Mayor Clare McLaughlin with one of this year’s Community Service Award recipients, I’m Not Afraid To Talk Founder Jeremy Edwards
Do you know a local who gives their heart and soul to the Whyalla community? Would you like to see them recognised for their tireless efforts? If so, Whyalla City Council wants to hear from you!
Nominations for the 2021 Australia Day Awards are now open, so this is the perfect opportunity to help ensure their generosity doesn’t go unnoticed.
The 2021 Australia Day Awards will feature 11 categories, with the citizen, young citizen, senior citizen, sports achievement, event of the year, and six community achievement awards to be presented.
Whyalla Mayor Clare McLaughlin said the awards recognised individuals and organisations that have made significant contributions to the community, not only throughout 2020, but also across a number of years.
“Australia Day is special, because we get to publicly recognise and thank the people who give so much to our community,” Mayor McLaughlin said.
“These people, who so thoroughly deserve these awards, generally aren’t the sort of people that seek this sort of attention, so it’s vitally important that others in the community nominate them.
“This year has seen us all have to adapt to overcome adversity, so I’m sure there are many examples of people helping others to cope with these unique challenges, while being excellent role models for the community.”
Jeremy Edwards – who formed the I’m Not Afraid To Talk male support group and was recognised for community service at this year’s awards – encouraged locals to nominate people who were giving back to their community.
“You don’t do these things to get recognised, but just being nominated confirms that you must be making a difference, so it’s humbling to know someone has made the effort to nominate you,” Mr Edwards said.
Nomination forms are available from: https://www.whyalla.sa.gov.au/our-city/australia-day-nominations, Council’s civic building on Darling Terrace, and Whyalla Public Library.
Nominations close at 5pm on Friday, November 13.
This year’s Australia Day celebrations will be slightly different, with the finalists presented to the community at a free barbecue brunch at Ada Ryan Gardens, followed by a day of free activities at the Whyalla Recreation Centre. A free community bus will be available throughout the day to enable all residents to attend.
About the awards:
The citizen, senior citizen and young citizen categories reward and recognise individuals who have made a noteworthy contribution during the past year, while having regard to their previous achievements and ongoing contribution over and above normal employment duties.
Outstanding contribution and community service include areas such as education, health, fundraising, charitable and voluntary service, business, sport, arts, the environment, or any other area that contributes to the advancement and wellbeing of the community.
To be eligible, the person must be an Australian citizen, and under 30 years of age on 26 January 2021 for the young citizen category, or over 65 for the senior citizen award.
The community event of the year will be awarded to either a person or group that has staged the most outstanding community event during the past year.
The sports achievement award will be presented to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the sporting community during the past year, focusing on volunteer involvements in preference to individual achievements. This may cover fundraising, club administration, helping around the club with weekly duties, club maintenance and umpiring.
Community service awards recognise residents who have given outstanding service to a single organisation or field of endeavour.