Nominate for New 2021 Australia Day Awards

By Bellingen Shire Council Mayor, Cr Dominc King:

It all started with the introduction of our new and hugely successful Home-Grown Heroes Award category at this year’s 2020 Australia Day Awards Ceremony, and we now have another seven new award categories that you can nominate for as part of our Shire’s 2021 Australia Day Awards celebrations.

So I’m really excited about the new Australia Day Award categories, because they provide our community with the fantastic opportunity to recognise our local heroes, who more often than not work tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure we remain a connected, sustainable and creative community.

And there’s something for everybody, so if you know a local business owner or farmer who’s leading by example, or someone making a big difference in our arts scene or local environment, or maybe they’re helping to keep us active and healthy or simply changing people’s lives for better, then please nominate them.

Remember, you can nominate someone for our Shire’s 2021 Australia Day Awards up until Monday 7 December 2020, which should give everybody enough time to nominate locals across a suite of new award categories which feature Home Grown Heroes, Arts, Business Innovation, Karma, Environment, Active & Healthy, Community Champion and Leading on the Land award categories.

That way, we can all acknowledge and celebrate our Emergency Service groups and personnel, our local artists who excel across all artistic mediums and the efforts of local business owners and farmers who have had to respond to and recover from the recent drought, fires, floods and the current pandemic crisis.

I think it’s also important that we don’t forget recognise some of the quiet achievers in our community, who selflessly give the gift of their time and attention to help keep our pristine natural environment healthy and those who also help keep our bodies, hearts, minds and community active, happy and healthy as well.

To review our Shire’s 2021 Australia Day Award Categories, or to submit a nomination form, simply go to the Australia Day Awards 2021 page on Council’s Create Engagement Portal at https://create.bellingen.nsw.gov.au/australia-day-awards-2021 or collect a form from one of our libraries or from our Bellingen Administrative Centre and once you’ve completed it, just post or hand deliver it back to Council’s Bellingen Administrative Centre.

So with seven new award categories for 2021, I encourage everybody from previous rounds to lodge a submission again because this year could be your year as there are so many people in our community who are doing great things, leading by example and giving the most precious gift they can give, the gift of their time and attention to others.