The Australian Sport, Recreation and Play Innovation Awards was presented as part of this year’s NSC Oration.  With the largest ever number of submissions this year, the standards have been exceptionally high.  Congratulations to all those who submitted as they showcase the excellent work that is being invested in communities across Australia and the winners are:

Each category winner received a trophy and was then judged for the opportunity to be crowned the overall Australian Sport, Recreation and Play Innovation Award winner.

The Winners of each category are:

1. programs and activities

Innovative programs, activities and events that have been developed to encourage the community to be more active.

Monash City Council (Active Monash) - Active Communities Program (Vic)

Active Communities Program (Vic)

2. SPORT AND INCLUSION

How sport can make a difference to an inclusive society and how inclusion can grow participation in play, recreation and community sport.

North Queensland Sports Foundation

Move it NQ (Qld)

3. SOCIAL VALUE OF PARTICIPATION

Measuring the impact that participation has on the health, economic and community value of a community. Supported by ActiveXchange.

SportWest

Sport in Western Australia: Social Return On Investment (WA)

4. MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS

The communication messages that innovatively activates the community for more people to be active, play, recreate and participate in community sport.

parkrun Australia

Women and Girls of parkrun (Aus)

5. YOUNG INNOVATOR OF THE YEAR

A young person (under 25) who has developed a program, space, activity, technological solution or innovative partnership that is encouraging more people to be active.

Piper Stewart

Bambigi
Making Aboriginal Kids Deadly Swimmers

6. MAJOR EVENT PROMOTION

Providing community opportunities to grow participation by aligning a mass participation or a major spectator event.

Wollongong City Council

Host City 2022 UCI Road World Championships, Bike City (NSW)

7. TECHNOLOGY

Innovations in technology that support Business to Business (B2B) improvements for the industry or Business to Consumer (B2C) experiences.

Chicks Who Ride Bikes

Mobile app development (Aus)

8. SPORT AND LEISURE FACILITY DESIGN

Innovative design and management that creates an environment where more people are active (built and natural environments), whilst embracing the principles of sustainability. Supported by VAILO.

Brimbank City Council/Williams Ross Architects

Brimbank Aquatic & Wellness Centre (VIC)

9. SPORTS SURFACES

Innovative solutions that allow greater intensity and durability of natural, hybrid, synthetic or hard sports surfaces to allow for greater usage, whilst embracing the principles of sustainability.

element Sports Turf Solutions

H3 Hybrid Cricket Pitch (Qld)

10. SPORT AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Innovations that organisations have embraced that recognise the impact that sport can have on climate change and how they have focused on reducing their carbon footprint.

South Australia Aquatic and Leisure Centre

Waste Reduction & Energy Saving Strategy - The Y (Vic)

11. PLAYGROUND DESIGN

Designs and developments that allow and encourage more children to play, have fun and be active.

Richmond Valley Council & Urban Play

Crawford Square Playground - Casino (NSW)

12. COMMUNITY SPORTS FUNDRAISING

Innovative and community fundraising projects which enable increased participation and community cohesion. Made possible by the Australian Sports Foundation

Surfing Victoria

Victorian Indigenous Surfing Program (Vic)

THE OVERALL SPORT, RECREATION AND PLAY INDUSTRY AWARD FOR INNOVATION

The winner for 2023 is

Piper Stewart

Bambigi
Making Aboriginal Kids Deadly Swimmers

The overall Sport, Recreation and Play Innovation award winner was chosen from one of the above 12 category winners.

Bambigi, is a charity organisation that was set up by Piper Stewart, Aboriginal girl to fund a project aimed at increasing the number of Aboriginal children learning swimming and water safety to provide the essential skills and knowledge to be safer in and around water and reduce the drowning risk of Aboriginal people.

Bambigi means ‘to swim’ in Wiradjuri, Griffith’s traditional Aboriginal language. At the age of 12 years, Piper Stewart, a young local Wiradjuri woman in Griffith, NSW noticed that there were few other Aboriginal children swimming in her squad or participating in swimming lessons to obtain vital water safety skills in a safe environment.

Piper became concerned that Aboriginal families in Griffith and surrounding towns cannot afford to enroll their children in swimming lessons and may never learn to swim or with basic skills, swim in local inland waterways that are dangerous. The Bambigi project sets out to fund a series of lessons for Aboriginal children of all ages including preschool, school age and teenage boys as a local solution to a national and global issue.

The Award winner was presented by Patrick walker, Chief Executive Officer, Australian Sports Foundation

Further information on the National Sports & Physical Activity Convention is available at www.nationalsportsconvention.com.au

Editors Notes

The Australian Sport, Recreation and Play Innovation Awards have been part of the National Sports & Physical Activity Convention (NSC) since 2016. The NSC has grown since 2016 as Australia/New Zealand’s largest and most prominent community sport and recreation convention and expo attracting over 1,500 people annually.

The full NSC Program can be found at www.nationalsportsconvention.com.au

Follow the National Sports & Physical Activity Convention on Facebook and LinkedIn
#NSConvention

Further information contact Martin Sheppard, Founder and NSC Curator at
martins@smartconnection.net.au or (03) 9421 0133.

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