OUTSTANDING youngsters in Gannawarra, Loddon and Buloke shires will be celebrated at a gala-style event that recognises their contributions to their communities.
The inaugural BLG Youth Awards will be held at the Boort Memorial Hall on December 9.
The Buloke Loddon and Gannawarra Youth Awards has been organised by Northern District Community Health (NDCH) and North Central LLEN and co-designed with young people from across the three shires.
North Central LLEN youth program assistant Molly Meadows has taken the lead on this project with assistance from NDCH youth health promotion worker Matt Allan.
NDCH chief executive Mandy Hutchinson said the organisation was delighted to celebrate the “vast and diverse ways that young people contribute to rural communities”.
“The recent floods that have impacted on our communities also highlighted the many heroic efforts of our young people, whether it was helping with sandbagging or supporting their families or neighbours,” she said.
“I encourage community members to consider nominating the great efforts of a young person they know.”
Young people aged 12-25 who live, work, play or attend school in Buloke, Loddon and Gannawarra shires are eligible to be nominated for the awards.
All young people who are nominated will be acknowledged at the awards night.
Categories include creativity, leadership, resilience and teamwork.
The nomination process is accessible with online and paper versions.
Online can be reached by heading to the NDCH Youth Facebook and Instagram pages or at forms.gle/rr1cEvaZhRrDiC83A
Paper copies may be collected from NDCH Kerang and Cohuna or NCLLEN.
“We are loving seeing how passionate people are about our young people with the incoming nominations so far,” Ms Meadows said.
Attendance at the event is by invitation but will also be livestreamed.
In addition to the awards, the event will host live music performances throughout the evening from young local artists including Elias Lanyon (Boort) and Deaken Fawcett (Kerang).
Following the official awards ceremony, internet sensation Jacob Fitzgerald from Melbourne will perform for recipients and their guests.
This event has gained support from Buloke, Loddon and Gannawarra shires with representative mayors and councillors attending.
Each shire’s Young Citizen of the Year will introduce award categories.
