Roxby Downs Early Childhood Project recognised in regional awards

The Roxby Downs Early Childhood Project was recognised with the Lifelong Learning Award at the recent 2024 Regional Showcase and AgTown of the Year awards.

The initiative enabled participants to work in the field of early childhood education and care (ECEC) while studying, and helped to address a local staffing shortage in Roxby Downs, a regional South Australian community. 

The Regional Showcase and AgTown of the Year awards support and champion those who live and work in SA’s agricultural and regional communities, with the ceremony attended by representatives of the state’s rural and regional communities, local and state government departments and media.

In 2024, the Awards ceremony was held at Beresford House at Beresford Estate in McLaren Vale, and included a segment known as the Regional Showcase Awards, run by Solstice Media, which brought together the finalists from the 148 stories published about regional South Australia.

The Regional Showcase Awards include six individual categories culminating in the People’s Choice Award. The stories are written by a combination of Solstice Media reporters and regional freelance journalists.

The Regional Resilience Award, presented by the Department of Primary Industries and Regions (PIRSA), went to OzFish for its work in creating new native fish habitats in the Bundaleer Reservoir.

The volunteers bringing the Christmas spirit to the Riverland community through Santa’s Cave Waikerie were recognised with the Meaningful Connections Award, presented by Seniors Card. The annual exhibition is sponsored by the District Council of Loxton Waikerie with Rotary Club of Waikerie assisting.

Finch Restorations’ hand-built reproduction of a 1938 SS Jaguar for a US-based client saw the Mt Barker company acknowledged with the Business Innovation Award.

The Community Empowerment Award went to the Clare Valley Wine and Wilderness Trail and its volunteers whose significant efforts have enabled the completion of the 100-kilometre walking trail.

The Roxby Downs Early Childhood Project, which enabled participants to work in the field while studying and helped to address a local staffing shortage, was recognised with the Lifelong Learning Award, while Cadell Training Centre’s new dairy, which opened in May and supports prisoner rehabilitation, was a resounding winner for the People’s Choice Award.

“Our Regional Showcase Awards are incredibly important in bringing rural South Australia to our mainly urban readership. If you don’t know what’s happening in the regions of SA, you don’t know what our state is built upon,” InDaily Editorial Director Jim Plouffe shared with his publication. 

An additional highlight of the evening was the announcement that the town of Penola had been named 2024 Agricultural Town of the Year.

Established in 2019, the Agricultural Town of the Year award recognises South Australian towns that are excelling in agricultural practices and the flow-on effect they have on their communities.

The 2024 Agricultural Town of the Year Award is an initiative of the Government of South Australia through the Department of Primary Industries and Regions, in partnership with Solstice Media.

To read the original coverage of this story, as prepared by In Daily, please see here.