Women of the Year Awards

• Courageous commitment: This category is for women who are dedicated to making a difference to the health, well-being, safety, and/or sustainability of our community through advocacy, campaigning, fundraising, and/or thought-leadership.
• Excelling in arts or sport: This category is for women using their sporting and/or creative talents to represent, motivate and inspire our community.
• Inspiring innovation: This category is for women who are leaders in business, economics, politics, and/or an entrepreneur.
• Success in STEM: This category is for women who are excelling in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

To be eligible, nominated individuals must:

• be a woman or individual who identifies as female
• live, work or study within the City of Kingston
• align their experience and future community contributions to Council’s strategic priorities and policies
• have made an outstanding contribution to the community (within Kingston or outside) whose achievements positively influence the changing social, environmental or business landscape. 

Please note:

• Any community member or community group/organisation can make a nomination.
• Individuals cannot self-nominate.
• Previous nominees can be nominated again.
• Previous winners and honourable mentions are not eligible.
• Kingston Council employees are not eligible unless being nominated for their work outside Council.

In choosing the recipients of the Kingston Women of the Year Awards, nominees will be assessed according to the following assessment criteria:

• Significance and impact of contributions made
• Demonstrated level of commitment to the betterment of the community
• Degree of difficulty of the achievement and sacrifices made
• Future goals and likely impact on the community
• Previous awards and recognition received
• Personal attributes of the nominee such as being an inspirational/positive role model for their peers, overcoming adversity, showing vision, leadership, innovation and creativity
• Personal, academic and professional achievements

All nominations are required to be supported by two independent referees. For all eligible nominations received, Council staff will contact the referees to explore the merit of their nomination and ask that the referees provide a letter of support for their respective nominee.

Referee eligibility:

• Should be independent of the nominee and nominator
• Someone who has had close involvement with the nominee during their service or is able to comment directly on the nature and impact of their achievements

Once nominations have closed, the selection panel will consider all eligible entries against the assessment criteria and select a winner.

The selection panel consists of the Mayor and fellow Councillors of the City of Kingston.

All eligible nominations will be announced online.

• Nominations closed on 6 October 2024
• The Award winners will be officially announced at Kingston’s International Women’s Day Civic Event in March 2025.

For assistance with obtaining a hard copy nomination form or other questions, please contact our Community Leadership and Capacity Officer on 1300 653 356 or email community@kingston.vic.gov.au.

Women of the Year

• 2019 - Emma Gierschick OAM
• 2020 - June Rea
• 2021 - Simone Hardham
• 2022 - Bronwyn Currie & Paula Westhead
• 2023 - Adrianne Fleming OAM
• 2024 - Amy Salisbury & Nimita Bagadia

Honourable mentions and category award Winners

• 2019 - Cindy Rella, Alecia Minster, Shauna Moore, Marissa Palamaras, Anna Wang & Sarah Loh
• 2020 - None
• 2021 - Megan King, Vanessa Heredia, Arna O'Connell & Joan Bradd
• 2022 - Anne Grigg, Sandra Davies OAM, Dolly Bhargava & Nidhi Shah
• 2023 - Aunty Katrina Amon, Jess McKenna, Michelle Kornberg & Harini Karthikeyan
• 2024 - Evelyn Townley & Gwyn Nichols, Kerrie Waworis, Dr Carolyn Beaumont, Dr Kate Robb