The impact of the COVID pandemic of the past 12 months did not stop NSW's local government sector providing world class frontline services to the community, demonstrated by the broad range of regional and metropolitan winners in this year's Local Government Week Awards.
Local Government NSW (LGNSW) this week presented its annual RH Dougherty Awards, Leo Kelly Art and Culture Awards and LGNSW Planning Awards, recognising outstanding achievement by councils on behalf of their local communities.
Among this year's winners:
- Griffith City Council's transformation of a local basketball stadium into a performance arts studio as part of its Sunshine Super Girl World Premiere and Yarruwala Wiradjuri Cultural Festival;
- Inner West Council's Gadigal Wangal Wayfinding Project, connecting the city's urban environment with culturally significant landmarks using striking local Aboriginal artwork;
- City of Sydney Council's Planning for Net Zero Energy Buildings, which tackled the difficult issue of net zero management with other councils and agencies to help achieve NSW's goal of net zero emissions;
- Dubbo Regional Council's Going LIVE from the Dubbo Region project, which embraced new marketing ideas outside traditional media to effectively deliver important messaging to its community;
- Bega Valley Shire Council's Cuppa and Chat Bushfire Recovery Event Series, a project that used direct phone calls, emails, social and print media to personally connect with people in its community to foster recovery from devastating bushfire and the challenging recovery process;
LGNSW President Linda Scott congratulated the award recipients in an online presentation ceremony hosted yesterday.
"Councils provide local leadership, and these awards highlight just some of the services and support they are committed to providing our communities, even under the most difficult circumstances" Cr Scott said.
"Every year I am so impressed with the high quality of submissions - not just the winners but the entries that are highly commended and even the ones that miss out - and this year it's no different.
"It's especially remarkable when you consider the added pressures that COVID-19 lockdown and restrictions have placed on communities and their councils.
"The broad range of winners and highly commended councils, along with the broad range of projects being honoured at this year's awards, highlights once again just how clever and innovative local government is, as well as the width and breadth of our sector's involvement in the community.
"NSW councils have a history of punching well above their weight and making every local dollar count, as these awards ably demonstrate."
