Should Council's Community Awards be part of Australia Day 2023?
Byron Shire Council wants to hear from the community about their views on replacing Byron Shire's Australia Day Awards Ceremony, with a more inclusive annual awards program at another time of the year.
The community is urged to have a say on Council's webpage by Tuesday 4 October.
"We're exploring the possibility of discontinuing the current format of the Australia Day Awards ceremony held as an evening event on 25thJanuary each year, the day before Australia Day, and moving the community awards to a different date," Mayor Michael Lyon said.
"We are speaking to a range of stakeholder groups and are putting a survey out to the wider Byron Shire community to find out what people think about this idea," he said.
"The aim of this would be to celebrate these community awards in their own right … so they are not tied to the current politics of Australia Day and so that we can create an awards program that is more inclusive, that generates more interest and nominations and a more successful event and celebration of our people," the Mayor said.
"We welcome fresh ideas around award categories and times of the year that could be considered for a new Byron Shire Community Awards program," he said.
The current categories awarded as part of the program include:
- Citizen of the Year
- Senior Citizen of the Year
- Young Citizen of the Year
- Volunteer of the Year
- Sportsperson of the Year
- Creative Artist of the Year
- Community Event of the Year
- Environmental Program of the Year
To complete the survey
