Swinburne’s Alumni Impact Awards acknowledge exceptional alumni from around the world, who have achieved success and made a significant impact in their community and/or professional field.

Award recipients are testament to Swinburne’s vision of bringing people and technology together to build a better world, and an inspiration to fellow alumni, students and the wider Swinburne community.

Learn more about our Alumni Impact Awards catergories, our past alumni winners and finalists and how to nominate below.

Award Categories

Technology Innovation Impact Award

For a Swinburne alum whose exceptional endeavour has resulted in significant impact through technology and entrepreneurial innovation, demonstrating Swinburne’s vision of bringing people and technology together to build a better world.

The George and Ethel Swinburne Social Impact Award

For a Swinburne alum who has demonstrated Swinburne’s passion of providing opportunities for all, irrespective of wealth, privilege, age, gender or race, making a real difference to the world we live in.

Black outline of a globe with curved latitude and longitude lines, no continents or stand

Innovative Planet Impact Award

For a Swinburne alum whose exceptional endeavour has resulted in significant impact in local and/or global environmental sustainability.

Black outline of a rocket ship in a 2D style with a pointed top, a cylindrical body, and flame details at the base.

Emerging Leader Impact Award

For a Swinburne alum in the early stages of their career who has shown exceptional promise, leadership and impact across technology, entrepreneurial change or as a local and global citizen.

Nominations

Nominations for the 2026 Alumni Impact Awards are now closed.

The awards will be presented on Tuesday 20 October 2026.

If you have any questions about the nomination process or the awards, please contact the Alumni Engagement Team on alumni@swinburne.edu.au

The fine print

Nomination submissions

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Nominations are via submission of a statement of up to 500 words outlining the nominee's key achievements, and how they demonstrate impact in the respective award category. As part of the nominations process it is requested that you contact the nominee to confirm their consent to share their details for this purpose. The next awards are in 2026 and nominations can be made at any time prior to the relevant submission deadline.

Award recipient eligibility and exclusions

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All Swinburne alumni are eligible to receive an Alumni Impact Award.

The following exclusions apply:

Honorary degree recipients who did not complete a Swinburne degree
self-nominations and nominations from close relatives
those currently holding public office
current students
advancement staff members and current Swinburne staff members who are not Swinburne graduates
Awards cannot be granted posthumously

Nomination confidentiality and award decisions

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Nominations are confidential. Only alumni finalists will be contacted by the Swinburne Alumni Engagement team. Alumni Impact Award finalists will be decided by the Swinburne Alumni Impact Awards Nominations Selection Committee. No debate will be entered into.

Dates and deadlines

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Nomination submissions deadline: Monday 30 June 2026
Finalists will be contacted by: Friday 24 July 2026
Awards presented: Tuesday 20 October 2026

Please Note: The Swinburne Alumni Engagement team sits within Swinburne Advancement. Swinburne Advancement may contact nominators or nominees via phone, email or organise a face-to-face appointment as appropriate. Individual nominations will be kept confidential. Your nomination will be linked to a record in the Swinburne Advancement database with any other information already on your record in the database and your contact details will be updated. Access to such additional information will allow Swinburne to carry out more detailed analysis. Please refer to our Privacy Policy for more details.

Winners and Finalists

Read the stories of our inspirational award recipients. Since graduating, each has blended their Swinburne education with hard work and tenacity to create lives of distinction. Finalists were selected for their extraordinary leadership, entrepreneurial innovation and desire to make the world a better place.

Learn More

Media Enquiries

P: 0455 502 999

E: media@swinburne.edu.au