The Queensland Surf Life Saving Australia community came together in Brisbane on Saturday night at the Awards of Excellence, to celebrate the many dedicated volunteers who safeguard the state’s coastline and provide valuable contributions to their local communities.

Surf Life Saving Queensland CEO David Whimpey said: “The event was a fantastic opportunity for our Surf Life Saving community to come together to celebrate their achievements over the last 12 months.

“The Queensland Awards of Excellence are an opportunity for us to recognise, celebrate and honour our rich and diverse surf lifesaving community. We have 36,000 volunteer members across 58 Clubs with members patrolling 8,000 kilometres of the Queensland coastline from Port Douglas to Rainbow Bay to serve and protect locals and visitors.”

The Surf Lifesaver of the Year award was presented to Calan Lovitt (Point Lookout SLSC), who marked 15 seasons as a Patrol captain during the 23/24 season. Zoe Naylor from Mudjimba SLSC was named Volunteer of the Year while Lex Heilbronn was awarded Operations Support Person of the Year. Point Lookout was awarded MARSH Club of the Year and Forrest Beach SLSC the Junior and Youth Development Club of the Year.

After achieving podium finishes at all carnivals she entered in the 2023/24 season including winning the Australian Ironwoman Championships and Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain Overall Series Champions and the Coolangatta Gold, Lana Rogers (Northcliffe SLSC) was awarded the prestigious Athlete of Year Award while her coach Naomi Flood was awarded Professional Coach of the Year Award. Flood had six athletes finish in the top ten of Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain Series including the first 3 place getters while her female squad achieved multiple medals at both State & Australian Championships.

Jemma Wagner from Coolangatta SLSC was awarded Youth Lifesaver of the Year while Travis Lovell from Kawana SLSC was named Under 14 Junior Lifesaver of the Year.