Help acknowledge our local achievers

It’s not too late to nominate someone who has done great things for the Western Downs region, for the upcoming Regional Australia Day awards.

Nominations are still open to acknowledge those who go above and beyond to make a positive impact in our region, whether they are crowd standouts or quiet achievers.

Principal of Dalby State High School and previous Australia Day Award winner Dean Russell says that it was a real honour to be nominated by some of his work colleagues back in 2017.

“As a bike racer, I was lucky enough to win the Western Downs Regional Council Sports Award, at that time I had some good results in both national and international competitions but my coaching work also allows me to help lots of young people, not just in Dalby but in other parts of the state.

“I felt both proud and humbled at the ceremony because often I’m competing away from home, so it was wonderful to attend the Australia Day ceremony with my family, it’s become a wonderful memory for me.

“The awards are a great opportunity to shine the spotlight on our local people, I think that there’s a feeling in rural Queensland that you can only be successful if you live in the big cities but that’s just not true.

Western Downs Mayor Paul McVeigh is strongly encouraging people to put the effort into nominating their peers, colleagues, team members, community group leaders or anyone deserving of recognition.

“We are relying on our residents to help us recognise achievement in our region so the more nominations we have, the better,” Mayor McVeigh said.

“I’d really like to encourage anyone to fill in the simple online form to nominate someone, it’s not very complicated.

“Nominees don’t have to be living here for decades to be worthy, we know that many people have done great things within a short time.”

Anyone who would like some assistance in filling out an online form is invited to pop into any one of the Western Downs Regional libraries or Council’s Customer Contact Centres and speak with a helpful staff member.

Award categories: (Local) • Volunteer of the year • Community organisation achievement award • Creative arts award • Sports award

(Regional) • Citizen of the year • Young citizen of the year (ages 16-25)

Nominations close on 31 October, which will allow the committee time to review the nominations in preparation for the award presentations on Sunday 26 January.

For more information visit www.wdrc.info/australiaday2020/

— Ends —

Media Contact:

Melanie Coultas | Acting Communications & Marketing Manager | 0419 048 594