This award, generously sponsored by the Institute of Water Administration (Victoria) is designed to provide encouragement to young water industry employees by recognising excellent performance, initiative and all round attention to detail.

The IWA as award sponsor sends a letter to all Water Corporations and other employers of operators within Victoria annually, requesting they nominate “operations staff” to be considered for the Award.

To be eligible for consideration the nominees:

• Must be employed in the Victorian water industry and be aged under 30 years
• Must have been employed in the water industry for less than 5 years

Nominations are judged on the basis of submissions from employers covering:

1. Commitment to and demonstrating a strong OHS ethic in all work performed
2. Commitment to undertaking training and then implementation of skills learned into the workplace
3. Commitment to team work and following enterprise SOP’s etc
4. Commitment to meeting Corporation and regulatory requirements in the course of all work
5. Demonstrated use of initiative or suggestions leading to efficiency or safety improvements
6. Any other relevant industry based achievements.

Please provide the following with your nomination:

1. One headshot image of the nominee (jpg or similar format)
2. One image of the nominee at work (jpg or similar format)

The completed applications are judged by an independent panel and the winner of the IWA Prize receives a perpetual trophy for his or her organisation to keep for 12 months, a personal trophy to keep permanently, as well as an all expenses paid trip to an overseas water conference.

The Network Operator Development Program has been established to identify, mentor and develop future leaders in the Network Operations field across the Victorian Water Industry.

The Program Advisory Committee will select one participant each year to be awarded the WIOA Network Operator of the Year. The winner will be announced at the WIOA Conference Awards Dinner.

The winner will receive sponsorship to the value of $3,000 provided by Water Training Australia, which must be used on an appropriate development opportunity for the winner. Participants will be encouraged to, and given the opportunity to, attend the annual WIOA conference and be involved in a technical paper or poster presentation at that conference.

These are presented as an incentive to encourage “grass roots” operational staff to share their knowledge and experience. To be eligible, the author must NOT hold a tertiary (Bachelor level) qualification.

WIOA selects a number of judges at each conference who watch all the presentations made over the two days. They score each of the papers based on:

• The content and layout of the written paper;
• The originality of the ideas portrayed;
• The use of visual aids during the presentation;
• The verbal presentation and whether or not the author sticks to the allotted time; and
• The demeanor of the presenter including how well they answer any questions.

At the completion of the paper sessions, the scores are tallied and the winners determined.

1st Place:  Travel, accommodation and a full delegate registration to attend another WIOA conference in Australia to deliver the paper again (to the value of $1,750)
2nd Place: Complimentary delegate registration (non-transferrable) to a WIOA conference of their choice within the next 12 months (valued at $550)
3rd Place:  Complimentary delegate registration (non-transferrable) to a WIOA conference of their choice within the next 12 months (valued at $550)

This prize is an Open category award with all Platform paper presenters eligible to win. By using the votes from the platform paper judges, the presenter with the highest number of votes will receive the Hepburn Award for the Best Paper Overall at the conference.

The winner will receive travel, accommodation and a full delegate registration to attend another WIOA conference in Australia to deliver the paper again (to the value of $1,750).

It was recognised some time ago that not all “operations” staff feel comfortable with the idea of standing up in front of their peers and delivering a platform presentation. Others have an idea or a project they have completed which does not provide sufficient information to allow for a written paper and a 20 minute presentation. For these reasons, a Poster Paper section was introduced into the program for the various WIOA conferences.

The Posters use the same qualifying rules as the Papers (non-Bachelor qualified). Each poster author is required to do a short (5 minute) description of their poster in a more relaxed atmosphere on Thursday afternoon. They must also answer any questions about the poster.

Bachelor qualified water professionals are also invited to enter a poster for information sharing however, they will not be eligible to win the prizes.

At the completion of the poster judging session, the winners are determined and the winners of the Best Poster Papers will be awarded an all expenses paid opportunity to attend an Interstate WIOA conference (to the value of $1,750)