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In the year that was in its first Australian Make It Awards to celebrate the achievements for Australian entrepreneurs, creatives, as well as small-scale businesses. The Make It Awards come from 's roots: In 2003 the President Anthony Casalena founded the company by obtaining a loan of $30,000 that he used to purchase 's first servers.

Through the Make It Awards, we're providing a gift to our Australian business community by providing three emerging businesses with an award of $30,000 to help further their goals. The winners were selected out of more than 2,500 applications which were evaluated based on their company's strategy, innovation, benefit to the community, and branding and style. Meet Reef Design Lab, Lousy Ink, and The Difference three businesses with a mission that are committed to sustainability and community involvement.

    Reef Design Lab

Reef Design Lab is a multidisciplinary design company that develops marine habitat structures. The structures they design support research into how we can repair and preserve the biodiversity of the coastal and marine ecosystems. Reef Design Lab works with architects, builders, governments, and research institutions, as well as marine scientists on a range of topics, such as ecological engineering, coastal protection, marine infrastructure, and coral farming.

Reef Design Lab plans to utilize its grant funds to enhance in-house technology and speed up product development processes.

    Lousy Ink

The company was founded by two artists. Lousy Ink recycles printer cartridge ink to create a variety of art supplies that are sustainable, which include recycled pens and ink. The company works closely with Australian partners to collect the materials, reuse them, as well as recycle used and old cartridges inkjet. Lousy Ink's goal is to transform waste into a creative resource, and support both the planet and the artistic community by encouraging more sustainable creative practices.

Lousy Ink plans to use its grant to design various color inks, including cyan, yellow, magenta as well as black.

    The difference

The Different is the first mobile application that's available in Australia which allows users to make virtual extra cash from transactions and donate it to causes that they're enthusiastic about. The Difference makes use of technology to allow any individual to contribute to sustainability through daily actions and microdonations.

The Difference plans to use it to broaden the technical services it offers and to help its Make Change campaign.