The Golden Wattle Award
Tennis greats win 2019 Golden Wattle Award
Ashleigh Barty and Dylan Alcott are joint winners of the 2019 Golden Wattle Award. Ash Barty won this year’s French Open and became the world’s No. 1 women’s tennis player and Dylan Alcott won the inaugural 2019 Wimbledon Quad Wheelchair Singles title, having earlier won the French and Australian open titles.
 |  |
|---|---|
| Ash Barty Credit Julien De Rosa/EPA, via Shutterstock |
Dylan Alcott Credit Daniel Leal-Olivas / AFP |
While both are top tennis players, it is not just their efforts on the tennis court that have won them the coveted Golden Wattle Award. Both Ash and Dylan have displayed great dignity and grace in the way they have handled the attention and fame that comes with their on-court success. Their manner, on and off the court, has won praise around the world and brought great credit to them and Australia. Their demeanour and approach has been both gracious and generous. Ash Barty is a role model for all young Australians, and an inspiration to other young indigenous players. Dylan Alcott has shown amazing resilience and determination in his lifetime effort to overcome his disability and win acceptance in the broader community. Both brought Gold to Australia, the key criteria for the Golden Wattle Award.
What is the Golden Wattle Award?
The award is an honorary recognition of the actions or achievements of an Australian or Australians whose contributions in the past 12 months deserve special acknowledgement by Australians.
Determination of the award is based on an outstanding or exceptional contribution to Australia (the land) or the Australian Spirit (the people) in or from any field of endeavour. It recognises the Australian who has brought ‘gold’ to Australia that year.
The Golden Wattle Award winner is announced by the Wattle Day Association each year on 1 September (National Wattle Day)
Golden Wattle (Acacia pycnantha) is Australia’s national floral emblem. The award is presented as part of the Week of the Wattle celebrations around National Wattle Day, celebrated nationally since 1992 on 1 September.
The Golden Wattle award is an honorary one, there being no physical prize or monetary component. It does, however, endow the winners with honourable recognition of their work or actions as being noble and expressing the best of the Australian spirit.
Last year (2018) the Golden Wattle Award was won by cave rescuers, Craig Challen and Richard Harris. Previous Golden Wattle Award winners were Samuel Johnson and his sister, Connie (2017), Melbourne Cup winning jockey Michelle Payne and her champion strapper brother, Steve (2016), surfers Julian Wilson & Mick Fanning (2015), VC winner Ben Roberts-Smith (2014), Mel Irons a Tasmanian student and community activist (2013), Nobel Prize winner Professor Brian Schmidt (2012) and Tour De France Winner Cadel Evans (2011).