Nominations for this year’s National Awards for Local Government are now open, recognising achievements made by local governments across a range of categories.
Local governments can nominate their outstanding projects across eight award categories including arts and culture, regional growth, road safety, Indigenous recognition, infrastructure, social cohesion and addressing violence against women and children.
This year the nomination process has been simplified to enable shorter online submissions.
Communities will be able to use an online awards portal to select an award category and submit a 350 word statement explaining why their local council should receive an award.
For the first time, councils can also recognise the work and achievements of their peers in the local government sector through an open voting system.
Assistant Minister for Local Government, Kevin Hogan, said the 2021 awards will recognise and celebrate local government achievements over the last 12 months.
“The past two years have been particularly challenging for local governments with bushfires, floods, droughts, and the pandemic,” Mr Hogan said.
“The awards are the perfect opportunity to recognise where councils have achieved outstanding outcomes and to share them on the national stage.”
Mr Hogan said that he is proud to be part of an initiative that recognises local government achievements and service delivery.
“Many of these projects have the potential to change how councils across the country deliver for their communities,” Mr Hogan said.
“No matter the outcome of the awards, I want to express my heartfelt thanks to all local governments for their outstanding work in continuing to deliver for communities throughout Australia despite the challenges of COVID-19.
“Your resilience and determination is a true testament to the Aussie spirit, and demonstrates just how vital this level of government is to every Australian.”
Established 35 years ago, the Awards celebrate local government initiatives that deliver tangible benefits to their communities and recognise their achievements on the national stage.
Nominations close at 11:59 PM (AEDT), 19 November 2021. The category winners will be announced in December.
Nominations can be made here.
