Woodside, which is known for putting plenty of research and development behind its own subsea team, is vying with BAE Systems and Technip for the awards that will be announced in Perth on October 14.

The UWILD Class Survey, with which Woodside is involved along with Geo Oceans and Lloyds Register, was also a finalist for the Industry Collaboration award, along with the Australian Pipelines and Gas Association's Offshore Pipeline Engineering Competency Framework, led by Atteris, and the Wood Group-led SURF Integrity Management joint industry project.

Woodside's Kelsie Clarke, a graduate civil engineer who is also involved with Engineers Without Borders Australia, is also a finalist in the Emerging Talent category with DOF Subsea's Katrina Roso and Atteris' Matthew Moore.

At Woodside, Clarke has taken on roles as a geotechnical, metocean and offshore structural engineer, where she supported internal clients and worked closely with contractors to deliver a range of projects.

She is also a member of the Corporate Incident Crisis Centre and the Development Learning Meeting coordination team, and is on the Women of Woodside committee.

"This was the first time we have opened the awards up for industry nomination and we have been delighted by the response, 149 individuals logged-in to nominate, applaud and support someone they know in the subsea industry," Subsea Energy Australia said.

Across the remaining two categories, Geo Oceans, SubCool Technologies and 3D at Depth are finalists for the Industry Innovation and Technology award; while PSM Subsea, Future Engineering and AMC Search are up for the New Enterprise gong.

Subsea Energy Australia said there were 18 more organisations and individuals who took part in the nominations, of which there were a total of 149 this year.

The group is now interviewing the finalists before the winners are announced next week.