Since 2010, the Ballarat Heritage Awards have been recognising and promoting the local property owners, tradespeople, volunteers, heritage and design practitioners, community groups and individuals who work hard to sustain Ballarat’s heritage and help it to thrive.

This year, in celebration of their 10th anniversary, the Awards have been invigorated with a brand new category and ceremony format to coincide with Ballarat Heritage Weekend.

The 2019 Awards include the newly created Mayoral Award for Emerging Heritage and Design Practitioners. This category will be open to emerging professionals and post-secondary students from the cultural and creative industries.

To aid in the promotion of projects to a wider audience, two award categories – Conservation of a Heritage Place or Object and New Designs in a Heritage Context - have been aligned with UNESCO’s Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation. Winners of these two categories will be encouraged to nominate for these prestigious UNESCO Awards. Previous Australian winners of these Awards include 5 Martin Place, Sydney (Award of Merit, 2018), Hart’s Mill, Port Adelaide (New Design in Heritage Contexts Award, 2018) and Port Arthur Penitentiary, Tasmania (New Design in Heritage Contexts, 2015).

The popular National Trust People’s Choice Award, now in its third year, will again enable community members to vote for their favourite project from among the nominees across all categories.

The 2019 Ballarat Heritage and Design Excellence Award winners will be announced at a ceremony on Friday 24 May, which will also be the formal opening for Ballarat Heritage Weekend. The program will include exclusive previews of what’s on offer.

Nominations for the Ballarat Heritage and Design Excellence Awards close at 5pm on Monday 8 April, 2019.