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Nominations are accepted via the online nomination forms and can be submitted by:

• Volunteer-involving organisations.
• Individuals who are currently volunteering.
• Volunteers who are under 18 years of age who have parental or legal guardian consent (refer to point 11).
  If you require assistance completing this form, please telephone the Department of Communities on 1800 176 888 or email: wavolunteerserviceawards@communities.wa.gov.au

To comply with Privacy, consent must be obtained for each nominee.

Unfortunately, individuals cannot be nominated as a surprise without their consent.

For organisations wanting to recognise 20 or more volunteers, a spreadsheet for individual details is provided to be uploaded with your nomination. Please complete this spreadsheet and upload to your online organisation nomination form as prompted.

If the nomination form has been submitted incorrectly, please contact wavolunteerserviceawards@communities.wa.gov.au prior to the nomination closing date for corrections to be made.

Once the online nomination form has been submitted, the nominator will receive an acknowledgment email. If you do not receive an automated confirmation email, please notify wavolunteerserviceawards@communities.wa.gov.au

The 2025 WA Volunteer Service Award categories and recognition include:

Please note, the WA Volunteer Service Awards are about recognising and celebrating volunteers and their contributions to community. There are no overall “winners”.

• Years of service are calculated by adding the total calendar years of volunteer contribution.
• Years of voluntary service completed simultaneously or overlapping cannot be counted towards the total length of service.
• Years of service do not need to be consecutive.

In 2024, the award categories were expanded to recognise more volunteers in Western Australia.

If the volunteer received a WA Volunteer Service Award in 2024, they cannot be nominated again in the same category.

If the volunteer received a WA Volunteer Service Award prior to this change (2023 or earlier), the following guidelines apply:

• Yes, years of service can be calculated by adding total calendar years of volunteer contribution, across all organisations, so long as they do not overlap.
• Please note the nomination form asks for a record of voluntary contribution across organisations. This includes organisation name and dates.

Yes. However, nominees must currently reside in Western Australia and meet the volunteering definition (as described above) to ensure their submission is valid.

Yes. The WA Volunteer Service Awards recognises the contribution of young people volunteering and acknowledges that many young people volunteer through school, sports and other clubs before they reach 18 years of age.

No, unfortunately the WA Volunteer Service Awards are not posthumous.

Nominations are assessed against the eligibility criteria and years of voluntary contribution reviewed.

Nominations are also checked against previous WA Volunteer Service Awards received (refer to FAQ 8).

If required, nominees will be contacted directly to verify details on the application.

All eligible nominees receive their WA Volunteer Service Award throughout National Volunteer Week, 19 – 25 May 2025.

Nominees in the five to 49 years of service categories receive their certificate from their nominating organisation (i.e. through an organisation-arranged event).

Volunteers who self-nominate in the five to 49 year categories will receive their certificate directly by post.

Each year the 50+year and Lifetime category award recipients are presented their certificate and commemorative pin at a ceremony held during National Volunteer Week.

No. Nominating organisations and self-nominees are reminded when completing the online form to ensure the volunteers names and details are correct. Please take care to provide the correct information at the time of submission. 

Under exceptional circumstances, a replacement certificate may be arranged. For example, if the certificate was damaged in the post. In this case a replacement certificate will be emailed to the organisation or recipient to print.

The Department of Communities will include information on the WA Volunteer Service Awards and nominees in media announcements and promotional materials.

It is important that consent is explained to the nominee when completing their nomination form. Nominees who do not provide consent will not have their image / information promoted by the Department of Communities.

Volunteers under 18 years of age are encouraged to participate in the WA Volunteer Service Awards if they meet eligibility and category requirements.

The nominee’s parent or legal guardian must provide consent to:

• Submit the nomination (by organisation or individual self-nomination) and,
• for media and promotion of their award.

Please email the Volunteering team at WAVolunteerServiceAwards@communities.wa.gov.au if you have any enquires directly relating to the Awards program that were not answered here.