Local Heroes Awards
Meet our past winners and runners-up
2025 winners
Carol Rosentreter, Mitchell Shire Council
Carol is a Family Social Worker who regularly goes above and beyond, often in her own time and at her own expense, when responding to the needs of her clients. Carol has been known to arrange and participate in weekend clean ups of people's yards, deliver emergency food and formula to families late on Friday afternoons and provide flexible appointment times out of hours to accommodate parents’ work commitments.
Hoa Le, Brimbank City Council
In a community with more than 160 cultures represented, Hoa’s work as a CALD outreach worker for the kindergarten team is essential to ensure children get the best start in their lives. She uses trauma-informed practice techniques and her own lived experience as a refugee to support newly arrived families and families who have limited English to ensure their children are connected to maternal child health, kindergarten and playgroups across the municipality.
Jamie Cooke, Wyndham City Council
For well over a decade, Jamie has been an invaluable figure in the FReeZA program, a key initiative aimed at helping young people lead the planning, development and delivery of safe, youth-friendly events. Jamie’s mentorship has allowed young people in Melbourne’s west to take on real responsibilities and develop practical skills, which in turn has helped them grow as leaders and for many, even become professionals in the music industry.
Rachel Whittaker, Northern Grampians Shire Council
When the devastating Grampians bushfires started in December 2024, Rachel was instrumental in supporting the Halls Gap community. She assisted with relief payment applications, correspondence between community and shire, and streamlining emergency funds for recovery activities, but was also the human face of council – being a friend, a neighbour and a trusted community member for people to talk to in their time of need.
2025 runners-up
Declan Napier, Greater Shepparton City Council
Declan has played a key role in the council's Resilience in Recovery program, taking a community-led approach to disaster recovery. Declan has led a range of initiatives including community movie and comedy nights, psychological first aid training, and community check-in and emergency management planning sessions. Her leadership, community engagement skills and commitment to creating positive change at the ground level are creating strong social community ties in the region’s most flood impacted communities.
Fern Sugars and Melanie Van Dyk, Yarra City Council
Melanie and Fern were nominated for their work as ASU delegates, putting themselves out there to stand up for workers and secure better outcomes for them. They often volunteer their own time for meetings, calls, attending various rallies, training sessions and campaigning events and were instrumental in getting the recent multi-council employer agreement over the line. They advocate for individuals or groups facing discrimination or disadvantage and raise the profile of important issues within the community.
Housing Services Team, Melton City Council
There has been a significant increase in the number of people experiencing homelessness, but a lack of services able to provide specialised support to these community members. The Housing Services Team led the establishment of a working group to develop the Rough Sleeping Response Initiative. This initiative allows the council and other key stakeholders, including Melbourne City Mission, IPC Health and Salvation Army, to pool their resources to better support people who are sleeping rough across the municipality.
2024
Winner: Neighbourhoods Team, City of Melbourne
The team were nominated by their colleague Greta for demonstrating an unwavering dedication to their community. The team is made up of manager Michelle James and seven neighbourhood partners who provide support to communities living in the ten neighbourhoods within the City of Melbourne. The Neighbourhood Model provides a unique place-based approach to community engagement.
Runner-up: Abbas Sheikh, Wyndham City Council
Abbas was nominated by his colleague Lucy for his Engaging Communities Through Sport initiative, which aims to bring together Culturally and Linguistically Diverse young people, newly-arrived young people, and those from refugee and asylum seeker backgrounds. This initiative has increased connection, understanding and inclusion of young people from diverse cultural backgrounds in the community.
Runner-up: Craig Waters, Darebin City Council
Craig was nominated by his colleague Eleonora for his support and advocacy of other City of Darebin staff, and his involvement in countless community organisations, including the CFA, Lions Club and RSL. A dedicated Scout Leader for over 40 years, he is passionate about bringing Aboriginal culture and ways of caring for the land to Victoria’s scouting movement.
Runner-up: Maree Renden, Wyndham City Council
Maree was nominated by her colleagues Caitlin and Clare for working tirelessly to protect people’s rights and their welfare. An ASU delegate for over 20 years, she is committed to getting the best outcomes for the Wyndham community and encourages her colleagues to stand up if they think the way council is working isn’t achieving that.
Runner-up: Millicent Burke, Moonee Valley City Council
Millicent was nominated by several local community environment groups for her unwavering commitment to environmental stewardship and community empowerment. She started a conservation network to bring together the different groups and works with them and local Indigenous leaders to develop conservation projects with an ethos of respect and care for the land and its people at their core.
2023
Winner: Eleonora Tambourini, Darebin City Council
Eleonora was nominated by her colleague Craig for her tireless commitment to her role as a Community Service Worker for more than 30 years. Eleonora goes the extra mile to assist many residents after hours, often in her own time and at her own expense. This includes transporting vulnerable people to and from appointments, shopping for them and just being there for a chat.
Runner-up: Adelaide Jones, Merri-Bek Libraries
Adelaide was nominated by their colleague Teishan for being instrumental in conceiving, planning and organising the Queer Youth Clothes Swap at Brunswick Library. This event provided an opportunity for queer and trans youth to obtain quality second-hand clothes which match their gender identity, for free. In addition to this, the event brought queer and trans youth together with fun art activities and put them in touch with vital support services.
Runner-up: Daniel Coon, Wyndham City Council
Daniel was nominated by his colleague Caitlin for acting in the roles of Family Violence Contact Officer, Mental Health First Aider, Union Representative and HSR Representative, and providing integral employee support. Dan is the first person to support and listen to others who may be going through a tough time, whilst maintaining employee confidentiality and rapport.
Runner-up: Moira Delegates Group, Moira Shire
The Moira Delegates Group were nominated by member Kristy for always striving to create a better workplace, particularly their strength and determination in advocating on behalf of their members and addressing workplace health and safety and industrial matters.
Runner-up: Nicole Migani-Roberts, Melton City Council
Nicole was nominated by her colleague Aaron for achieving numerous positive outcomes for people with a disability and their carers. This included leading the development of council’s Disability Action Plan, submitting a successful funding application for an additional Changing Places facility and conducting an accessibility audit of shopfronts in the Melton town centre.
2021
Winner: Yarra Libraries Community Engagement Team, Yarra City Council
The Yarra Libraries team were nominated by their colleague Sophie for pivoting to assist the community during the pandemic. One library became a food relief centre, and the team worked with NGOs to distribute meals to people experiencing homelessness and international students ineligible for government support.
Runner-up: Debbie Bakker, Maroondah City Council
Debbie was nominated by her colleague Lisa for going beyond her role in providing assistance for families that are vulnerable due to domestic violence issues or other welfare issues. Debbie offers support through connections to outside agencies, and help negotiating Centrelink payments and filling out forms.
Runner-up: Laura Farrington, Geelong Regional Library Corporation
Laura was nominated by her colleague Wren for being a dedicated health, safety and wellness and SCC member, who is consistently unafraid to meet management head on to ensure her colleagues feel cared for, protected and safe in their workplace.
Runner-up: Lisette Pine, Knox City Council
Lisette was nominated by her colleague Linda for going above and beyond when responding to welfare or safety issues within the Knox community, particularly when advocating for the rights of diverse and/or marginalised groups such as First Nations people, LGBTIQ and CALD communities.
Runner-up: Rob Monohan, Wyndam City Council
Rob was nominated by his colleague Maree for supporting the Aboriginal community in Werribee, particularly volunteering many hours to put together a work group to help run the Wunggurrwil Dhurrung Centre, which provides a culturally safe meeting place for the local community.