Bellarine Youth Shine at Geelong Youth Awards

2023 Geelong Youth Awards

The Geelong Youth Awards recognise and celebrate young people who have made significant contributions in the areas of leadership, culture awareness, community work, sport, arts, music and youth development. The Awards Night for 2023 was a wonderful event, with performances and presentations from the Geelong Youth Council and Geelong Mayor, Trent Sullivan. The stars of the show were the diverse and courageous award winners, four of whom, are local Bellarine residents.

Odi Evans – Special Mention Award – contribution to the Environment

Bellarine Community Health (BCH) proudly nominated Odi Evans, for the 2023 and was awarded a Special Mention award for their contribution to the Environment. Odi, 18, is a young local leader and an active supporter of several BCH Healthy and Connected Communities initiatives including the Youth Guerrilla Garden and the Farm My School project at Bellarine Secondary College. Odi was recognised by the Awards Judging Panel for their inspiring commitment and passion in the areas of environment and social justice and their meaningful contribution to our community, that builds connection and creates change.

Arhlia Cvetkovski – Citizenship Individual Award

Arhlia Cvetkovski, 12, has established a community group that focuses on health and wellbeing through regular exercise for young people, creating social community connection without the use of devices. With the help of sponsors, of which there are 20 local businesses, Arhlia has provided free BBQ’s for the group, purchased long sleeve running tops and called the group ‘Run 3225’. Run 3225 now has over 50 members, aged between 4 and 80 years old, who meet every Sunday morning at 9am at the beach front in Point Lonsdale for a walk or run together.

Lottie Hughes – Volunteer Award

Lottie Hughes, 15, was concerned about the impact that Covid was having on the community, especially regarding food security. Overwhelmed by the news that many people were struggling to feed their families during the lockdown, Lottie wanted to find a way to help. In partnership with Drysdale Foodbank, Lottie started to collect extra donations for them to distribute. She promoted the collection by doing a letter box drop to every house around her neighbourhood, asking for donations if they were able. She then rode her bike with a trailer attached to collect all the donations once a week and then delivered them to the Foodbank. This initiative also created an opportunity for Lottie to develop new friendships and connect with elderly locals who live alone and look forward to the visits.

Nic Robinson – Special Mention Award – creativity within the tech world

Nic Robinson, 13, was recognised by the Judging Panel for his creativity in the world of tech and animation, Nic is incredibly creative and engaging young person who is achiever and passionate about animation. He has a YouTube channel featuring his amazing work called Nicguyy

For the full list of award winners head to the City of Greater Geelong website.

Image provided by Nicole Marie.

Bellarine Youth Shine at Geelong Youth Awards