Recognition Matters

Background

Australian Honours (the honours) were established in 1975 to recognise the highest levels of service and achievement in Australia. The honours recognise the contribution of people in our communities.

The honours system includes:

• The Order of Australia (comprising of Companion (AC), Officer (AO), Member (AM) and Medal (OAM))
• Meritorious awards
• Military awards
• Bravery decorations.

Anyone in Australia can nominate someone – even someone they don’t know personally – for an award in the Order of Australia. You don't need to be famous or have a high profile. The focus is on the contribution that person has made to the community.

Women are less likely to be nominated and awarded, despite making outstanding contributions. Since the introduction of Australian Honours more than 40 years ago, two-thirds of nominations have been for men.

Recognition Matters is a Victorian initiative and since 2019 we have worked to see an increase in the number of women recognised with Australian Honours.

What we are doing

As a state, we are committed to raising the profile of women doing outstanding things. By highlighting the contributions of women through the Australian Honours system, we can ensure those achievements are on the public record and that they are visible to others. You can't be what you can't see.

What you can do

Nominate a woman(opens in a new window) you know or admire for an Australian Honour. Nominations never close.

What are the must-haves to nominate a woman? The woman must be living at the time of nomination, an Australian citizen or permanent resident and must have made an outstanding contribution to Australia.

Any individual, community organisation, business, or professional body can nominate someone for an honour. Individual nominations hold the same weight as those submitted by community organisations, businesses or professional bodies.

Tips to complete your nomination

• Keep your language simple – consider using bullet points to help structure your content.
• Focus on providing details (dates, times) and examples of your nominee’s achievements (previous awards or honours your nominee may have received).
• Include the name and contract details of referees who can speak to your nominee’s achievements and contributions. Referees do not need to provide any material at the time of the nomination.

We ask that you do not tell the person you are nominating that you are doing so. Nominations should remain confidential.

We have put the contents of the online form into a Word document(opens in a new window). You can use this document to prepare all your responses before you decide to submit the nomination. If you do choose to use the online form, you can save your progress and return to it if need be. You do only have 14 days to complete the online form once you have started this process. Check out our How to nominate page(opens in a new window) for more details.

Nominations are assessed by the Council of the Order of Australia(opens in a new window). The Council is an independent group comprising 19 people, including representatives of each Australian state and territory, public office holders and community representatives who are appointed by the Governor General on the recommendation of the Prime Minister.