Moruya Public School teacher Eliza Cannon has been recognised at the inaugural Together for Humanity (TFH) National Awards for Intercultural Excellence, have been held via an online ceremony. Attending were representatives from 16 Australian schools, guest speaker Giridharan Sivaraman, Australian Human Rights Commission Race Discrimination Commissioner, and Peter Khalil MP, Special Envoy for Social Cohesion.

TFH’s mission is to create a more cohesive, inclusive society free of racism and prejudice, where all young people feel they belong. The awards were launched by the educational not-for-profit to recognise high school student champions, as well as teachers, teams, or schools who demonstrate leadership, passion and influence in intercultural and/or interfaith issues. Recipients were awarded across four categories.

‘Individual Teacher’ and ‘School Team’ awards recognised teachers or school teams who facilitated curriculum enhancement, interschool initiatives, community engagement and whole-school approaches. ‘Individual Student’ and ‘Student Team’ awards recognised high school students or student teams promoting, encouraging or advocating for intercultural or interfaith understanding in areas including diversity and inclusion, anti-racism, human rights and reconciliation.

Awards were presented to one individual student, four student teams, two individual teachers and nine school teams from Government, Independent and Catholic schools located in NSW, Victoria and South Australia.

“Together For Humanity congratulates all those who received awards. It’s inspiring to see students, teachers and schools championing inclusion and promoting intercultural initiatives in their communities,” said Rabbi Zalman Kastel AM, Dean and Founder of Together For Humanity. “I’m particularly proud of the young change-makers determined to bring about meaningful change in their communities.”

Kate Xavier, Awards Director and Professional Learning Lead at Together For Humanity said the essence of all the projects was honouring identity and fostering belonging and inclusion.

“In schools, there is a big focus on literacy and numeracy, but if young people don’t have a sense of belonging, their wellbeing and learning are impacted,” said Xavier.

“The Awards are an opportunity to learn about and celebrate the rich work happening at a grassroots level in school communities. We don’t often hear about projects like these, driven by passionate students and teachers who know their communities best; they’re the unsung heroes of intercultural work.”

Eliza Cannon’s National Award for Intercultural Excellence, in the Individual Teacher Award Recipients category was for implementing coordinated initiatives to close gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students.

These initiatives include engaging a local Indigenous cultural association to run a 7-week cultural program, facilitating participation of Indigenous students struggling with literacy skills in the Deadly Readers program and the Indigenous Readers Project, and development of an anti-racism program.