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The National Australia Bank has announced this year's winners of their CommunityLink Volunteer Awards program.
The National's CommunityLink Volunteer Awards are open to any not-for-profit organisation that relies mostly on the support of volunteers and conducts a volunteer-based program or project to serve its local community.
Designed to raise community awareness of the value of volunteers, the Awards also aim to encourage others to become involved in community work.
Founded by the National in 1997, over 450 community groups have received an award in the past six years. This year over 2,200 nominations across six categories from every state and territory of Australia were received.
The categories for the awards are:
- Art & Culture
- Community Service
- Emergency & Safety
- Environment, Conservation & Heritage
- Health
- Sport & Recreation
The National's Executive General Manager, Financial Services Australia, Ian MacDonald congratulated the winners on their hard work and dedication to helping the community.
"Australia's volunteer groups and their members deserve to be recognised for the crucial and invaluable services they provide," he said.
"As these volunteers are usually busily working away in the background, it's nice to be able to say to them we know you are there and we appreciate what you are doing for our community."
This year awards totalling $375,000 are being made with each of the 42 Award winners receiving a prize of $7,500 and 60 highly commended winners receiving $1,000 each.
The National CommunityLink Volunteer Awards are judged independently by a panel of recognised experts from various community organisations in each of the six categories.
The programs and projects nominated are judged on the following criteria:
- community impact and benefit
- volunteer management practices
- effective involvement of volunteers
- the ability of other communities and organisations to benefit from its practices
- originality and creativity.
"The National Australia Bank and Volunteering Australia hope the National CommunityLink Volunteer Awards encourage existing volunteers to continue and expand their outstanding work, while encouraging even more Australians to be involved in the community," said Ms Sha Cordingley, CEO Volunteering Australia.
Volunteering Australia, the peak body for the volunteer sector throughout Australia has been the National's partner in the CommunityLink Volunteer Awards program since its inception.
A full list of winners follows and further information is available here.
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