Community Wildlife Conservation Award

The Australian Wildlife Society Community Wildlife Conservation Award is awarded to a community group making a significant contribution to wildlife preservation in Australia. 

Australian Wildlife Society will provide an annual award of $5,000 to a community group helping to preserve Australia’s precious wildlife. A trophy and certificate will accompany the award.

The application process will be promoted via the website, social media platforms, monthly newsletters, and the Australian Wildlife magazine.  Applications will be received annually by 31 December.

Winners will be notified by email, and full results published in the Society’s magazine.  Announcement and presentation to the winner will be made at the AGM/Luncheon alongside the Serventy Conservation Award, the Wildlife Rehabilitation Award, and the Youth Conservation Award.

To nominate an organisation for the Community Conservation Award, please fill in the online form or download the PDF nomination form here »

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Community Wildlife Conservation Award - Nomination Form

2023 Community Wildlife Conservation Award

The award recipient for 2023 is The Agile Project.  Over the past four years, The Agaile Project has successfully relocated 880 agile wallabies.  They actively engage with the community through educational talks at local schools and community events and host informative stalls.  They also work closely with and bring together regional stakeholders, such as the community, local Council, and developers, to ensure the conservation of native wildlife  MORE>>

2022 Community Wildlife Conservation Award

The award recipient for 2022 is Snowy Mountains Wildlife Rescue LAOKO Inc.  Snowy Mountains Wildlife Rescue LAOKO Inc, formed in 1988, is the second longest-running wildlife rescue group in New South Wales.  Snowy Mountains Wildlife Rescue is a community organisation run entirely by volunteers caring for orphans, rehabilitating injured wildlife, and providing community education and training programs.  Snowy Mountains Wildlife Rescue rescues injured and orphaned native fauna in the entire Snowy Monaro region.  They have an emergency phone number operated 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, by volunteers MORE>>

2021 Community Wildlife Conservation Award

The award recipient for 2021 is the Wombat Protection Society of Australia of Tomerong, New South Wales. This group has operated for more than twenty years to protect wombats.  Through its regular workshops and seminars, it educates schools, communities, and wildlife groups on the conservation and care of wombats.  It has partnered with several universities to support research into wombats and their conservation.  One of its significant achievements has been developing the burrow flap method to treat wombats with mange.  Wombat Protection Society of Australia provides burrow flaps to interested groups and constantly researches the best ways to treat mange.  Its education programs encourage people to coexist with wombats and not view them as pests MORE>>

2020 Community Wildlife Conservation Award

The award recipient for 2020 is the Queensland Wader Study Group of Clayfield, Queensland.  Queensland Wader Study Group volunteers have been conducting migratory shorebird surveys from Cape York to the New South Wales border.  The award recognises thirty years of voluntary effort and commitment to conservatory shorebirds' conservation through citizen science, public and school-based education, and advocacy at the local, state, and national levels to protect vulnerable migratory shorebirds.  An extraordinary long-term effort by a passionate group across Queensland who have counted shorebirds each month to create one of the most respected longitudinal shorebird databases used by governments and scientists call for greater protection of habitats for shorebirds MORE>> MORE>> MORE>>

2019 Community Wildlife Conservation Award

The award for 2019 was made to Belgian Gardens State School of Belgian Gardens, Queensland. Belgian Gardens State School is an active participant in the conservation of the black-throated finch. The school has an active partnership with the Northern Queensland Dry Tropics and black-throated finch recovery program MORE>>MORE>>

2018 Community Wildlife Conservation Award

The award for 2018 was made to Kanyana Wildlife Refuge, near Perth, Western Australia. This organisation has operated for over 40 years with the aid of a strong band of volunteers. The refuge rehabilitates many animals each year and conducts research into factors affecting local wildlife. It now has added a captive breeding program to its services. Kanyana has a strong school holiday program and works in collaboration with local universities to conduct research into factors affecting local wildlife. In recent years it has focused on research into parasites affecting wildlife and has been responsible for discovering previously unidentified parasites. MORE »  MORE » 

2017 Community Wildlife Conservation Award

The award for 2017 was made to Port Stephens Koala and Wildlife Preservation Society, who have been operating in the Hunter region of NSW for 40 years.  The group has built up a magnificent set of statistics on koala rescues and has been able to demonstrate conclusively the decline in the local population.   This has led to efforts to have the local koala population classified as Endangered by the NSW Scientific Committee.   MORE »

2016 Community Wildlife Conservation Award

The award for 2016 was made to Frog Safe, Inc. of Edmonton, North Queensland. This organisation has operated a frog hospital for 18 years, treating over 3,000 frogs in that time and has developed a deep understanding of frog health. Frog populations around the world are in decline and our awardee is doing its best to help understand and prevent this decline. It has developed an informative website, which is consulted far and wide and has been archived by the Government as part of its PANDORA project. Frog Safe's expertise is such that it is not only consulted by persons in its locality but by persons, including vets, in all parts of Australia and even from overseas. It has succeeded in making the world its community. MORE»

2015 Community Wildlife Conservation Award

The Community Wildlife Conservation Award for 2015 was made to the Friends of the Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby Inc (BTRW). This group is based in the Kangaroo Valley and has been active in trying to prevent the extinction of the local population of the BTRW since 1995. The group has formed a close alliance with the local community, local landholders, local schools and with National Parks and Wildlife. They are a great example of a successful community organisation at working together for wildlife conservation.MORE»

2014 Community Wildlife Conservation Award

The Community Wildlife Conservation Award for 2014 was Wild Mob of Brisbane. Although Wild Mob has a Brisbane base its work ranges from the Barrier Reef to Tasmania. They have focused their attention on saving endangered species. MORE »

2013 Community Wildlife Conservation Award

The Community Wildlife Conservation Award for 2013 was not awarded.

2012 Community Wildlife Conservation Award

The winner of the Community Wildlife Conservation Award for 2012 is the NSW Nature Conservation Working Group (NCWG) based in the Murray catchment area of NSW. MORE »

2011 Community Wildlife Conservation Award

The Community Wildlife Conservation Award for 2011 was not awarded.

2010 Community Wildlife Conservation Award

The winner of the Community Wildlife Conservation Award for 2010 is Wombat Awareness Organisation of South Australia. MORE »

2009 Community Wildlife Conservation Award

The winner of the Community Wildlife Conservation Award for 2009 is Community for Coastal and Cassowary Conservation (C4) of Mission Beach North Queensland. MORE »

2008 Community Wildlife Conservation Award

The winner of the Community Wildlife Conservation Award for 2008 was Australian Ecosystems Foundation Inc. of Lithgow, NSW. MORE »

2007 Community Wildlife Conservation Award

The winner of the Community Wildlife Conservation Award for 2007 was the Natural History Society of South Australia Inc. MORE »

2006 Community Wildlife Conservation Award

The winner of the Community Wildlife Conservation Award for 2006 was Friends of the Koala Inc from Lismore in New South Waollles. MORE »

2005 Community Wildlife Conservation Award

The winner of the Community Wildlife Conservation Award for 2005 was Mareeba Wetland Foundation of Northern Queensland. MORE »

2004 Community Wildlife Conservation Award

The winner of the Community Wildlife Conservation Award for 2004 was Waterfall Springs Conservation Association Incorporated of Kulnurra near Gosford, NSW. MORE »

2003 Community Wildlife Conservation Award

The recipient of the inaugural Community Wildlife Conservation Award – “Bringing Back the Flashjack Project” of Emerald in Central Queensland. MORE »