National award entries open as tickets close for Queensland's gala

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Kooky

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Real Estate Business opened submissions for its 2027 awards on 7 October 2026, with 32 categories and a closing date of Friday 6 November. The same day was the deadline for the trade publication's Women in Real Estate Awards, which have returned after five years away. Both land in the month of Queensland's own ceremony: the Real Estate Institute of Queensland names the winners of its Awards for Excellence on Saturday 31 October, and the institute's event page now says ticket sales have closed and a waitlist is open.

For Queensland agents, property managers and agency staff, that puts three recognition programs inside one five-week stretch, each run by a different body and judged in a different way. This article sets out what opened this week, how the three programs differ, and where they fit beside the national awards Queenslanders regained access to this year.

Source: Real Estate Business, 7 October 2026 and 16 September 2026.

What opened on 7 October

The REB Awards are in their fifteenth year, according to the publication's announcement. The publication announced on Wednesday 7 October that submissions were open, and they close on Friday 6 November, 30 days later. The winners will be announced at a gala on Thursday 25 February 2027 at Royal Randwick in Sydney.

The 32 categories fall into three groups. Individual awards include Sales Agent, Property Manager, Buyer's Agent and Auctioneer of the Year, along with Rising Star and Young Gun. Corporate awards cover networks, with separate categories for boutique and major networks and one for Innovator of the Year. Company awards go to businesses and their programs: Property Management Business, Sales Office, New Office, and Training and Education Program are among those the announcement lists.

The awards are national. A Queensland agent enters the same category as one from Sydney or Perth, and people can enter themselves or be nominated by colleagues through the awards platform. Real Estate Business describes a win as an independent endorsement of a professional's or a business's expertise, reputation and impact on the industry.

The Women in Real Estate Awards return

The second program is older news with a deadline that has just passed. Real Estate Business announced on 16 September 2026 that its Women in Real Estate Awards were reopening after a five-year break, with entries due by Wednesday 7 October.

There are 21 categories. The individual ones named in the announcement include Agency Principal, Agent, Auctioneer, Commercial Real Estate Professional, Mentor and Young Leader of the Year. Group awards recognise an Innovation, a Property Management Team, a Sales Team, a Training and Development Program and a Wellbeing Initiative. An independent panel of industry leaders judges the entries, and the property portal Domain is the principal partner.

Finalists are due to be named on Wednesday 28 October, three days before the Queensland gala. The awards night is Thursday 26 November at the Hilton Sydney.

The publication says the program recognises women whose work is helping to set the standard for the industry, across residential sales, property management, commercial real estate, agency leadership, operations, technology, marketing and customer experience. The breadth is deliberate. Several of the group categories, such as those for training and for wellbeing, do not depend on a sales total.

Three programs in five weeks

The dates are easier to see side by side.

The overlap is tightest at the start of November. A Queensland professional who wins at The Star on 31 October has six days before the national trade awards close, long enough to add a state title to an entry already drafted.

The three are not rungs of one ladder. The Queensland awards are run by the profession's own state institute. The two Real Estate Business programs are run by a publisher, are national, and are open across the industry. Winning one has no bearing on eligibility for another.

Where the Queensland awards stand

The REIQ's program is further along than the others. The institute named its finalists on 3 September and said nominations had risen by more than 100 on previous years, a record. It added one category for 2026, Multi-Office Network of the Year, for agencies that operate several offices as one business.

The institute's event page, as it stands on 7 October, lists the evening as running from 6pm to 11pm at The Star Brisbane and says ticket sales have closed, with a waitlist by request. The institute has not published attendance numbers. For scale, Elite Agent reported that the 2022 ceremony drew more than 880 real estate professionals, with 180 finalists across 29 categories.

Closed ticket sales and a waitlist three weeks ahead are consistent with the record entry. It is also notable for its timing. The awards fall in a spring when Brisbane's market has turned down: Real Estate Business reported on 6 October, citing Cotality figures, that the number of sales in the city is 27.2 per cent lower than a year ago. Interest in professional recognition has not followed sales volumes down.

The separate road to the national institute's awards

Neither of the publisher's programs should be confused with a fourth set of awards that matters to Queensland this year: the National Awards for Excellence run by the Real Estate Institute of Australia.

Those sit above the state institutes' awards. The REIQ returned to the national body as a state member on 1 July 2026, under a decision announced in February, and its nomination material for the 2026 state awards says eligible winners will be considered for the national awards. Queenslanders were already able to compete at the national ceremony in Melbourne on 21 May 2026, where the REIQ reported they won five titles, in residential sales, residential property management, business broking, operational support and the achievement award.

So a win at The Star on 31 October leads somewhere specific. In categories with a national equivalent, the Queensland winner goes forward to the national institute's next round. The REB Awards and the Women in Real Estate Awards are entered directly and separately, by anyone in the industry who chooses to.

A category for wellbeing

One line in the Women in Real Estate list stands out: an award for a Wellbeing Initiative. It reflects a subject the trade press has given steady attention to this spring.

On 4 September 2026 Real Estate Business published an interview on burnout with Tamika Kent, a sales manager at a Brisbane agency, McGrath Aspley, who won the Operational Support Award at the national institute's awards in May. She described the warning signs managers look for in people who have been working at full stretch for a long time, and the cost to an office when a strong performer burns out. "It can't always just be about the results," she told the publication.

No survey accompanies that interview, and it would be wrong to present one manager's view as a measure of the profession. What can be said is that the awards programs now make room for it. A category that rewards an agency for looking after its people sits beside the ones that reward sales, and an agency can enter it without quoting a single transaction.

That mirrors a broader shift in what these programs recognise. The 2027 REB categories include Training and Education Program, and the REIQ's program includes a category for agency support staff. An office manager, a trainer or a property management team now has as many places to be recognised as a salesperson does.

What an award changes for a client

For sellers, owners and tenants, the practical meaning of this season is modest and worth stating plainly.

An award is evidence that a panel found an entry convincing in a given year and category. It is not a licence condition, and it changes nothing about an agent's obligations. A winner is bound by the same Property Occupations Act 2014 and the same conduct standards as every other licensee, must be appointed in writing on the same form, and must support a price opinion with the same kind of comparable sales.

The category is the part to read. Property Manager of the Year is about managing rentals. An agency award is about a business, not each person in it. A national trade award and a state institute award come from different judges applying different criteria.

Entry is voluntary in every program. Capable agents who do not enter, or who are not members of the institute, appear on none of the lists. The names announced over the next five weeks will be those who entered and impressed their judges, which is a narrower thing than the best in the state, and still a real one.

The dates ahead

Finalists for the Women in Real Estate Awards are due on Wednesday 28 October. The REIQ announces its winners on Saturday 31 October. Entries for the REB Awards 2027 close on Friday 6 November, and Real Estate Business has not yet said when its finalists will be named. The two Sydney ceremonies follow on Thursday 26 November and Thursday 25 February 2027.

Kooky, from Shaka

Kooky edits Queensland Estate and builds Shaka, the payment router he made for Queensland property professionals. One payment comes in, and every agent, agency and party in the deal receives their signed share on closing date.

About Kooky and Shaka →