2025 Finalists

Minister for Emergency Services The Hon Jihad Dib announced the 28, 2025 Rotary Districts of NSW Emergency Services Community Awards (RESCA) finalists and four (4) Dorothy Hennessy OAM Emergency Services Youth Scholarship finalists.  The event at Parliament House hosted by Minister Dib, allows the Minister to meet with some of the finalists as well as the agency commissioners and staff to announce this year’s selected finalists.

 

RESCA is a community-nominated Awards and is the only time all Emergency Services personnel, both paid and volunteer, are recognised in a combined awards program.

 

Minister Dib said the awards are a fantastic opportunity to shine a light upon the enormous contribution of emergency services workers. “The community have the expectation, quite rightly, that whenever they are in need of emergency response to fire, flood, accident, water-based incidents or medical emergencies, that the first responders will be there to assist.  They put themselves into the forefront of danger or as the first responder to save lives, without fear or a thought for the risk they face, in many of these situations.”  

 

Minister Dib acknowledged that the awards are the community’s way to say thank you to these amazing examples of the Rotary motto of “Service Above Self” and recognize their contribution to their communities in so many other ways.

 

Included within the Awards program is the Dorothy Hennessy OAM Emergency Services Youth Scholarship, providing $1,000 for a volunteer between the ages of 18 to 25 for further career development opportunities in their chosen vocation, or further emergency services response training.

 

‘This scholarship is a form of encouragement for young people to step in to fill the pipeline, ensuring an ongoing supply of first responders in the five volunteer agencies - NSW State Emergency Service, NSW Rural Fire Service, Marine Rescue NSW, VRA Rescue NSW, and Surf Life Saving NSW’, the Minister said.

 

In keeping with the Rotary’s motto of “Service Above Self”, the NSW RESCA program also raises funds to support two very important Rotary initiatives:

 

Winners for each service, plus two special overall winners, and the young volunteer winner, will be announced at an Awards presentation on Saturday 2 August 2025 at Bankstown Sports Club. 

 

The overall winners for NSW will then represent the State at the National Awards to be held in October at Government House, Yarralumla, hosted by our Governor General, Her Excellency Samantha Joy Mostyn AC.

 

Family, friends, supporters, and the public are invited to be part of the Awards presentation.