The Australian Hedge Fund + Alternative Investment Awards recognise managers who display performance in keeping with the objectives of the investment industry.
 
This includes consistent, competitive risk-adjusted returns independent of the direction of financial markets. In addition, the awards favour managers meeting basic operational due diligence requirements including adequately resourced infrastructure, funds under management and available products in the Australian market.

Initial manager rankings are determined by a quantitive ranking of performance data derived from a comprehensive database of managers. Quantitive criteria include Sortino ratio and maximum drawdown factors. These initial rankings are then screened for qualitative operational criteria. Managers who do not meet the operational standards are excluded, notwithstanding their quantitive ranking. The final rankings therefore include only those firms which meet both the quantitive and qualitative criteria.

Committee members with any potential conflicts of interest are recused from decisions about the managers in question.