The Resilient Australia Awards celebrate and promote initiatives that build whole of community resilience to disasters and emergencies around Australia as well as capture and share examples of resilience in action. The awards recognise collaboration and innovative thinking across a broad range of sectors and initiatives that strengthen disaster resilience with communities, institutions, and the private sector. Innovative models and approaches that create sustainable change are highly regarded.

Since being established in 2000, the awards have recognised outstanding contributions in each state and territory across multiple sectors and disciplines. The awards endorse a wide range of initiatives; with past projects centred around risk assessment and mitigation, planning and preparation, and response and recovery.
Winners from each state and territory are considered for the National Awards. Finalist projects benefit from national exposure via a range of marketing and communications channels and their presence at the National Awards Ceremony.

The Resilient Australia Awards is proudly sponsored by the Australian Government in partnership with states and territories and managed by the Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience (AIDR).

Submissions for the 2026 awards program must relate to projects or initiatives that commenced after 1 January 2024 or demonstrate significant outcomes or enhancements since 1 January 2024.

Further information on the program structure and submission requirements are stated in the guidelines.

Submissions will be accepted in each state and territory for business, community, government, local government, schools, mental health and wellbeing, and photography award categories. The state and territory winners in each of these award categories will also be considered for two national awards: the Resilient Australia National Award, and the Resilient Australia National Collaboration and Partnership Award.

The third national award is the Research for Impact Award which is open to tertiary institutions. This award recognises research that is having or will have a significant impact on knowledge, capability and practice and will enhance disaster resilience outcomes as a result.

Learn more about last year's National Finalists here.

State and territory award categories

	Resilient Australia Business Award Open to businesses and the private sector, including tertiary colleges and universities.
	Resilient Australia Government Award Open to state and federal government agencies.
	Resilient Australia Local Government Award Open to local governments and local government associations.
	Resilient Australia Schools Award Open to all public and private pre-school, primary and secondary schools only. School-related projects managed by other organisations should be submitted in other categories.
	Resilient Australia Photography Award Open to individuals and groups. Submissions will not be accepted without the permission of the copyright holder.
	Resilient Australia Community Award Open to communities, community based or focussed organisations, and non-government organisations.
	Resilient Australia Mental Health and Wellbeing Award Open to all projects focussing on the mental health and wellbeing of Australian communities before, during and after a disaster.

Multi-jurisdictional projects

National award categories

	Resilient Australia National Award Award of excellence across all National Award categories. Projects demonstrate the most systemic change and groundbreaking results. Judges will consider winning projects from all Award categories except Photography.
	Resilient Australia National Collaboration and Partnership Award Recognition of projects that encompass activity across two or more partners, sectors, states or territories, and consistently demonstrate the power of collaboration and partnership when working toward a goal or mission with partners combining efforts and resources. Judges will consider winning projects from all Award categories except Photography.
	Resilient Australia National Research for Impact Award Open to all tertiary institutions (colleges and universities). Applicants will showcase research that is having or will have a significant impact on knowledge, capability and practice and will enhance disaster resilience outcomes as a result. Applications for this Category will only be received and judged at the national level.
	Resilient Australia National Business Award State and territory winners in the Business category will be considered for the Resilient Australia National Business Award.
	Resilient Australia National Community Award State and territory winners in the Community category will be considered for the Resilient Australia National Community Award.
	Resilient Australia National Government Award State and territory winners in the Government category will be considered for the Resilient Australia National Government Award.
	Resilient Australia National Local Government Award State and territory winners in the local government category will be considered for the Resilient Australia National Local Government Award.
	Resilient Australia National Mental Health and Wellbeing Award State and territory winners in the mental health and wellbeing category will be considered for the Resilient Australia National Mental Health and Wellbeing Award.
	Resilient Australia National School Award State and territory winners in the school category will be considered for the Resilient Australia National School Award.
	Resilient Australia National Photography Award The People’s Choice photography winner in each state and territory will be considered for the Resilient Australia National Photography Award.

Award category process map

This process map demonstrates how the jurisdictional award categories link through to the national awards. 

Download the category process map

Download your copy of the guidelines, submission tips or frequently asked questions. 

* please note key dates in the downloadable documents do not include extensions. 

RAA26 Submission Guidelines (820KB)

RAA26 Submission tips (598KB)

RAA26 Frequently Asked Questions (524KB)

At the state and territory level, submissions for the Resilient Australia Photography Award are judged through a popular vote (People's Choice), conducted online via the AIDR Facebook page. All approved photography submissions will be published in a Facebook album, with each 'like' or 'reaction' counted as a vote. The state or territory that the photo was submitted for will not be published. 

At the conclusion of the voting period, the album will be temporarily disabled and AIDR will tally and record the 'votes'. The photo with the most likes/reactions from each state and territory will win its jurisdictions Resilient Australia Photography Award. Once the votes have been counted, the content will be made available again on Facebook, however subsequent likes and reactions will not be considered votes. 

The people's choice vote for the 2026 Resilient Australia Photography Award runs between 23 June – 7 July 2026.

National Photography Award

The winning photos from each state and territory will be considered for the Resilient Australia National Photography Award.

The National Photography Award winner will be decided by the Editorial Committee of the Australian Journal of Emergency Management (AJEM). The number of votes a photo received during the public vote will not be taken into consideration at the national level. 

The winning photograph will also be considered for the cover of the January 2026 issue of AJEM.