New Australia Day Award for stalwarts

Stalwarts of community service will be celebrated in a new category being added for next year’s Australia Day Awards for the Armidale region.

Nominations are now open for the 2019 awards and a new Award for Long Standing Service to the Community has been included to recognise community members who have contributed to their communities over a number of years.

“Part of the inspiration for this new award was the desire to acknowledge those people the consistently and tirelessly undertake the otherwise unsung tasks,” Mayor of Armidale Regional Council Simon Murray said.

“They might not be at the head of an organisation or event, and they might prefer to work quietly in the background. But their dedication over the long haul is often the glue that holds a group or activity together.

“We are keeping a separate Community Services Award, so there is plenty of opportunity to recognise fantastic contributions to community in their many shapes and forms,” he said.

“It’s also time for people to start thinking about fitting candidates for all the other award categories.”

The 2019 awards will again have categories for: Citizen of the Year, Young Citizen for people aged under 25, Contribution to Sports and Recreation, Art and Culture and Community Event of the Year.

While previous Australia Day Awards had separate categories for senior and junior sportspeople, this year it has been consolidated into a single Award for Sportsperson of the Year.

“Tingha, Guyra and Armidale will each have their own awards, with all of these categories, and their own presentation ceremonies,” he said.

Nominations can be submitted online and printed forms can also be downloaded.

Published on 13 Sep 2018