This Award will acknowledge an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Social Worker who exemplifies the best of the profession’s values, achievements and accomplishments through demonstrated practice.  To be eligible, accomplishments must have taken place during the period 01 July 2023 to 30 June 2024. 

Who can be nominated?

Social workers engaged directly with the delivery of services to clients and who identify as, and are recognised by their community as, Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Australians.

Nominees must be a current financial member of the AASW and be of good standing with the AASW.

Who can nominate a nominee?

Self-nomination and Third-Party nominations will be considered.  In the case of Third-Party nominations, we recommend engaging the nominee directly in the process.

Please ensure you advise the nominee that they have been nominated for an award.

Terms and Conditions

Nominations will be made through a “call for nominations” announced by the AASW in August 2024. 

Nominations submitted to the AASW Award Committee for consideration must not exceed 2,000 words and be supported by appropriate evidence such as letters of commendation, acknowledgement of achievements through employers or other agencies, newspaper articles or such other relevant evidence. 

Nominations must be submitted through the AASW’s designated submission process. 

The Award Committee will consider all nominations based on written responses to the criteria outlined below.  

The Award Committee reserves the right to reject nominations that do not address the criteria or exceed the specified word limits or are not received by the submission deadline.  The AASW will keep confidential their discussions and deliberations on nominees and will not provide feedback regarding their decisions.  Award winners will be announced at the 2024 International Conference Gala Dinner on 21 November 2024 in Melbourne.  Nominees are asked to be present at the awards however all costs associated with this are the nominees to bear. 

The written submission in this category will contribute to 100% of the overall score for consideration of this Award and will determine shortlisted Nominees

Criteria

1. Outline the ways in which the Nominee has made a demonstrable difference to:

• • Advocacy for clients and social policy (Maximum word limit: 200 / Worth: 20 percent)
  • Social work practice (Maximum word limit: 200 / Worth: 20 percent)

2. Explain in what ways the Nominee demonstrates outstanding leadership. (Maximum word limit: 400 / Worth: 20 percent)
3. How has the Nominee contributed to a positive image for the social work profession? (Maximum word limit: 400 / Worth: 20 percent)
4. Outline the outstanding results achieved by the Nominee in this qualifying period. (Maximum word limit: 400 / Worth: 20 percent)

Additional Required Information

5. Provide a 100-word overview that describes the nominee, including their current role. This short profile may be used for promotional purposes or at the Awards presentation. (Maximum word limit: 100)
6. Provide a colour head and shoulder photograph of the nominee on a blank background. The image should be high resolution (preferably 300 dpi, no less than 2 Mb image) so that it can be used for print media and other promotions.

To support the criteria responses and provide evidence of the claims made you may upload a maximum of ten single-page files.  Acceptable formats are Word, PDF and JPEG and the maximum size for each file is 1 Mb.

Nomination closing date

Nominations must be submitted by 5:00pm AEST on Friday 20 September 2024.  Nominations received after the closing date will not be considered.