Women living in rural, regional and remote (RRR) Queensland are courageous, generous, powerful and inspiring. They are achievers who get things done and play a key role in their communities. To honour these women, QRRRWN’s ninth annual awards, the Women In RRR Awards 2021 will shine a light on RRR women and connect, develop and inspire them to make their mark through a development program and renewed alumni community. Using their skills, talents and ingenuity, they are building their businesses, working in their communities and leading the way for the next generation of women.

The awards are the benchmark for celebrating outstanding women who live, work, achieve, volunteer and/or are in service of Queensland’s RRR areas. These are ‘grass roots’ awards that aim at identifying those who underpin our communities, the quiet achievers and those that deserved to be acknowledged.

Across six categories the awards hone in on women who are leading the way, lifting others up, creating products and services, and building tight-knit communities.  We want to honour women who are visionary, innovative, entrepreneurial and role models for other women to aspire to. There are two categories that focus on remote and rural women that acknowledge the unique role that women play as ‘community builders’ and the ingenuity involved in overcoming the challenges posed by distance to services and support and isolation in some of the most remote parts of Queensland. We are delighted to be including the new category of Remote Women of the Year in 2021. The other new category ‘Rural and Remote Women – Community Builder Award’ is also open to women led groups engaging in community building initiatives. 

Women in metropolitan areas are an incredible source of support and inspiration for RRR women. We therefore have a specific category that is also open to women from metropolitan areas ‘RRR Women Champion’s Award’. 

From this amazing assortment of women one will be chosen to be the 2021 Queensland RRR Woman of the Year.

In 2021, we anticipated celebrating these women at the gala dinner, as part of our Annual Conference which was to be held in Dalby 22- 24 October 2021.  Unfortunately due to the current climate we will be postponing our conference until next year.

We are still working out how best to host our Women in RRR Awards this year and will post more information here once the details are set in motion.  We have postponed the closing of the applications until the end of September so if you haven’t applied or nominated someone there is still time.  

Why enter the Women in RRR Awards

The Women in RRR Awards are open women who are active in their profession/career/business/creative/community work in the rural, regional and/or remote area. RRR is defined according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics Remoteness Index. Please see this LINK for information. All entrants must:

• be permanently residing in RRR Queensland at the time of applying;
• The application must be relevant to RRR; and 
• be an individual financial member of QRRRWN at the time they lodge their award entry. 

Women residing in metropolitan areas as defined by the ABS Remoteness Index (links) are eligible for RRR Champion of the Year. 

Highlight your achievements

The Women in RRR Awards is a peer-reviewed recognition of your work within business, volunteering or your community. The judges are people who understand the challenges and joys of living in regional, rural and remote communities. The awards can help you gain credibility for your work and leverage your profile as a leader in your industry or community to further your positive impact. The Chair of the Judges is appointed by the QRRRWN Board, who in turn selects the Judges. The judging process is independent of the QRRRWN Board and independent of the awards working group. In 2021 QRRRWN has retained an expert awards facilitator to review and run the awards process. 

Shine the light on your success

The 2021 awards program is a great platform to acknowledge your work, the work of an organisation or a community in regional, rural and remote communities and a chance for others to nominate the women who are achieving great things.

RRR Young Woman of the Year

RRR Creative Woman of the Year

Remote Woman of the Year

Rural & Remote Women – Community Builder Award

RRR Women Emerging Enterprise Award

RRR Women Champion’s Award (open to metro)

RRR Young Woman of the Year

This award recognises young role models making an impact in their community, inspiring youth to think outside the box, follow their dreams and take action to put these dreams into motion. The Young Women of the Year is an entrepreneur, trailblazer, inventor or performer aged between 16 to 25 yo. [Membership is free for this category.] 

RRR Creative Woman of the Year

This award recognises the creatives – the authors, artists, designers and innovators.  She contributes by sharing her skills and talents, setting an example and using her creativity to augment the local community, culture, environment and people.

Remote Woman of the Year

This award recognises a woman from a remote part of Queensland as defined by the eligibility criteria. She will have demonstrated ingenuity in addressing the challenges of distance and isolation and be a role model for others in her community. She will be committed to supporting her community and also seek to drive change that addresses the challenges of living in remote parts of this beautiful State to ensure everyone in remote areas reaches their potential. 

Rural & Remote Women – Community Builder Award 

This award recognises a woman or a woman led community group who/that cannot help but give back. She or the woman led community group contributes to her community through current and past NFP work, voluntary work and community endeavors. They are actively involved, and go above and beyond to serve others. The area relevant to this award is rural and remote, as defined by the guidelines and focuses on community initiatives that are necessary and unique to rural and remote areas due to distance to services and isolation. 

RRR Women Emerging Enterprise Award

This award recognises an emerging woman who is in an enterprise, business/organisation or engaged in professional services and has the qualities of vision, innovation, entrepreneurial drive, leadership, individuality, tenacity and demonstrates her commitment to gender diversity and community building. She is in a small to medium business and demonstrates growth in her product or service business – and is emerging in her field and chosen areas of focus. She must be a founder of her business or a significant stakeholder in the business. She can be an entrepreneur or an employee working in a leadership role or at management level in the private or public sector and can demonstrate success.

RRR Women’s Champion  of the Year

This award recognises a woman who demonstrates exemplary leadership and has made significant contributions that support RRR women and the challenges they face due to distance and isolation.  She empowers and supports other women by building honest relationships, valuing input and leads by example. She is changing the landscape for RRR women through her activity within a community or government organisation, making a significant contribution to policy, programs or services that have promoted, supported or improved services for RRR women in a high priority area. This award is also open to women in metropolitan areas as defined by the guidelines. This award focuses on philanthropic work and volunteering. 

From the combined nominations the judges will then have the difficult task of finding one who we can call

2021 RRR Woman of the Year

This award recognises a woman who gives her all to her RRR community. From her contributions in enterprise or business to volunteering her time to the community. The RRR Woman of the Year must: 

• Exhibit leadership skills in their field of expertise. 
• Serves as a role model and/or mentor to other women and girls.
• Advocates for positive changes in RRR community to address the unique challenges that people living in RRR face where women are, in many cases, disproportionately affected. 
• Garners respect within the RRR community.
• Dedicated to helping women and girls achieve their goals and overcome the challenges of living in RRR. 
• Exhibited qualities of teamwork, integrity, and dedication.
• Gave back to the community, i.e. time, talent, and/or resources.

About the QRRRWN Women in RRR Awards

Before applying please read through the information booklet below.

How can I nominate someone?

We know that it is difficult to have the courage to nominate yourself for such an award, regardless of how deserving you are of the recognition and accolades.  We therefore rely on our members and friends and family of members to nominate women who they believe represents the values that we are seeking to honour.

If you would like to nominate someone other than yourself we would love to hear from you.  Please fill in the form below letting us know who you would like to nominate, and their contact details so that we can get in touch with them when we go live.

All finalists will be invited to attend the Leadership Masterclass held on Friday, 22 October 2021. 

All finalists receive access to the RRR Awards Alumni, including networking opportunities and support.

All winners receive a trophy and $2,000 worth of training from the Australian Institute of Management, as well as the ability to use award winner logos on their websites and collateral and promote their business or services as award winners.

All finalists will receive a monetary contribution from QRRRWN to cover part of their travel, accommodation, conference registration and Gala Dinner for the Conference in Dalby on 22-24 October 2021. 

Our Alumnae

To see the faces of  our Strong Women Leadership Awards winners for previous years please visit https://www.qrrrwn.org.au/award-alumni