Time to nominate heroes in our community

Now is the time to nominate someone in our community who deserves to be recognised for their selfless contributions.

This year’s Citizen of the Year Meecham Philpott was deeply honoured to receive the award.

“There were so many wonderful people in the room, who work so hard for the community and for my name to come up – I was very surprised,” Mr Philpott said.

“I was actually recording for the ABC when they started reading out the winner’s bio, and quickly worked out it was my bio, so I was a bit embarrassed,” he said.

“Just to be nominated in itself is amazing – it shows you that people notice that you are contributing to the community.

“There is a tonne of people around town who have done more than I have done in my life who, for one reason or another, go unrecognised.

“Without all those people who do what they do behind the scenes, what kind of community would we have?”

Mayor Greg Williamson echoed those sentiments and said last year we had 138 residents nominated for their service to the community.

“These awards are about recognising the contributions and talents of amazing individuals and groups in our community,” Cr Williamson said.

“If you know someone who tirelessly, and selflessly, give up their time for our community or has achieved exceptional results in their sporting or artistic pursuits, take a moment of your time to make sure they receive the recognition they deserve,” he said.

There are eight award categories including:

Citizen of the Year, Young Citizen of the Year, Arts and Culture, Environmental Achievement, Lori Burgess Community Volunteer, Community Group, Senior Sports and Young Sports Award.

Applications close Sunday, January 5.