Community broadcasters have once again featured strongly in the Governor General’s Australia Day Honours List, in addition to various other local community awards announced as part of Australia Day celebrations.
 
Receiving an Award acknowledges the hard work and dedication of community radio staff, and the important role that community radio plays in connecting communities.
 
Dr Shane Huntington  was awarded the Member (AM) in the General Division of the Order of Australia for service to science as a communicator. Dr Shane has presented the Einstein A Go-Go, show in Melbourne’s Triple R since 1993.
 
Umesh Chandra was awarded the Member (AM) in the General Division of the Order of Australia service to the multicultural community of Queensland. Umesh is the Vice President of Radio 4EB, Brisbane’s only multilingual radio station, sharing the world with their community in over 50 different languages.
 
William ‘Bill’ Biscoe was awarded the Member (AM) in the General Division of the Order of Australia for service to the community of the Barossa region of South Australia.  Among his many achievements, Bill was a founding member and served as arts contributor of BBBFM.
 
Roger McCauley was awarded the Member (AM) in the General Division of the Order of Australia for service to the Uniting Church in Australia, and to the community. Mr McCauley is the presenter of Country Gospel on 89.3 Gulf FM Kadina, South Australia, the Yorke Peninsula’s own community radio station.
 
Leslie Meiklejohn was awarded the Member (AM) in the General Division of the Order of Australia for service to local government, and to the community of Warwick, QLD. Leslie has presented ‘Late Night Country’ on Rose City FM (formerly Rainbow FM) since 1993.
 
John Pickup was awarded the Member (AM) in the General Division of the Order of Australia for service to the community as a regional radio broadcaster. John Pickup was the first Station Manager of 4CRM, Mackay QLD, serving their community since 1993.
 
Eric Scott was awarded the Member (AM) in the General Division of the Order of Australia for service to the performing arts in Queensland. Mr Scott was a regular contributor of theatre reviews for the ‘Spectrum Arts Program’ on Radio 4EB.
 
Joel Becker was awarded the Member (AM) in the General Division of the Order of Australia for service to literary organisations. Joel served as President of Cairns FM89.1 in 1991-1992.
 
Catherine Cox was awarded the Member (AM) in the General Division of the Order of Australia for significant service to the performing arts through choral music, including providing live performance content to 4MBS, Brisbane’s home of classical music.
 
John Simpson was awarded the Member (AM) in the General Division of the Order of Australia significant service to people who are blind or have low vision. John was between 1994-1999 the Executive Officer for Radio for the Print Handicapped Australia, the national peak body for the Radio Reading Network, community radio services dedicated to informing and empowering the estimated five million Australians with a print disability.
 
Janette Miller was awarded the Member (AM) in the General Division of the Order of Australia for service to people who are blind or have low vision. Jan has been an incredibly valued member of 7RPH Print Radio Tasmania for many years, starting as a presenter and board member in 1978, serving Station Manager from 1986-1998 and now as the Vice President. Jan was made a Life Member of the station in 2018.
 
Braidwood FM station manager Gordon Waters has been named ​Braidwood’s Citizen of the Year. Mr Waters has been involved with the radio station for nine years and said it had become more important in the past few months with the need to provide real-time updates on the bushfires crisis. Braidwood FM also marked its 17th anniversary on January 26 this year.
 
Community television advocate Tibor Meszaros has been named Senior Citizen of the Year in recognition of his 20+ years of volunteer work with Perth station WTV. Mr Meszaros has ensured Perth residents have access to a community news service providing relevant current affairs and arts content, while also dedicating hours of his own time to training young journalists and media professionals.