The following awards are presented annually at the VIC conference. WIOA welcomes all members to nominate themselves for the awards below.
This is one of the most prestigious awards on offer at the Victorian conference with the award presented continuously since 1980. The award is presented to operators of water or wastewater treatment facilities to recognise excellent performance, initiative and all-around attention to detail.
Criteria
Nominations are sought annually from Water Authorities and water companies throughout Victoria for operators who meet the following criteria:
- Nominees should be working in Victoria and should have direct responsibility for operational decisions at community water, sewer or recycled water systems/networks and/or water, wastewater or recycled water treatment plants or industrial water or wastewater plants.
- Nominees should have demonstrated a continued high level of performance, initiative and all-around attention to detail in the execution of their duties.
Submitting your nomination
Nominations should be submitted electronically in Word or PDF format. They must include the following information:
- An executive summary outlining the main reason for the nomination (maximum 500 words)
- Detailed information introducing the nominee and addressing the criteria (maximum 4 A4 pages)
- Two Photos (jpg or similar format) – one headshot of the nominee, and one image of the nominee working
- Biography (minimum 180 words, maximum 300 words)
The completed applications are judged by an independent panel and the winner of the Victorian Operator of the Year Award is announced at the WIOA Conference Awards Dinner annually.
The winner receives:
- a personal trophy to keep
- All expenses paid opportunity to attend WIOA’s annual Tour of New Zealand and the WIOG Conference.
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.
Eligibility
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
Assessment Criteria
Nominations are judged on the basis of submissions from employers covering:
- Commitment to and demonstrating a strong OHS ethic in all work performed
- Commitment to undertaking training and then implementation of skills learned into the workplace
- Commitment to team work and following enterprise SOP’s etc
- Commitment to meeting Corporation and regulatory requirements in the course of all work
- Demonstrated use of initiative or suggestions leading to efficiency or safety improvements
- Any other relevant industry based achievements.
Please provide the following with your nomination:
- One headshot image of the nominee (jpg or similar format)
- 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 join the WIOA Delegation on the New Zealand Tour.
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.
Prizes
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 $750)
- 3rd Place: Complimentary delegate registration (non-transferrable) to a WIOA conference of their choice within the next 12 months (valued at $750)
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).
Best Poster by an Operator
Sponsored by IWES – The University of Queensland
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)
Bachelor qualified water professionals are also invited to enter a poster for information sharing however, they will not be eligible to win the prizes.
To be eligible to win the award for Best Poster by an Operator, all authors must be WIOA members, with the Primary Author employed in any sector of the water industry and identify themselves as working in an operational role.
At the completion of the poster judging session, the winners are determined and the winners of the Best Poster Papers will be awarded:
1st Place: All expenses paid opportunity to attend an Interstate WIOA conference (to the value of $1,750)
The Ixom Victorian Water Taste Test is a fun and exciting way to raise awareness of the quality of Victoria’s drinking water and to recognise the efforts of local water service providers in delivering valuable water services to their communities.
The event will be conducted at the WIOA Victorian Conference and Exhibition to be held in Bendigo with entries needing to be at the Bendigo Exhibition Centre by 4pm on Tuesday. The winner will go on to represent Victoria in the National Championships.
For entrants
- All water providers/councils in the relevant state are invited to participate in the Ixom Best Tasting Tap Water competition.
- All entries must have incurred no serious state or federal drinking water violations during the past 12 months. A serious water quality incident includes protracted periods of poor water quality or boiled water alerts, an event leading to immediate potential public health risks or other break-down of risk-management protocols.
- Entrants must have at least one person attending the Water Taste Tests. This person may be required to provide further information about the sample
and accept certificates or trophies on behalf of the water providers/council if successful.It is hoped that a spokesperson can speak on behalf of the winning sample.
Eligibility
- All water businesses in Victoria are invited to participate in the Ixom Best Tasting Tap Water in Victoria.
- Each water business is asked to nominate one preferred sample for inclusion in the competition.
- Where businesses operate multiple water supply systems, the decision regarding which water sample to enter is left up to each water business.
- All entries must have incurred no serious state or federal drinking water violations during the past year*.
Requirements
- Samples must be submitted by 4.00pm on Tuesday in a clearly marked container with the name of the water business it represents and the location/town from where the sample is derived.
- We require 3 litres of the sample water which must be provided in a sealed container.
- Samples need to be delivered to the conference venue at room temperature. Cooled samples will not be admitted.
- Samples will be served at room temperature, to help the judges better taste, appreciate and rank each sample.
Competition Judging
Heats
- Heats will be conducted at the WIOA Welcome Reception held in the afternoon (from 4.45pm-6.00pm) of Tuesday at the Bendigo Exhibition Centre.
- The competition will be divided into heats, with entries placed in each heat randomly drawn by WIOA staff.
- Each heat will have a heat coordinator.
- Heat judging will be undertaken by guests at the welcome reception who shall taste all samples and select their most favoured water sample by giving it one vote.
- The sample with the most votes will be judged the heat winner and the winner will proceed to the Grand Final to be held on the main stage during the conference lunch break on Wednesday afternoon.
- In the case of a tie in the heats, the winner will be chosen by the heat coordinator from those that are tied.
- The four Grand Finalists will be announced on Tuesday evening and we would appreciate a representative from each business being available for the main judging on Wednesday and at the winner’s presentation at the Awards Dinner on Thursday evening.
Grand Final
- As with the heats, the origin of each sample will not be revealed. The samples will be judged by a panel nominated by WIOA comprising technical water experts and water industry connoisseurs.
- Samples will be judged on a point scale from good to best.
- Scores will be aggregated and the winner will be the sample with the highest combined score. The winning water business and water supply location will be announced at the lunch on Wednesday and the presentation made at the WIOA Conference Awards Dinner on Thursday night.
- Only the identity of the four grand finalists and the supplier of the winning sample will be announced – Grand Final or Heat samples will not be ranked, nor will any of the scores be released.
- The decision of the judges is final.
*A “serious” water quality incident includes protracted periods of poor water quality or boiled water alerts, an event leading to immediate potential public health risks or other break-down of risk-management protocols.
For more information, please contact the WIOA Office on 03 5821 6744, or email [email protected]
For more information, please contact WIOA on 03 5821 6744, or email [email protected]