School Awards

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Year 12 Special Awards

Students have the opportunity to nominate for the following awards. Nominations are also accepted from peers and teachers.

Culture

Bernie MacKenzie Cultural Award

This Award recognises a student who has made significant contributions to the cultural life of the school. Your response should provide information about how you:
• Engaged in the cultural life of the school.
• Demonstrated confidence to embrace new challenges.
• Contributed to the development of these qualities in others.
Cullen Family Award for Creativity
This Award recognises recognises a student or group of students who have produced an original single work or body of work of outstanding creativity, in any subject, genre or form. Your response should provide information about how you:
• Achieved originality and technical skill and passion for excellence.
• Demonstrated use of enquiry, problem solving, perseverance, developed knowledgeable, and used creative thinking.
The award acknowledges the tremendous opportunities and encouragement Cairns State High provides all students through its Excellence and academic programs.

Leadership

Bob Manning Centenary Ambassador Leadership Award

This Award recognises a student who has engaged in strong leadership. Your response should provide information about how you:
• Led initiatives which have impacted on the life of the school positively.
• Engaged in leadership at school and in the community
• Demonstrated how you maintain you own balance and resilience
• Contributed to the development of these qualities in others.

David Hudson Centenary Ambassador Leadership Award
This Award recognises a student who has made demonstrated leadership in the student community. Your response should provide information about how you:
• Engaged in Indigenous cultures at school.
• Demonstrated confidence to embrace new challenges.
• Contributed to the development of these qualities in others.

Edna Taylor Centenary Ambassador Leadership Award
This Award recognises a student who has engaged in leadership of student initiatives that support wellbeing. Your response should provide information about how you:
• Led initiatives which have impacted on the life of the school positively.
• Engaged in leadership at school and in the community
• Demonstrated how you maintain you own resilience
• Contributed to the development of this quality in others.

Norm Crosswell Award
This Award recognises a student who has made demonstrated outstanding leadership in the student community. Your response should provide information about how you:
• Involved a large cohort, mixed cohort or whole school in an activity.
• Demonstrated principled leadership
• Inspired others to lead and/or take on responsibilities

Percy Walter Moorhouse Centenary Award
This Award recognises a student who has made demonstrated outstanding leadership to meet a specific need in the school community. Your response should provide information about how you:
• Reflected on the needs of others in the school.
• Involved a large cohort, mixed cohort or whole school in an activity to address this concern/issue.
• Demonstrated principled leadership

Service

Service Award (Multiple awarded)

This Award recognises a student who has made significant contributions to both the Cairns State High & the Cairns Community. The Award is open to students who:
• Work outside school hours (This should be a significant block of time or over a period of time)
• Consistently help in a variety of activities
• Show independence
• Are well-rounded
• Are interested in the school & wider community

Environmental Award
This Award recognises a student who has made a significant contribution to promoting, encouraging or sustaining environmental practices within the school. Your response should provide information about how you:
• Actively engage in environmental issues
• Participate in a variety of environmental activities – in and outside school
• Show leadership and initiative surrounding environmental policies
• Demonstrate care and cooperation and contribute to the development of these qualities in others.
• Have interest to encourage sustainable and environmental practices at Cairns State High School

Citizenship

Global Citizenship Award

This award will be presented to a student who has made contributions to school and community improvement. Your response should provide information about how you:
• Demonstrated a clear commitment to sustained interaction with students of other nationalities, languages or ethnic backgrounds in a spirit of international understanding and cooperation.
• Demonstrated effective communication.
• Contributed to the development of these qualities in others
• Led projects beyond participation in regular school activities.
The characteristics of projects may include efforts to:
• Creatively solve known or emerging problems
• Acquire and effectively deploy knowledge or resources beyond those immediately available in the school
• Directly involve peoples of other cultures, racial and ethnic background and political/economic systems.
• Make a genuine commitment to initiate, sustain and complete the project or activity
• Demonstrate a commitment to using languages other than their own mother tongue during the completion of the project.

Jim Brooks Human Rights Award
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights represents the universal recognition that basic rights and fundamental freedoms are inherent to all human beings, inalienable and equally applicable to everyone, and that every one of us is born free and equal in dignity and rights. Whatever our nationality, place of residence, gender, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, language, or any other status, the international community on December 10 1948 made a commitment to upholding dignity and justice for all of us.
That declaration finds contemporary expression in Australia through a suite of Commonwealth and State laws (such as the Queensland Anti-Discrimination Act 1991) which prohibit discrimination in public life and provide remedies for people who have been treated less fairly because of an attribute covered by the Declaration.
This Award will be presented to the student who has made a significant contribution to the recognition of international human rights in the school. Your response should provide information about how you have demonstrated:
• Leadership, Service and Conduct which demonstrates a commitment to the elimination of injustice, including discrimination or prejudice based on race, age, gender, sexuality or disability.
• Leadership or facilitation of a school activity, event or academic writing that creates awareness of these values.
• Active engagement in human rights issues
• Expression of strong principles.
• Contribution to the development of this in others.

Excellence

Lyndell Sellars Research Award

This award recognises a student who has developed and used research skills effectively to achieve the best outcomes possible. Your response should provide information about how you:
• Used the full resources at your disposal to achieve in-depth knowledge and understanding of a research topic
• Demonstrated mastery of the inquiry approach
• Evidence your thinking skills
• Sought innovative solutions to overcome barriers when researching

Trevor Gordon Year 12 All Rounder Award
This Award is presented to the Senior Student who is recognised as an outstanding “all round" student in their final year of school. The award will be open to students who are outstanding in the areas of:
• Academic – achieves scholastically across a range of subjects
• Service – participates in school and community activities
• Sport – represents the school without necessarily being a champion
• Arts – participates enthusiastically in the cultural and artistic life of the school