Deadline: 17-Jul-24
Excellence in the Environment Awards aims to recognise outstanding achievements by NSW councils in managing and protecting the environment.
Categories
- Asbestos management
- Climate change adaptation
- Towards net zero emissions
- Communication, education and empowerment
- Innovation in planning, policies and decision-making
- Invasive species management
- Natural environment protection and enhancement: on-ground works
- Transition to a circular economy
- Behaviour change in waste
- Sustainable infrastructure
- Water management
- Local sustainability
- Louise petchell memorial award for individual sustainability
Prizes
- Certificates will be awarded to the winners in each division and all category award winners will receive a trophy.
- The prize for the overall winner of the Local Sustainability Award is an overseas study tour or a professional development program for council staff, valued at $10,000 (plus GST).
- A proposal will be developed by the winning council for approval by LGNSW by 30 April 2024. The prize must be claimed by 30 November 2024. The delegates on the study tour, or the participants in the professional development program will be expected to present their findings at the following year’s event.
- The prize for the Louise Petchell Memorial Award for Individual Sustainability will be a certificate and the winner’s choice of accommodation at an ecologically focused venue/resort (by agreement with LGNSW), up to the value of $700 (incl GST) e.g. Crystal Creek Meadows, Kangaroo Valley, finalist in the 2018 Green Globe Awards.
Eligibility
- For each of the awards, there are four divisions based on the type of organisation and a council’s population base:
- Division A: for councils with a population less than 30,000
- Division B: for councils with a population of 30,000-100,000
- Division C: for councils with a population of more than 100,000
- Division D: for JOs, ROCs and County Councils
- What the judges are looking for:
- Demonstration of innovation and best practice for an organisation of your size, location and resourcing
- A sound rationale for the project
- Challenging objectives that go beyond core business
- How thoroughly the project has been implemented
- Whether the project objectives were achieved
- Creation of new opportunities and anticipation of future challenges.
Conditions
- Councils and county councils that are members of LGNSW are eligible to enter. Local government organisations or groups of councils are also eligible to enter if the constituent councils are LGNSW members.
- For the Individual Sustainability Award Category, only employees or elected councillors from LGNSW member councils or local government-related organisation can be nominated.
- The project nominated for the award must have been either wholly or partly undertaken during the period January 2023 to June 2024. For longer-term initiatives, the entry should focus only on that part of the project undertaken during the current award period.
- Entries to the Local Sustainability Award must include details of the three bronze award categories that your organisation has entered in the current award period or previous two years.
- If your organisation has been a finalist in a bronze category for a long-term project in a previous year, the same project will not be eligible for another bronze award unless you are able to demonstrate it is substantially different, with new achievements in the relevant time period.
For more information, visit Local Government NSW.