Council is calling for Shoalhaven residents to nominate for the 2023 Australia Day Awards

The 2023 Australia Day Awards will go ahead as scheduled, after concern they would be cancelled due to a lack of nominations.

Shoalhaven City Council discussed the matter at an Ordinary Council Meeting on July 25, concluding the awards would still go ahead in 2023 as planned.

However, there was a general consensus that they need more nominations from the community.

Shoalhaven City Council Mayor Amanda Findley instructed councilors at the meeting to get as many community nominations as they can after council agreed to keep the awards.

"You guys know what to do," Mrs Findley said.

The eight categories to be nominated for include:

Councilor Evan Christen was first to state in the meeting that the event should still go ahead.

"I recognise the awards aren't as vibrant as they could be," Mr Christen said.

"But I think we should try and address that within the timeframe and fix it to make it better.

"I encourage ever one of us as councillors to try and get nominations in."

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Councilors Paul Ell and Serena Copley shared concerns before the meeting of the possibility of the awards being cancelled due to a lack of nominations.

Mr Ell said he would fight to make sure the awards were not cancelled.

"I am a proud supporter of Australia Day and I know that the overwhelming majority of the community is too," he said.

"It's already bad enough that our local awards don't happen on Australia Day itself anymore, but it is incredibly disappointing that Council would even consider getting rid of them altogether."

Ms Copley agreed with the sentiment, stating that whilst she welcomed a review and ideas to improve the awareness of the awards, cancelling the event next year would be unacceptable.

"I strongly believe that we can improve our Australia Day Awards and make them bigger and better than ever next year," she said.

"Even if there is room for improvement to address a decline in the number of nominations in recent years, cancelling the awards is certainly not the solution."

However, the pair of councilors did not meet the fight in the council meeting they were expecting, with the council agreeing unanimously that the awards should go ahead.

Discussions became how the awards can become a large event again for the community to celebrate the community leaders who make the Shoalhaven what it is.

Councilor Greg Watson suggested the awards be held on Australia Day again as they used to be, further adding the event should take place at the Nowra Showground.

"Historically, the awards have had historic success when we held them on the showgrounds on Australia Day," Mr Watson said.

According to the council, mid year is usually when nominations and preparations begin for the following year's awards.

It's now up to the community to nominate someone they think represents the Shoalhaven community the best.

If you know someone who you think fits the categories, you can nominate them for the 2023 Shoalhaven Australia Day awards on the Shoalhaven City Council website.