Individuals, groups and organisations across regional and rural Victoria who are making a difference to the well-being or sustainability of their communities are encouraged to apply.
A promising new project will be awarded $1000.
The awards are an initiative of Keep Victoria Beautiful, one of Australia’s oldest environmental groups.
In last year’s awards, Kialla Children’s Centre won the Active Schools Award for its Children’s Garden — a community garden funded by organisations in the region, complete with a veggie patch, fruit trees, a chicken coup, and bird feeders and houses.
Other winning initiatives from other parts of Victoria include the repair and alteration of donated school uniforms which have helped hundreds of families; creating a venue for the homeless to shower and wash their clothes and bedding; a historic storyboard trial following the journey of the Bangerang people; and the successful treatment of wastewater from milk tanks and storage silos.
Keep Victoria Beautiful Tidy Town spokesperson Dick Gross said these initiatives fostered a sense of community, helped the environment, and inspired others to take action.
“Ultimately strong communities are the lifeblood of our rural and regional towns and critical to their long-term sustainability.”
The categories for this year’s awards include: education, energy, litter, waste, environment, indigenous culture, heritage and culture, community, social wellbeing and young legends.
The awards have been going since 1983, and have moved from rewarding towns for their tidiness, instead celebrating grassroots initiatives and positive actions taken by communities and individuals.
The winners of the awards will be announced at a gala event at Beechworth on Sunday, September 6.
Applications can be found at kvb.org.au/tidy-towns and will close on May 1.
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