The Australian Rotaract Awards were presented at ARC back in October, but the winners deserve another mention!
Winner of the Most Outstanding Community Project was Diamond Valley Rotaract, who coordinated a Battle of the Bands to showcase local musical acts at the Eltham festival last summer. They have been invited to run the project again in 2015. They directly reached out to schools and the community to source participants and had 12 Rotaractors involved in the project.
Most Outstanding Community Project nominees:
Diamond Valley – Eltham Festival
Southport – Carousel Project
Southport – Assist-a-Sista Home refurbishment project
Southport – Friends of Federation Walk Tree Planting
Macquarie – Swap Parties
Mount Lawley – Starkick Program
Unnamed club – Movie Night for Heart Kids
Salisbury City –Christmas lunch
Lower North Shore – KYDS
Rossmoyne – John Curtin Weekend (JCW) 2015 – Koorda
Central Coast – “Grandparents Raising Grandchildren (GRG) Christmas Dinner”
Winner of the Most Outstanding International Project was Rockingham Kwinana Rotaract for their ‘hope for kids’ project in Indonesia. The aim was to renovate and repair the school in order to provide a safe environment conducive to learning for the local students. They raised over $10,000 and had four Rotaractors on the ground with local Rotaract, Rotary and Interact Clubs to renovate the school as well as donate laptops and a projector.
Most Outstanding International Project nominees:
Sunnybank –Soccer Tournament
Adelaide City – World Youth International Sponsorship
Rockingham / Kwinana –“Hope for Kids” in Indonesia
Southport – Muravah Foundation Trivia Night
Macquarie University, Sydney Uni, UNSW & UTS Rotaract – The Rotaract Pirate Pub Crawl
Salisbury City – raffle for the Nepal earthquake crisis
Brindabella – Nets for Nets project
Unnamed club – The East Meru Community School and Mr. Siphaeli Appeal
Perth – Back2School Quiz night
Subiaco – Murder Mystery Night
The winner of the Most Outstanding Professional Development project was the Rotaract Club of Sunnybank. The Club brought together a group of young, eager-to-learn Rotaractors, along with a group of Rotarians who offered wisdom, guidance, and leadership to create new friendships, and better knowledge and skills about networking and mentoring. Congratulations to Sunnybank!
The nominees for the Most Outstanding Professional Development Project were:
- Sunnybank – Professional Development Networking Event
- Salisbury City – Strategic Planning night
- Adelaide City – Speakers at meetings
The winner of the Most Outstanding Public Relations Activity was The Rotaract Club of Mount Lawley, who collaborated with the Rotary Club of Mount Lawley to have a stall at the Beaufort Street Festival last November. The Beaufort Street Festival, is a street fair 1000 attendees, focusing on food, music and arts. The stall showcased Rotary and Rotaract and even had a prize wheel, whilst they handed out many pamphlets about our organisation.
The winner of the Rotary Rotaract Interact Involvement Award was District 9675 for their Interact Conference. The team collaborated with the Rotary District and numerous Rotaract, Interact and Rotary Clubs to run the first ever ‘Connect’ conference for Interactors.
The conference provided 100 Interactors with a chance to develop their leadership potential, engage with each other and, have fun doing so.
Congratulations to the Rotaractors from District 9675 including the clubs UNSW, USyd, UTS, UOW, Sydney City and Burwood.
Rotary Rotaract Interact involvement award nominations:
- Hunter Rotaract Club/Rotary Club of Newcastle and D9670– LUNAR Walk
- Diamond Valley Rotaract/Rotary Club of Eltham – Eltham Festival
- Southport Rotaract/Rotary Club of Southport – Carousel Project
- Multiple Rotary, Rotaract & Interact Clubs – District 9675 Interact Conference
- Peninsula Rotaract/Frankston North Rotary – new Interact Club
The winner of the Significant Achievement Award was The Rotaract Club of Southport for their Carousel Project. The club regularly helps with the running and operation of the Broadbeach Carousel, located at a shopping centre. Over the last 12 months, the club has raised over $11,000 which has gone to charities such as Assist-a-Sista, Gold Coast Hospital Foundation, and surf life saving clubs just to name a few.
The nominees for the Significant Achievement Award were:
- Hunter – Membership Achievement
- Southport – Assist-a-Sista Home refurbishment project
- Southport – Carousel Project
- District 9800 – ‘Our Space’
- Salisbury City – Daffodil Day
- Mount Lawley – Charter
The winner of the Partners in Service Award was Janine Linklater from the Rotary Club of Hall in District 9710 Canberra.
- Janine has a lifelong passion for youth development. She was an integral support in the formation of the Rotaract Club of the University of Canberra (RCUC), chartering in 2013.
- Janine has been involved in Rotaract at District level in 9710, serving on the District Rotaract Committee since 2014.
- To integrate RCUC into their sponsor club, Janine initiated a scheme whereby two RCUC Rotaractors attend Rotary Club of Hall meetings once a month, with a different two Rotaractors each time. This ensures that there are networking opportunities for both sides created, and levels of sharing and mutual trust established.
- In the words of DRR Rebecca Bamford, Janine’s surname may be Linklater – but she is linking Rotaract and Rotary NOW.
Some very worthy nominees for the Partners in Service (Rotarian) Award:
- John Birrell, Rotary Club of Geelong East – nominated by Rotaract Club of Barwon
- Michael (Mike) Nella – nominated by Rockingham / Kwinana Rotaract Club
- David Wright – nominated by Burwood Rotaract
- Rick Henke – nominated by Salisbury City Rotaract
- Janine Linklater – nominated by District 9710 & University of Canberra Rotaract
- Ross Bird – nominated by Peninsula Rotaract Club
- Janet (Jan) Moore – nominated by Rossmoyne Rotaract
Congratulations to the Rotaract Club of Canberra on receiving the Westpac Malaria Award, a $1000 cash award.
For 2 years Rotaractors Against Malaria has been our national project. We are increasing our collaboration with Rotarians Against Malaria, and have lots of other initiatives. Over the last 12 months, we’ve raised over $10,000, of which $5000 has come from the Rotaract club of Canberra.
Rotaractor of the Year
Dani Fogarty, a past District Rotaract Representative of 9685 and Eastern Region Rotaract Representative for Rotaract Australia, as well as Paul Harris Fellow, is the 2015 Australian Rotaractor of the Year. Dani was heavily involved in the hugely successful Harbour Cruise in Sydney a few years back, coordinated Rotaract training for the Eastern region, and is a valued member of Lower North Shore Rotaract. See Dani’s video link at www.rotaract.org.au/roty
The nominees for the 2015 Australian Rotaractor of the Year were:
- Peter Park – UNSW Rotaract
- John Warren – Whitehorse Rotaract
- Kim Dawes – Rockingham / Kwinana Rotaract
- PDRR & Regional Rep Dani Fogarty PHF – Lower North Shore Rotaract
- PDRR & RA Chair Michael Shields PHF – Diamond Valley Rotaract
Most Conference Attendees
The award for the Most Conference Attendees at ARC2015 was awarded to the Rotaract Club of Central Coast.
Congratulations to all our award winners and nominees!
