500 attendees celebrate success at 2023 Harmony Awards

The annual Harmony Awards Gala event was held on 16 December 2023, with over 500 attendees, an aerial guitarist, ballerinas, contortionists, and full troupe of dancers.

Early childhood education and care (ECEC) professionals and support office staff came together from Harmony’s 15 centres located across Southeast Queensland and northern New South Wales.

The event was held at the Gold Coast Convention Centre, and also featured an awards ceremony, where winners from 15 different categories were announced. 

“The night was a spectacular celebration and seeing the talent and dedication within Harmony has showcased the incredible impact we can achieve as individuals and as a collective,” Harmony CEO Laurie Begni said. 

“Everyone in attendance has contributed to our success and we’re elated to recognise their outstanding accomplishments.”

In 2023, Harmony introduced a new category of Emerging Talent, which recognises two of the Harmony team for perseverance, enthusiasm and commitment to continuous learning and development that signals a journey towards extraordinary contributions in the future, Mr Begni explained.

“Recipients of the Emerging Talent Award are rising stars and destined to leave an indelible mark on the early learning sector and in particular, the Harmony organisation.”

Harmony currently has over 2,800 children enrolled and a team of over 700 educators and support staff; these numbers are expected to grow significantly within the next few years.

“2023 has seen Harmony add two state-of-the-art centres to the network, at East Brisbane and Varsity Lakes and we have another six in the pipeline for next year,” Mr Begni said.

“This has enabled us to add more than 70 new positions to the network as well as more opportunities for children and families to experience our holistic approach to early learning that has an incredible appreciation of a child’s individuality.”

Harmony Early Learning Journey will add a further six sites to the group in 2024. Learn more about the Group here.

List of winners 

Each of the 15 winners appears in the list below: 

1. Student of the Year: Tamzyn Hayes
2. Educator of the Year: Chloe Tarrant
3. Lead Educator of the Year: Kelly Kubinski
4. ECT of the Year: Brooke Savelio
5. Educational Leader of the Year: Ursula Clifford
6. Centre Cook of the Year: Cally Kong
7. Relationship Manager of the Year: Emily Rashleigh
8. Diversity and Inclusion: Natasha Salmon
9. Outstanding Leader: Melissa Mackintosh
10. Support Team Member of the Year: Amber Tipene
11. Instagram Profile of the Year: Hope Island
12. Photo of the Year: East Brisbane
13. Advocate of the Year: Shannon Franks
14. Emerging Talent: Michael Hsu, Lily Darwin
15. Centre of the Year: Balmoral