Another Award for Sorrento

Another Award for Sorrento

Tony Friedlieb, Brian Lucas, Pauline Marsden, John Abercrombie and Ken Giles receiving the 2020/21 Club's WA Club of the Year Award

To win a Clubs WA

Club of the Year

award is a major achievement for any club, but to win five such awards for excellence is quite something else. Some members think that winning these awards is simply about being able to write a good submission. While a good submission is certainly necessary, it's not why a club wins such accolades.

Clubs WA is an association that has over 500 member clubs ranging from football clubs, bowling and recreational clubs through to yacht and golf clubs, all of which are eligible to apply for an annual Club of the Year award in their particular category (small, medium and large clubs). A great many clubs submit their annual nominations for these prestigious awards. Each club must demonstrate excellence against wide ranging and comprehensive criteria that include:

• The growth, sustainability and diversity of membership • Their processes that ensure compliance with statutory laws and regulations • Their processes to ensure financial strength, sustainability and transparency • Rigorous strategic and operational planning and forecasting procedures

• Their adherence to the Associations Incorporations Act and good governance standards • Their organisation structure, role statements, delegations and communication strategies • Volunteers' contribution to the operations of a club by its members • Other achievements and innovations.

Can’t you just make this up someone said to me? Well, no, as our Club is visited by an awards judge who checks the veracity of our submission by observing and questioning the claims made in the document. The examination is thorough. During the judge’s visit for this award, he spent a substantial amount of time painstakingly asking questions of our management and staff, checking the premises and management structures, checking our licensing and liquor and gaming compliance documentation and examining every policy and procedure in operation. These ranged from occupational health and safety, member protection, alcohol, COVID procedures, harm minimization through to cyber security.

What’s the point in winning these awards someone asked? As well as providing an external and independent evaluation and assessment of our Club’s ongoing performance. These awards carry great weight with our key stakeholders such as • Local members of Parliament (both State and Federal) • City of Joondalup • Our Sponsors

Winning these awards assists in gaining grants and new Sponsors; improving Sorrento’s reputation within the community and among other clubs; and helps us attract new members. But most importantly these awards recognise and are a testimony to the hard work and passion showed by our many regular volunteers and the stewardship