The Youth Affairs Council of Western Australia WA Youth Awards

The Youth Affairs Council of Western Australia (YACWA) is the peak non-government youth organisation in WA. YACWA is primarily a human rights organisation that aims to address the exclusion of young people in a rapidly changing world, striving to amplify the voice of the non-government youth service sector to better serve the young people of Western Australia.

One of the ways we see the role of young people acknowledged is the annual YACWA WA Youth Awards.
When current ABC journalist Courtney Withers, was an assistant producer for RTRFM, she received The Charmaine Dragun Memorial Award in 2021.

On The Record’s Madeleine Caffieri is joined by CEO of YACWA, Sandy McKiernan.

“In a changing world, we need to ensure that our government and decision makers, really reflect the voices of this generations young people. This generations’ young people are much different to the last and have had to experience the cost of living crisis and the new digital challenge, with affordability of homes.”

Rising rents is a major issue in the cost of living crisis. The Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) solution provided is to push up interest rates, which pushes up mortgage rates, which causes landlords to have reason to increase the rental price of their property. YACWA strives to address how young people are unable to afford these changes, as they are preparing to enter the post school world and workforce.

The YACWA WA Youth Awards recognise and celebrate young people aged 10-25 for their achievements and contributions to the community in WA and nominations close at the end of this month, June 28th.

Young people can self nominate, their families can nominate, their community can nominate and their workplace can nominate. Each award has some eligibility criteria, which can be found on our awards page. Anyone who is under 25, who wins their category, receives the opportunity to be nominated and possibly win the WA Young Person of the Year.

More information on the YACWA WA Youth Awards can be found here and for more information on YACWA and their policies and advocacies, their website can be viewed here.