NSW Environmental Education Awards
celebrating the achievements of environmental educators and amplifying their stories
Awards CLOSED
Click on 2024 below to see our recent list of award winners!
2024 NSW Environmental Education Awards
The Awards are presented to individuals, programs and businesses who have made an exemplary contribution to the field of environmental education. In 2024, the Awards comprise of six awards across three categories:
- Excellence in Environmental Education Awards
- Program Excellence Award
- Business Excellence Award
This year the awards presentations were celebrated in person at the Coal Loader Centre for Sustainability in North Sydney on Friday November 22nd.
We are very grateful to our esteemed volunteer judge teams, our ambassador Costa Georgiadis, our MC Julz Strykowski, with special guest Jo Toranto and our event volunteers.
Award Sponsors
The 2024 awards are presented with the generous support of:
Program award sponsor: Return and Earn
Event sponsors:
- The Coal Loader Centre for Sustainability
- Good for the Hood
- Tamburlaine Organic Wines
- Mulbury Sustainable Picture Frames
2024 Award Recipients
Recent award recipients
NSW Environmental Educator of the Year
Highly Commended – Beth Riolo, Catholic Education Diocese of Wollongong
Winner – Abbie Mitchell, Jane Goodall Institute Australia
NSW Emerging Leader in Environmental Education Award
Highly Commended- Amy Naicker, Sydney Zoo
Winner – Yasmin Andrews, Reverse Garbage
Return and Earn Program Leader Award
Highly Commended – Loretta Rapa, Catholic Schools Broken Bay
Winner – David Bateman, Dapto High School
Sustainable Schools NSW School of the Year
Highly Commended – Ascham School
Highly Commended – Fisher Road School
Winner – Mumbulla School for Rudolf Steiner Education
Sustainable Schools NSW Teacher of the Year Award
Winner – Shane Roberts, Belltrees Public School
Highly Commended – Rebecca Daniell, Cudgegong Valley Public School
Sustainability Connect Business of the Year Award
Highly Commended – Jane Goodall Institute Australia
Winner – Sydney Zoo
Return and Earn Program Leader
Highly Commended – Scott Thompson
Winner – Christian Maait & Meg Thomas
Sustainable Schools NSW Teacher of the Year
Highly Commended – Aaron Parker
Winner – Daniel Levitt
Sustainable Schools NSW School of the Year
Highly Commended – Quirindi Public School
Winner – Redlands
Sustainability Connect Business of the Year
Winner – Mememe Productions / DirtGirlWorld
Winner – Kids Connecting Nature
NSW Emerging Leader in Environmental Education
Highly Commended – Sally Giblin
Highly Commended – Jess Menendez
Winner – Sally Eriksen
NSW Environmental Educator of the Year
Highly Commended – Graham Valentine
Highly Commended – Peter Rutherford
Winner – Julia Barnes
Award Winners and Highly Commended Nominees
Sarah Jantos, Green Hereos, Overall Winner – NSW Environmental Educator of the Year Award
Sarah Jantos, Green Heroes. Winner – Community Educator of the Year Award
Darren Martin, Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney. Highly Commended – Community Educator of the Year Award
Christian Eckardt, Greater Sydney Parklands. Winner – Government Educator of the Year Award
Margaret Gleeson, Keiraville Community Preschool. Winner – Early Learning Educator of the Year Award
Ann-Kathrin Kiehn, St Columba Anglican School. Winner – Sustainable Schools NSW Teacher of the Year Award
Shannon Kelly, The Nature School. Highly Commended – Sustainable Schools NSW Teacher of the Year Award
Belltrees Public School. Winner – Sustainable Schools NSW School of the Year Award
Rose Everingham, Regentville Public School. Winner – Return and Earn Program Leader Award
Rebecca Hoad, St Ignatius College, Riverview. Highly Commended – Return and Earn Program Leader Award
Greening the Green. Winner – Sustainability Connect Business of the Year Award
ReCollect. Highly Commended – Sustainability Connect Business of the Year Award
To celebrate the 2021 Award winners, we held an online event on 18th November 2021. Our wonderful patron Costa Georgiadis, joined us to celebrate the nominees and award winners. You can watch the recording of the awards night here and find out more about our award winners below.
We celebrated the overall NSW Environmental Educator of the Year Award at the 35th Environmental Education Conference held in Ourimbah in April 2022. We were very pleased that several of our 2021 award winners were there to celebrate again in person.
Award Winners & Highly Commended Nominees
Lisa Siegel. Winner – NSW Environmental Educator of the Year Award
OzHarvest FEAST Program NSW. Winner – Sustainability Connect Business of the Year Award
Seed Harvest Spoon. Highly Commended – Sustainability Connect Business of the Year Award
Jayne Alba, Oxley Park Public School. Winner – Sustainable Schools NSW Teacher of the Year Award
Nicole Hext, Bringelly Public School. Highly Commended – Sustainable Schools NSW Teacher of the Year Award
Aldavilla Public School. Winner – Sustainable Schools NSW School of the Year Award
Caddies Creek Public School. Highly Commended – Sustainable Schools NSW School of the Year Award
Sami Bayly, Illustrator and author. Highly Commended – Community Educator of the Year Award
Lisa Siegel, Centre for Ecological Learning. Winner – Community Educator of the Year Award
Jane Smith, Central Coast Environmental Educators Network. Winner – Community Educator of the Year Award
Liana Kay, Sydney Olympic Park Authority. Winner – Government Educator of the Year Award
Jordan Moy, North Sydney Council. Highly Commended – Government Educator of the Year Award
Lisa Siegel, Southern Cross University. Winner – Tertiary Educator of the Year Award
Simone Blom, Southern Cross University. Highly Commended – Tertiary Educator of the Year Award
Congratulations to our 2020 Award Winners!
A celebratory online event was held on 5 November to announce the winners of the 2020 NSW Environmental Education Awards. AAEE NSW Patron, Costa Georgiadis and The Hon. Matt Kean MP, Minister for Energy and Environment lent their support to the event.
Professor Lesley Hughes, Macquarie University. Winner – Tertiary Educator of the Year Award and Overall 2020 NSW Environmental Educator of the Year Award
Ashleigh Spillane, Bradman Road Early Education Centre. Winner – Early Childhood Educator of the Year Award
Guido Verbist, The Bower Reuse and Repair Centre. Winner – Community Educator of the Year Award
Julia Strykowski, NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service. Winner – Government Educator of the Year Award
Christopher Yates, Ryde Secondary College. Winner – Sustainable Schools NSW Teacher of the Year Award
Julie Rogers, Lucas Heights Community School. Winner – Return and Earn Program Leader Award
Dapto High School. Winner – Sustainable Schools NSW School of the Year Award
Seaforth Public School, Garden Frog Pond Project. Winner – Take Me Outside NSW Excellence Award
Award Winners
Congratulations to our 2019 NSW Environmental Educator of the Year Award winners!
- Jenny Hill, Blue Mountains City Council, was the winner of the Government education category and overall winner for 2019!
- David Giblin, Chifley College Bidwill Campus, was the winner of the Formal education category; and
- Lisa Wriley, Kariong Eco Garden, was the winner of the Community education category.
2023- Julia Barnes
2022 – Sarah Jantos
2021 – Lisa Siegel
2020 – Professor Lesley Hughes
2019 – Jenny Hill
2018 – Nikki Dixon
2017 – Nick Carson
2016 Owen Dunlop
2015 Judy Christie
2014 Jem Hansen
2013 Susan Mayo
2012 Phil Smith
2011 Nell Graham
2010 Rosemary Hadaway
2009 Grahame Collier
2008 Syd Smith
2007 Helen Tyas Tunggal
2006 Helen Scott
2004 Bill Dixon
2002 Stuart DeLandre
2001-2 Cameron Archer and Colin Mondy
2000 No Award (due to dissolution of the AAEE State Executive)
1999 Christine Prietto
1998 Sue and Col Lennox
1997 Alan Fox
1996 David Goldney
1994 Joan Webb
1993 Max Maddock
1992 Beryl Strom
1991 Ken Schaefer
1990 Carolyn Pettigrew
1989 Geoff Young
1988 Neil Dufty
1987 Kevin McDonald
1986 Peter Metcalfe
1985 Di Collins
1984 Jack Sinclair
1983 Brian Gilligan
1982 David Tribe
1981 Allen Strom
2024 Awards and Criteria
1. Excellence in Environmental Education Awards:
– NSW Environmental Educator of the Year Award
Nominations for individuals with more than 5 years experience across early learning, professionals, volunteers, community, government, tertiary, non-profit sector
– NSW Emerging Leader in Environmental Education
Nominations for individuals with 5 or less years experience across early learning, professionals, volunteers, community, government, tertiary, non-profit sector
– Sustainable Schools NSW Teacher of the Year Award
Nominations for individual educators who have excelled in embedding sustainability in a NSW primary or high school in line with the values of Sustainable Schools NSW.
2. Program Excellence Award:
– Sustainable Schools NSW School of the Year Award
Nominations for a school that has shown excellence in embedding sustainability within their school and in the broader community in line with the values of Sustainable Schools NSW. Note: the Sustainable Schools NSW program has been focused on Primary and High Schools and therefore only these may apply. We hope to support an early learning program award in the future.
– Return and Earn Program Leader Award
Nominations for a teacher, student or parent who has excelled in embedding the Return and Earn program into their school.
3. Business Excellence Award:
– Sustainability Connect Business of the Year Award
Nominations for organisations or businesses that have excelled in delivery of their environmental education products and services. Businesses must be listed on the Sustainability Connect directory sustainabilityconnect.org.au to be eligible. Note: this year’s award is for the business sector, therefore government-funded programs are not eligible.
- To nominate for any of the above awards, please follow the prompts in the form below. A nominee may only be nominated in ONE category.
- Please submit a new form for each award submission you would like to submit.
- All schools, organisations or individuals nominated must be located in New South Wales or undertake the majority of their activities in New South Wales.
- Nominees do not currently have to be an AAEE member, however it is strongly encouraged. You can become a member or check your status here.
- All nominations must be received by midnight Sunday 20th October 2024
- We suggest you prepare your answers in a word document first, then copy and paste them into our Survey Monkey form (button below) when you are ready to submit, as you cannot save and return to this form.
You can view a PDF summary of the nomination questions for all awards here.