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This article was published on Friday, 22 January, 2021. The information contained within may be out of date or inaccurate. News articles and media releases older than 60 days are archived for future reference.

Greater Shepparton projects nominated as a finalist in excellence awards

The awards promote and celebrate the outstanding work undertaken and delivered by Local Government in Victoria.

Greater Shepparton has been recognised for delivering two successful initiatives last year, the COVID-19 Youth Campaign and the UCI Supercross BMX World Cup.

Greater Shepparton City Council Mayor, Councillor Kim O’Keeffe said this was a proud accomplishment for our community.

“Both of these initiatives were delivered in partnership between Council and our community, and being a finalist in the LGPro Awards recognises and celebrates the significance of this partnership and what we can achieve when we work together to deliver bold results,” Cr O’Keeffe said.

The COVID-19 Youth campaign, recognised for Excellence in the Service Delivery category, was a targeted digital campaign to educate our local young people of the importance of staying COVIDSafe and the role they played in keeping their family and friends safe and healthy during the height of the pandemic.

“We are very proud of our whole community for how we responded during the pandemic, but a specific focus on our youth was warranted after State Government data indicated that young people were a high risk in terms of spreading the virus,” Cr O’Keeffe said.

“We commend our young people for how they dealt with the pandemic, and this award nomination provides a formal way to recognise our local agencies who participated and supported this campaign in order to get the key messages out there.”

The UCI Supercross BMX World Cup saw Greater Shepparton host 197 professional BMX riders, for the first BMX World Cup hosted in Australia in more than a decade. The competition brought together visitors from 26 countries and more than 3,000 spectators for the three day event. To leverage further on the hosting of the BMX World Cup Greater Shepparton created an international festival of cycling which also saw the hosting of the BMX Australia Nationals Series and a Bikes and Bikes Festival at the Victoria Park Lake drawing an additional 4000 visitors and contributing to the generation of an overall $3.47 million impact into the Greater Shepparton economy. The event attracted international recognition and kudos.

“Based on the praise received for the event from the likes of UCI, BMX Australia, competitors and spectators it was decided to nominate this event in the LGPro Special Projects category, and obviously the judges agree that this event was a truly impressive event, hence it is now a category finalist,” Cr O’Keeffe said.

“So while 2020 did have its immense challenges, being a finalist in these awards reminds us of some of the great initiatives that our community was part of despite the pandemic, and reminds us to reflect on some of the positives that emerged from 2020.”

The Awards will be announced on Thursday 25 February 2021.

For more information on LGPro Awards visit the LGPro website.