Gargi Woman Award

About Gargi
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018

`About Gargi Award`

On the International day of women in 2018, the Hindu Council of Australia has decided to institute an award for outstanding women in Australia who make good role models for growing up Hindu girls and women. The award will consist of a commendation letter and will be awarded in multiple categories.

The award is named after an ancient Indian philosopher considered to be the first woman philosopher Gargi Vachaknavi (c. 7th century BCE). She is honored as a renowned expounder of eternal knowledge in Vedic Literature. She participated in a philosophic debate and challenged the established male sage Yajnavalkya, the only lady to do so. She is also said to have written many hymns in Rigveda. (Source: Wikipedia)

`Nominate by filling in the form below :`

Nominations for 2023 Gargi awards are open from 1st February 2023 to 1st March 2023. Awards would be given sometime in April 2023 (exact date to be announced shortly)

Please fill the form below to make a nomination. (If your form is incomplete or is missing information then nomination may be rejected by the committee without notice to you.) (If a nominee is nominated more than once, the nomination may be rejected by the committee. Please check with the nominee that she has not been nominated this year before submitting the nomination form here.)

Your Name (required)

Your Email (required)

Your Phone (required)

I would like to nominate the following woman for Gargi Awards instituted by Hindu Council of Australia. I have consent from her to apply for her nomination and she has agreed to attend the awards ceremony if among top nominees. (We encourage self nominations also)

Award category:

Nominee Name : Nominee Email: Nominee Phone: Nominee State:

Previous Awards:

List Nominees significant achievement in her field for which the nominee has not been recognized yet with a major award:

Describe how, if, this was achieved against odds :

Describe how she is a good role model for young Australian women growing up in Australia: (A woman is a good role model for young girls growing up in Australia if : While may be professing her own religion, respects the right of others to pursue their own faith. Does not believe in religious conversion. Believes in settling differences using democratic and non-violent means Encourages kindness to all life forms and to the environment Believes in equal rights for men and women.)

Please list web site links below supporting above claims:

Please enter a brief (one paragraph) profile of the nominee :

Please upload a photograph of the nominee : (maximum size 1MB)

The nominee is: A resident of Australia Not an elected representatives of a local council or a parliament Not an office bearer of a political party The achievements have not been recognized yet

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[Nominations to submit applications have closed]

`Selection Criteria`

1. Should have made a substantial contribution in her nominated field as evidenced by one of the following:

a. Has accomplished pioneering work or has accomplished against odds b. Has made a significant achievement in her nominated field

2. Should be a good role model for young Australian Hindu girls growing up in Australia as evidenced by her living by good moral, ethical and social values cherished by Hindus and valued in Hindu Dharma

3. Team members of the Hindu Council are not eligible.

The nominee must

1. Must be a resident of Australia

2. Not be an elected representative of any local council, state parliament or federal parliament.

3. Not be an office bearer of any political party

4. Have accomplished work has not been widely recognized yet

`Award Categories`

Awards will be made under the following categories

1. Sports

2. Frontline emergency services: Defense, Police, Fire, emergency services

3. Performing Arts

4. Arts, Language and Culture

5. Education, Science and Research

6. Aged Care

7. Community Services

8. Journalism

`Nomination Process`

Nominations are open to any woman over the age of 18 years who is likely to fulfil the criteria.

All nominations will be filled out online.

The person being nominated should give their consent and agree to be present in the award ceremony if their name is shortlisted among the top three contenders.

Evidence should be provided in the form of internet links or assurances by those who know or ought to know about the nominee.

`Selection process`

The Hindu Council team will go through all the nominations and remove nominees whose nomination is either incomplete, inaccurate, not supported by evidence or does not meet the selection criteria.

Each of the remaining nominee's details will be sent to each of the judges. The judges will score each nominee and give them a rank from 0 to 5 for each of the following criteria :

(a) contribution made and

(b) is a good role model

A woman is a good role model for young Hindu girls growing up in Australia if :

While maybe professing her own religion, respects the right of others to pursue their own faith.
Does not believe in religious conversion.
Believes in settling differences using democratic and non-violent means
Encourages kindness to all life forms and to the environment
Believes in equal rights for men and women.

The score given by the judges will be added to get the overall score for each nominee.

The nominee with the maximum score in this round will be the winner.

`Announcements`

The top three contenders in each category will be invited to the Award ceremony. Winners' names will be announced at the time of the presentation of the awards. If the top winner is not present in the ceremony, the award will be passed to the nominee with the next highest score.

`The jury for 2023`

The team jury will score each nominee. The jury is from different walks of life, with a reputation of being fair and just and with the ability and willingness to work with the Hindu Council and promote the award.

Mayor Zoë Baker

We are privileged to have Zoe as our judge for this year. Zoe was first elected to Council, representing Wollstonecraft Ward, in 2008 and brings energy, intelligence and integrity to her role. She has a passion for urban design and planning and a strong commitment to sustainability and innovation in all aspects of Council decision making. Zoë has championed precinct planning, particularly in the St Leonards/Crows Nest Planning Studies, the Educational Precinct Planning Study and the ESD Best Practice project.

During her time on Council, Zoë has served as:

Mayor
Deputy Mayor
Director, Local Government NSW (2013-2015)
Chair of Council's Environmental Reference Group
established and chaired Council's Educational Institutions Working Group
Council's Delegate Community Advisory Group - St Leonards Priority Precinct
Council's Delegate to Northern Sydney Regional Organisation of Council
Chair, Waverton Peninsula Working Group
Chair, Council's Sustainable Transport Working Group

Mayor Zoë is passionate about North Sydney, highly principled and committed to fiercely representing community interests on Council. She was motivated to stand for election in order to make a difference to her community, in particular on planning and environmental issues.

Zoë is married with a daughter who attends a local primary school. She has an Honours degree in Government from the University of Sydney and holds a Certificate of Excellence in Local Government.

Mayor Tanya Taylor

Tanya was popularly elected to Willoughby City Council in December 2021, and is the third female Mayor in the Council’s 157 year history. HCA is proud to have her as one of the jurors for this year’s Gargi Awards. Mayor Tanya is proud to lead this inclusive and diverse Council, which includes three female Councillors.

As Mayor, Tanya is committed to working with the community to ensure Willoughby continues to flourish and evolve, creating a sustainable and enjoyable environment and promoting a social and supportive atmosphere for residents and businesses, building on the work that has been done in previous terms of Council.

Tanya is passionate about including the community in Council’s decision making and would like to see more opportunities for public input. She would also like to ensure appropriate development that complements and respects the existing built and natural environments as well as the beautiful heritage aspects across the City of Willoughby. She is very aware of the pressures on the local government area and is a strong advocate for the delivery of increased tree canopy, infrastructure, affordable housing and community services.

Prior to joining Council, Tanya had a long record of community participation through a range of local organisations and for worthy causes including 1st Sailors Bay Sea Scouts, Willoughby Public School P&C, Willoughby Community Special Needs Pre-School, Cancer Council NSW and the Cerebral Palsy Alliance. Mayor Tanya continues to be an active and passionate volunteer in community-based organisations throughout Willoughby.

Tanya has a background in event and project management, and experience working in local government at the City of Sydney. She is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Community Development to enhance her skills and knowledge to become a more skilled community advocate.

Tanya lives with her husband, three children and two Jack Russell Terriers in Willoughby.

Ms. (Waskam) Emelda Davis

Emelda is a passionate resident of Pyrmont with strong links to the local community, as well as a strong advocate for cultural diversity and greater inclusion for her Indigenous, Pacific, and Australian South Sea Islander communities. Emelda Davis is proud of her diverse indigenous ancestry as as second-generation Australian South Sea Islander of First Nations and Caribbean descent.

Emelda has worked for federal, state, community and grassroots organisations where she has exhibited diverse expertise in community development, education, training, media, and marketing. As chairwoman of the Australian South Sea Islanders (Port Jackson) (ASSIPJ) since 2009 under Emelda’s leadership ASSIPJ have revived the focus on ‘the call for recognition’ for the descendants of Australia’s Blackbirding trade through the coordination of seven ‘Wantok’ national workshops between 2012-2015, and the development of the National Australian South Sea Islander Association constitution adopted at Tweed Heads New South Wales (NSW 2015). Holding a Masters of Arts degree from the University of Technology Sydney Emelda was awarded partial funding through the Networking Tranby ARC Scholarship for her work on Children of the Sugar Slaves – ‘Black and Resilient.’ Emelda is founder of The Black Collective AU working group in 2018 and was key advocate in 2019 towards the establishment of the Australian Museums – Pacific Cultural Collection Advisory Panel of which she sits followed by the appointed to the Board of Trustees for the International Coalition Sites of Conscious and Sydney NSW – International Council on Monuments and Sites committee. More recently Emelda is a committee member for the COVID-19 response Health Directory for Pacific Communities coordinated by state representative NSW Council for Pacific Communities and Multicultural NSW.

Achievements include:

2020 CALD Advisory Panel for Women’s Business
2020 Women for Election Australia, Ambassador
2020 Parliament of NSW Community Recognition Statement – Legislative Assembly
2020 Premiers Multicultural Community Medals (Settlement Services International NSW Human Rights Medal)
2020 Masters of Arts (FASS) Children of the Sugar Slaves ‘Black & Resilient’
2017 Rotary Inspirational Women’s Award
2017 Inspirational Wall Medal, Ultimo – Public School Sydney NSW
2016 NSW Women of the Year (Sydney Local)
2015 NSW Council for Pacific Communities Award

As the director for Onyx Management Group since 2004, Emelda has worked consistently and diligently in resourcing Indigenous, Australian South Sea Islander, Pacific, POC and broader community practitioners to deliver projects on a multitude of platforms producing film, television, sports, event management, music and entertainment projects for grassroots, corporate and private sectors.

`Recent Awards Activities`

`Winners of the 2022 Gargi Awards`

The list of winners are:

1. Education, Science and Research

Mrs. Saraswathi Shashi

2. Arts Language and Culture

Dr. Preetam Ganu

3. Community Services

Ms Kylee Bentham

4. Age Care

Dr. Sudha Natrajan

5. Journalism

Ms. Rani Hayman

6. Performing Arts

Mrs. Nikhila Kiran

7. Sports

Ms. Shivani Mehta

8. Frontline - Defence Service

Mrs. Remya Ramesh

`Watch the award ceremony on YouTube`

`Profile of nominees for 2022 Gargi awards`

`The jury for the 2022 Gargi Awards`

Lynda Ben-Menashe

Lynda Ben-Menashe has worked in Australia and Israel in education, publishing and public diplomacy. For 14 years until January 2022, she served at the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, the elected representative roof body of the NSW Jewish community.

As its Head of Engagement Lynda created programs including the “We Are All Sydney” community leadership program, the Shared Table Project, Respect Understanding and Acceptance schools harmony programs, the Women of Diversity Dinner, the Hand In Hand online portal to Jewish-First Nations collaborations, Bus Tours of Jewish Sydney, Bilateral annual events with the Indian community including Haifa Day, Bilateral annual events with the Chinese community including Shanghai Commemoration, Your Shabbat Your Way Home Shabbat dinners and Give Peace a Chance study tours of Israel and Palestine for mixed groups of NGOs to examine grassroots peacebuilding.

Lynda’s passion is innovation in the building of social capital.

Dianne North, OAM

Dianne North has been a member of the Pharmacy profession since 1973, that time focussing on Community, Palliative Care and Oncology fields of Pharmacy practice. Dianne was a recipient of the University of Sydney Gold Medal in 2000 for her service to Pharmacy.

Dianne has undertaken many volunteering roles in her children’s school and sporting activities, amongst others. Dianne is an accredited basketball score table official having officiated for NBL, Wheelchair NBL and Paralympics.

Dianne joined Rotary in 2008 and held many roles during that time. Dianne was selected to be the District Governor for Rotary District 9675 in 2019-20. Dianne was awarded an OAM in 2019 for her services to the Illawarra Community.

Since 2020 Dianne has been a member of the Rotarian Committee which oversees the running of Interplast Australia and New Zealand, a not-for-profit organisation that sends teams of plastic surgeons to developing countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

Rosemary Kariuki

As an Asylum Seeker Rosemary arrived in Australia in 1999, with no assets and no family. Since that time Rosemary has made many friends and has volunteered her own time to support the community especially the women and the youth. Rosemary Kariuki is affectionately known as ‘Big Mama Rosemary’ in the western suburbs of Sydney. This is where she works tirelessly for her community both as a Multicultural Community Liaison Officer for NSW Police and in her numerous volunteer projects that support the CALD Women.

Rosemary has been acknowledged with many awards some of them the Parramatta Citizen of the Year, Woman of the year from Western Sydney Uni and African Walk of Fame among many others. 2021 Australia Local Hero. Rosemary says she is very proud to be an Australian.

Now she spends her time giving back to her new home, organizing and lobbying for countless events and services. I’m a founder member of the African Women Group (AWG-NSW), a volunteer organisation She is a founder member of African Women Group which was created to advocate for and to break down the social isolation many African and CALD Women experience in this country through different programs like the famous annual African Women Dinner dance and the Cultural Exchange Program, mental health, healthy family Relationship etc.

As a hobby, Rosemary has been featured in the Baulkham Hills African Ladies Troupe documentary where she is one of the four women who have told their journey on forgiveness and resilience and how they have moved forward. She has just finished one called “Rosemary’s Ways Documentary a must to see.

Due to the pandemic, the Gargi awards were not held in 2021.

The Gargi woman award is given to Australian women for their outstanding contribution to the community. Gargi women make good role models for young girls and women growing up in Australia.

2020 awards were delayed due to the pandemic. A ceremony was held in March 2021 and the awards were handed out by Hon. Alex Hawke, Minister for Immigration.

WINNERS OF THE GARGI 2020 AWARDS

A plaque confirming the Gargi 2020 award was given to the following winners of the Gargi Award

`Jeanie Wood – Gargi Award 2020 Winner in Journalism Category`

`Clare Stockdale – Gargi Award 2020 Winner in Sports Category`

`Kavitha Jayakumar – Gargi Award 2020 Winner in Arts Category`

`Felicity Kean – Gargi Award Winner 2020 Education`

`Rachna Soni – Gargi Award Winner Defense, Police, Fire & Emergency Services`

`Nandini Shankara Narayana – Gargi Award Winner 2020 Science and Research`

`Kanan Shah – Gargi Award 2020 Winner Performing Arts`

`Gargi woman 2020 – Dr Rugmini Venkataraman, NSW, Community Services`

`Gargi 2020 Photo Gallery`

Download Gargi Awards 2021 brochure

`FINALISTS OF THE GARGI 2020 AWARDS`

A certificate of being a Finalist for the Gargi 2020 award was given to the following finalists

Prathibha Bhanushali - Arts

Harinder Kaur - Community Service

Anita Ravi Upadhye - Community Service

Maryam Popal Zahid - Community Service

Nikhala Kiran - Performer

Ira Harshraj Patkar - Performer

Manjula Vishwanath - Performer

Anna Sokolova - Science and Research

Dr Garima Sharma - Science and Research

Seema Gowda - Performer

Neha Takale - Education

Dr Rajeshwari Chelliah Senathriraj - Education

Indu Harikrishna - Community Service

Bhumika Mayur Mhatre - Community Service

Dr Sabrin Farooqui - Community Service

`Jury to select winners for 2020`

Susan Wakefield, OAM

Susan has been awarded OAM and Jean Harris award for her services to the Girl Guide movement.

Rosalie Fishman, BA, M Com., AIM, AITD, AAPT, Rosalie is a highly skilled educator and management consultant. Her professional background in academia (UTS and AGSM), included research (in culture, organizational learning and change management) teaching (post graduate and executive programs) and consulting across a range of organizations. Her focus has always been on bridging the gap between the big picture and individual contribution through the interplay of organizational culture, change management, leadership, personal development and process facilitation. Rosalie has a special interest in diversity and sees the need to build ‘inclusiveness in culture’ across differences both within and between groups. She is engaged as a management consultant with 8Hotels Boutique Co., and uses her expertise in a volunteer capacity for non-for-profit organizations, currently serving as a key worker for UIA Women’s division and on the Community Relations Committee at the NSWJBD.

`Winners`

Click here to download Gargi Awards 2019 Booklet of Final Shortlisted Nominees

`2019 Gargi Awards`

In 2019 the award was presented by Hindu Council of Australia at International Women Day ceremony on 9^th March 2019 in Grevillea Room, Wenthworthville.

`The winners of 2019 Gargi Woman Award are :`

The nominations were accepted online and were closed on 31st December 2018.

Click here to Nominate someone or yourself for Gargi Award 2019

`About Gargi Award`

On the International day of women 2018, Hindu Council of Australia has decided to institute an award for outstanding women in Australia who make a good role model for growing up Hindu girls and women. The award will consist of a commendation letter and will be awarded in multiple categories like Sports, Journalism, Performers, Defense, Community Carers, Home Carers, Seniors Carers, Educationist etc.

The award is named after an ancient Indian philosopher considered to be the first woman philosopher Gargi Vachaknavi (c. 7th century BCE). She is honored as a renowned expounder of the eternal knowledge in Vedic Literature. She participated in a philosophic debate and challenged the established male sage Yajnavalkya, the only lady to do so. She is also said to have written many hymns in the Rigveda. (Source: Wikipedia)

`Recent Awards Activities`

`2019 Gargi Awards`

The nominations for Gargi Woman Award 2019 are open now.

`Selection Criteria for 2019`

1. Should have made a substantial contribution in her field as evidenced by one of the following:

a. Has accomplished pioneering work or has accomplished against odds b. Has made a significant achievement in her field

2. Should be a good role model for young Australian Hindu girls growing up in Australia as evidenced by any one of the following :

a.  Is not of Hindu faith but lives by good moral, ethical and social values that are cherished by Hindus

b.  Is a Hindu and has retained her Hindu values

The nominee

1. Must be a resident of Australia

2. The nominee is not an elected representative of a local council, state parliament or federal parliament.

3. Is not an office bearer of a political party

4. The accomplishment work has not been recognized yet