Our Community and Westpac are undertaking a search to find Australia’s Kookaburras – the loud and proud stirrers – the community groups, the people and the projects that changed our communities for the better.

They can be a little loud, a bit raucous,
sometimes slightly unpleasant on the ear.
But as a country we would be devastated without them.
They’re distinctive. They’re iconic. They’re impossible to ignore.
They’re our Kookaburras.

The 2010 Kookaburra Awards will offer prizes to individuals, groups and projects that really made a difference – that stretch people’s vision of what’s possible in Australia’s society today.

At times, we might think of these people as ratbags, or cranks, or worse.
We call them radical, or subversive, or infuriatingly single-minded. But we can’t deny that they made a difference in the world. Nominate now for a 2010 Kookaburra Award!

There are prizes for:

• Community Groups: It’s not about being the biggest, or the best resourced, or the highest-profile group, it’s about being a group that does what it does brilliantly – and one that stands out as a bea con of innovative community leadership and works to change things for the better.
• Projects: It’s not about having a project that brought in a large grant, or came in below budget. We’re looking for projects that have changed people’s lives; that make people say “Gosh, I didn’t know you could do that. Awesome!”
• Individuals: It’s not about being a saint, or a guru, or a great philanthropist: it’s about being some one who can bring ordinary people along with a movement to change their lives, and ours.

Each winner will receive a total prize package valued at more than AU$10,000, plus free tickets (including flights and accommodation for those outside Victoria) to attend Australia’s best community conference – Communities in Control 2010. The winners will be announced at the conference in front of an audience of 1500 community groups, MPs and dignitaries.

Does your User Group, or an individual within your group, fit that description? Or do you know of other people, groups and projects in your local community that do? If so, make sure their names are put forward for a Kookaburra Award. Nominations close 5pm on Friday, May 12, 2010.

Click on the link for more information or to Nominate Now for a Kookaburra Award.