To determine the recipients for the Citizen of the Year Awards, regard is given to the nominee's achievements in the year immediately prior to receiving the award, as well as their past achievements and ongoing contribution to the community.
An individual need only be nominated once to be considered. The number of nominations received per nominee bears no weight in their selection.
Citizen of the Year
- Significant contribution to the community beyond employment duties
- An inspirational role model for the Australian community
- The scope of impact the individual's contribution has on the City of Charles Sturt
Young Citizen of the Year
- Significant contribution to the community beyond employment duties
- An inspirational role model for the Australian community
- The scope of impact the individual's contribution has on the City of Charles Sturt area
- Must be 30 years of age or under on 26 January 2027
Senior Citizen of the Year
- Demonstrated leadership and involvement in and for the community
- An inspirational role model for the Australian community
- The scope of impact the individual's contribution has on the City of Charles Sturt area
- Must be 65 years of age or over on 26 January 2027
Community Event / Group of the Year
- The quality of the work of the event / group
- The event / groups contribution to the community
- The scope of impact the event / groups contribution has on the City of Charles Sturt area
- Events must have taken place within 2026
Please note it is not a requirement that the individual resides in the City of Charles Sturt area. The focus should be on their specific contribution to the City of Charles Sturt and our community (e.g. an individual may live in a neighbouring Council but has made a significant contribution to a community organisation within the City of Charles Sturt).
Selection Criteria
- Personal, academic and professional achievements
- Contribution in the relevant field (how has the nominee, event, or group ‘given back’ to benefit others)
- Demonstrated leadership, innovation and creativity
- Contribution to development of regional community and/or economy
- Future goals and likely impact
- Degree of difficulty of the achievement and sacrifices made
- Previous awards and recognition
- Voluntary work beyond paid employment
- Nature and length of activity or service
- Achievements as an individual or as part of a group or organisation
- For groups / events – level of community participation
- Please note that contributions must have been made on a voluntary basis beyond paid work.
Eligibility Criteria
- For a nomination to be accepted, the selection criteria must be addressed.
- Nominations must be received by 11pm on Friday 20 November 2026. Each nomination must be submitted on a separate nomination form
- Late nominations will only be accepted in exceptional circumstances.
- Nominees must be Australian citizens
- Awards will not be granted posthumously
- Self-nominations will not be accepted
- Nominees must be at least 16 years of age in the year of the award presentation
- Nominees for the category of Young Citizen of the Year must be 30 years of age or under on 26 January in the year of the award presentation
- Nominees for the category of Senior Citizen of the Year must be 65 years of age or over in the year of the award presentation
- Sitting state and federal politicians, current vice-regal officers and current elected members of Council are not eligible
- Retired politicians, elected members and vice-regal officers will be considered for work undertaken in addition to their official duties
- Current employees of the City of Charles Sturt are not eligible
- Unsuccessful nominees may be re-nominated in subsequent years
- Groups of people, organisations or couples will not normally be eligible for Citizen of the Year, Young Citizen of the Year and Senior Citizen of the Year, though in exceptional cases the selection panels reserve the right to consider such nominations
- Both individuals and organisations should be considered for the Community Event / Group of the Year as this recognises the organising body or committee responsible
- More than one award may be presented in each award category and no weight is given to the number of times a person or organisation is nominated
- Previous recipients of the award categories may receive the award in future however the work that this person or organisation undertook to receive the original award may not be considered
- Councils may choose to re-submit nominations that do not receive an award for future consideration in subsequent years of the program
- Winners are determined via a confidential ballot and Council's decision on the winner is final