Double honour for Wagga Wagga City Council at Local Government NSW annual awards

Wagga Wagga City Council was recognised with two wins at the annual Local Government NSW awards evening held last night in Sydney.

Council was awarded the prestigious RH Dougherty Award for Excellence in Communication for its Wagga View – Community Strategic Plan 2040 campaign and the Leo Kelly OAM Arts and Culture Awards for the Museum of the Riverina’s exhibition We Are Here: LGBTIQ Stories.

“It was an honour to accept these awards as they represent the hard work and innovative thinking of Council staff in both of these projects and the quality of service we strive to deliver to our community,” Council’s General Manager Robert Knight said.

Wagga View was one of the largest community consultations undertaken by Council, with more than 3000 contributions from individuals and groups across the Wagga Wagga Local Government Area throughout 2016 and ’17.

“The RH Dougherty Award for Excellence in Communication is not only a win for Council, but a win for the wider community as thousands of residents helped create the Wagga View – Community Strategic Plan 2040,” Mr Knight said.

“The Community Strategic Plan sets out the long-term vision for the future of Wagga Wagga, which informs and guides all of Council’s strategies and plans.

“This award is recognition that Wagga View truly captures our community’s vision and that Council’s strategic planning is among the best in the state.”

It was the fourth RH Dougherty Award for Council in recent years, winning the Excellence in Communication category in 2013 for the Wagga Waggafest short film competition and in 2014 for The Funbobulator online playground creator. Council made it three wins in a row with a Reporting to Your Community award in 2015 for its weekly publication Council News.

Through We Are Here, the Museum of the Riverina captured the lesser known histories of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer/questioning (LGBTIQ) residents in the Riverina.

We Are Here was the result of collaboration between the museum and countless generous people who shared their life experiences, loaned their personal objects and contributed research. It would not have been possible without the contribution and support of ABC Open, PFLAG Wagga (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays), CSU Momentum and Dr Jessie Lymn, Charles Sturt University

“Very few exhibitions of this kind have been run in regional Australia to date,” Mr Knight said.

“This was a ground-breaking insight into the Riverina's history and this award is recognition of the cultural excellence that the museum and Council’s other cultural facilities produce for the region.”

The awards were presented in Sydney on 3 August as part of Local Government Week, which takes place from 31 July to 6 August.