Western Downs 2021 Australia Day Award nominations closing soon!

Nominate a community champion! Residents are reminded to get in quick and nominate an outstanding community member with nominations for the region’s most prestigious awards closing at the end of this month.  

Western Downs Regional Council’s Australia Day Awards recognise local and regional achievers across several categories including volunteering, creative arts, community organisations and sporting. 

Western Downs Regional Council Mayor Paul McVeigh said the 2021 Awards provided a prime opportunity to celebrate those who have continued to go above and beyond to make the Western Downs a great place to live, work and play, despite the challenges faced this year. 

“2020 has been a year of unpredictable events and as a result we’ve seen just how strong the Aussie spirit is in the Western Downs community,” Cr McVeigh said.   

“There have been countless community members and groups who have continued to work hard and serve our region through the tough times and I believe it’s particularly important now for us to acknowledge those efforts.   

“It’s these dedicated residents who continuously build on the active vibrant communities that make up the Western Downs region and this awards program provides us with a unique opportunity to publicly acknowledge and celebrate these incredible people.“ 

2020 Regional Citizen of the Year Michael Wood said he was honoured to win the award for his involvement in the Jandowae community and wider region.  

“It was a great honour to win the Regional Citizen of the Year Award at this year’s Australia Day celebration, I can think of a number of people in my town who are deserving of the award so to be recognised for my work is unbelievable,” Mr Wood said.  

“I have a lot of great memories from growing up in Jandowae and if people don’t get involved and keep things going, then there won’t be anything for anyone to do, and I just want my kids to grow up enjoying the small country town like I did. 

“Although you don’t do the work to win awards, knowing your efforts aren’t going unnoticed is a great thing and gives you some extra motivation to keep going so even just to be nominated for an award means a lot and the Australia Day Awards provide an opportunity to do that.” 

2020 Young Citizen of the Year Jenaya Low said it was important to recognise younger residents for their contribution to the community and she felt humbled to be recognised for her efforts.  

“It meant a lot to win the Young Citizen of the Year Award, a lot of people in the Dalby community and Western Downs region do a lot of hard work so I felt really humbled being given the opportunity to win that award,” Miss Low said. 

“I think it’s very important to hold the Australia Day Awards, there are lot of hard-working people in our region who go unrecognised but by having these awards, those people are recognised for everything they do and shown the appreciation they deserve. 

“I think it’s important for the younger community to be recognised because they are the future generation and how we set ourselves up now is how we’ll develop into the future so just to be recognised for what you do now is more likely to have positive benefits into the future.” 

Nominations are open until midnight Saturday, 31 October 2020 with the winners to be publicly announced when they receive their awards at the annual Australia Day events in our local communities.