When 21-year-old Tanisha Lovett won the 2019 Regional Development Victoria Leadership and Innovation Award, she showed youth is no barrier to being a community leader.

The young Indigenous woman works around the Horsham area supporting Indigenous youth in innovative ways such as providing after-school classes to help children discover and understand their cultural heritage.

Tanisha’s recognition at the Victorian Regional Achievement and Community Awards made her one of the youngest winners in the award’s 18-year history. Last year she joined a diverse group of individual and group winners whose achievements were recognised across the awards’ nine categories.

2019’s winners were recognised for projects as wide-ranging as turning an old swimming pool into a community hub, providing holistic and tailored foods for pets, working to limit the spread of fruit fly, producing standard-compliant Braille signs – and an 80-something Geelong woman who was honoured for 20 years’ helping those with life-limiting illnesses.

The Awards recognise individuals, community groups and businesses whose work and efforts go into making regional Victoria a better place to live and work. Nominees’ focus can be on improving the environment, strengthening the community or their achievements could come through the provision of specific services or by helping disadvantaged groups.

Nominations recently closed but organisers are hoping to see nominations from individuals and groups who have contributed to improving the lives of those affected by recent challenges such as drought, bushfire and coronavirus (COVID-19). You can find out more about the awards and read about the winners, who will be announced after judging in October, at the Victorian Regional Achievement and Community Awards website.

Pictured above: (L-R) Danielle Green, Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Victoria; Parliamentary Secretary for Sport, presenting Tanisha Lovett with the 2019 Regional Development Victoria Leadership and Innovation Award