November 28th, 2025Inaugural Mary Rogers Awards ceremony
The state government is celebrating the remarkable achievements of women in local government today at the inaugural Mary Rogers Awards ceremony, shining a spotlight on their contributions to the sector in Victoria.
Minister for Local Government Nick Staikos joined award nominees in Queens Hall at Parliament House to celebrate women in leadership, advance gender equality in local government and congratulate recipients of the Mary Rogers Awards, are named after Victoria’s first woman councillor, Mary Rogers.
Kylie Spears from Maroondah City Council received the Mary Rogers Award for outstanding contributions as a civic leader, having demonstrated a commitment to equality and building upon the legacy of Mary Rogers by strengthening community wellbeing and sustainability, as well as mentoring emerging women leaders.
Brimbank City Council’s first term councillor Katharine Nikolic received the Emerging Women Leader Award for demonstrating exceptional leadership, for her work empowering young people to shape local government decision making through youth led projects.
Monash City Council received the Gender Equality Council Champion Award in recognition of its support for women’s participation in local government and longstanding commitment to achieving gender equality through initiatives such as its Gender Equity Advisory Committee.
The Mary Rogers Awards were launched earlier this year and form part of a $20,000 government funding package for the Victorian Local Governance Association, to support their work acknowledging and raising the profile of women in the sector and highlighting the importance of gender equality in local decision making.
The funding package will also support the Victorian Local Governance Association to conduct a series of roundtables on gender equality in the sector to help to lift women’s representation and support diversity and achieve the goal of women making up half of all elected councillors and mayors by 2028.
For more information on the Mary Rogers Awards, visit vlga.org.au/governance-leadership/local-government/mary-rogers-awards
