities cohabitating in harmony with nature and all beings. 

We designed a tram with Conservation Volunteers Australia and Yarra Trams to inspire people to engage in projects that invite nature back into the city and urban homes to create nature corridors – it’s fun seeing it rolling through the streets of Melbourne. We were also proud to design and bring to life the gender equality strategy with the Victorian Government.

A highlight was also continuing our design partnership with the Wheeler Centre and bringing to life their progressive and innovative programs such as Spring Fling and Mother and World of Words.

Formerly Viola Design, aside from our client work this year, our focus has been working on our studio’s new brand, Design by Nature, and website. We wanted a name that better reflected our 25 years of unwavering commitment to design for people and the planet. We are excited to step into this new name and focus on how we can inspire a more sustainable practice for communication designers globally by doing more research and putting out guides and resources through our new site and journal. 

What does a better tomorrow look like to you? 

A better tomorrow looks more just and fair; it’s a healthy environment that’s sustained with healthy and connected communities cohabitating in harmony with nature and all beings.  

You were recently recognised with a Hall of Fame award in the 2023 TMRRW Awards – how have you maintained energy, passion and action in your business over the years? 

We are very proud to be recognised with a Hall of Fame Award in the 2023 TMRRW Awards. We are standing alongside such incredible, passionate people doing innovative and creative pursuits for the world. It’s an excellent conclusion to a year that’s been filled with many global and local challenges. I am looking forward to the summer holidays which I personally use to put the phone and endless connectivity of work aside, disconnect and go deep into nature, camping with friends and family – we are hiking the Overland Track in January. This is how I reset, recalibrate and recharge so I can return in 2024 ready for a new year.

To check out the rest of the winners and learn more about the TMMRW awards, head to their website!