Since 1981 the Tidy Towns Awards have been acknowledging and celebrating rural and regional communities taking giant steps towards a more sustainable future.

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Enter Tidy Towns 2023

Hold Tight! Entries open on the 31st of March.

Award Categories

Award Categories

We have curated the categories for 2023 to reflect the most important social, economic and environmental issues for all organisations and communities across rural and regional NSW.

NSW Tidy Town Award 2023

The prestigious NSW Tidy Town Award is awarded to the town that has demonstrated outstanding achievements in multiple areas of environmental sustainability and social inclusion.

Sustainability in Agriculture Award

The Sustainability in Agriculture Award is a new category set to acknowledge and celebrate producers, businesses, communities, and organisations who have made significant contributions to developing more sustainable land management practices.

Biodiversity Conservation Award

Recognising outstanding achievements by an organisation in regenerating, conserving, or advancing scientific understanding of biodiversity

Climate Change Mitigation & Adaptation Award

Celebrating leadership and innovation in strengthening resilience to the impacts of climate change, reducing emissions, or sequestering carbon from the atmosphere

Litter Prevention Award

Sponsored by the NSW EPA

Awarding projects or programs that reduce or prevent litter. For 2023, the LPA will be split into two sub-categories: Clean Communities (for land based projects), and Clean Waterways (for marine based projects)

Circular Economy Award

Sponsored by the NSW EPA

Awarding innovation and excellence in product stewardship, product design, resource recovery, and strategic systems operations and planning.

Resource Recovery & Waste Minimisation Award

Awarding innovation in addressing local waste problems through effective educational communication campaigns and outstanding operational design and planning.

Heritage, Culture & Community Spirit Award

Celebrating programs or projects that restore or protect Aboriginal and contemporary heritage sites and build on the regions culture.

Communications & Engagement Award

Celebrating programs that inspire environmental action by creating accessible, inclusive, educational and motivational communication campaigns.

Bush Spirit Award

Celebrating communities that successfully demonstrate strong community spirit and inclusion in the face of ongoing challenges.

Local Legend Award

Celebrating individuals who demonstrate outstanding commitment to their environment and show exemplary leadership in pursuing environmental outcomes.

Future Category Suggestions

If you want to see a new category in future please reach out to us with your ideas.

Population Category A < 1,500
Population Category B 1,501 > 5,000
Population Category C 5,001 > 12,000
Population Category D 12,001 > 23,000
Population Category E 23,001+

Population Categories

Every town is unique, our population categories are designed to reflect the incredible diversity of towns in NSW. Whether you’re a rural community of 500 people or a regional hub of 40,000 our population categories ensure you’re competing with similar demographics.

If you’re not sure where your town fits, download the Population Category Lookup by clicking the link below and press CTRL – F, then type in your town name.

Past Winners

The Tidy Towns Awards were created to, firstly, celebrate the amazing achievements of regional and rural towns, community groups, organisations, and individuals, and secondly, to provide a medium through which we can all apply learnings, feedback, and ideas to current or future projects.

You can view project/program descriptions of the previous winners below to help you with your future sustainability endeavours.