2020 VIC Premier's Sustainability Awards

With just under two weeks to go until entries close, there’s still time to enter the Premier’s Sustainability Awards.

Entering their 18th year, and comprising 11 categories, the Awards continue to grow and reflect the ingenuity and efforts of sustainability initiatives implemented throughout the state.

Last years’ education category winner, The River Nile School in North Melbourne, which offers full time programs delivering the Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL) curriculum to re-engage refugee and asylum seeker school-aged young women, aged 15 to 22. They may have experienced disrupted schooling or are newly arrived to Australia.

Many of the students had no experience of sustainability, climate change and recycling so in 2018 sustainability was embedded across the integrated VCAL curriculum.

Students learnt about sustainability in depth, culminating in two student-led projects.

In Semester 1, students planned, prepared and ran a Sustainability Expo, teaching visitors about sustainability practices including how to make your own natural beauty products, how to compost and how to reduce waste by making vegetable stock.

In Semester 2, students, planned, prepared and ran a Sustainability Market where they made products from old, reused and recycled materials to sell. As examples, they made their own wheat bags, head scarves and reusable bags using old material offcuts. The money raised was donated to CERES.

Previous winners and finalists report pride in having their strategic thinking and hard work recognised by sustainability leaders, sector peers, local communities, and customers.

All finalists and winners are provided with media releases, photos and social media graphics to help promote their involvement with their staff, their customers and their communities.

Entries for the 2020 awards close on Monday 20 July at 5pm. For more information, visit sustainabilityawards.vic.gov.au