Winners of this year’s Keep Victoria Beautiful 2017 Tidy Towns – Sustainable Communities Awards were announced in Horsham on Saturday.

Horsham Tidy Towns committee won the environmental sustainability award and the resource recovery and waste management award.

Natimuk’s Alethea Gulvin was named the winner of the young leaders category. The Dimboola Town Committee won awards in the community action and leadership category and community government partnerships category.

Horsham committee chairwoman Gillian Vanderwaal said the awards were exciting news for the region.

“These awards give people an opportunity to be recognised for their efforts,” she said.

“The volunteers always go beyond what is expected from them, and a lot of effort goes into these projects.

“It is great to live in such a vibrant town where people want to put their best foot forward and are proud to live here.”

Ms Vanderwaal said she was also pleased that Mrs Gulvin won the young leaders award. “Alethea is brilliant – she has represented the region at the Commonwealth Games in the past and she is now on council,” she said.

“She is a great role model in our community.”

Keep Victoria Beautiful chief executive Sabina Wills said Mrs Gulvin was an incredibly inspirational young woman.

“Her verve in sharing her success with the broader community through public speaking and motivational talks, especially aimed at young people, serves as a wonderful inspiration for her peers,” she said.

Ms Wills said Horsham had an unbroken record of involvement in the Tidy Towns Program since its inception.

The awards ceremony also honoured former Horsham chairman Don Johns, who died in June. A new chair in Horsham’s Menadue Street was dedicated to Mr Johns.

Ms Vanderwaal said Keep Victoria Beautiful initiated the gesture and provided the city with a seat along the river. “His family were very pleased and honoured that this was done for Don,” she said.

“He put so much into Tidy Towns and was a member of the committee for more than 30 years.”

Ms Vanderwaal said the Horsham committee would now start planning for next year. “If anyone has any programs that would be perfect for Tidy Towns, they should let us know,” she said.