The 2021 Australia Day awards recognise local citizens, community groups and businesses who have made outstanding contributions to the community.

"It is time to start thinking about the people within our community who have displayed the values that we cherish and celebrate in our community and across Australia" said ARCC chief executive Dr Tim Harrison.

"The COVID-19 Pandemic has shown the best of our community in many ways and this will be the time to give those people the recognition for their actions."

IN OTHER NEWS:

This year there are four different categories that you can nominate for - Young Citizen of the Year, Citizen of the Year, Resilience Award and Local Business of the Year.

"Now is the time to nominate outstanding people or groups for the Australia Day Awards and show our appreciation for all the efforts and contributions that they have made," said Dr Harrison.

Nomination forms can be found on the Ararat Rural City Council Website, and must be returned by 5pm Friday, January 15 2021 for nominations to be considered.

Recipients of the awards will be presented at the 2021 Australia Day award presentations, which will be held at the Alexandra Oval Community Centre, January 26, pending COVID-19 restrictions.

For further information regarding eligibility guidelines, award category restrictions and award presentation event updates head to https://www.ararat.vic.gov.au/ or contact Josie Frawley on 5355 0271 or jfrawley@ararat.vic.gov.au.

If you are seeing this message you are a loyal digital subscriber to The Ararat Advertiser, as we made this story available only to subscribers. Thank you very much for your support and allowing us to continue telling Ararat's story. We appreciate your support of journalism in our great city.

While you're with us, you can now receive updates straight to your inbox from The Ararat Advertiser. To make sure you're up-to-date with all the news from across the Ararat shire, sign up here.