State Awards Night
The Filipino Community of South Australia have much to celebrate and take pride in this year with the
calibre of awardees receiving the highest state honours for their achievements at the 2018 South
Australian Filipino Achiever’s Awards.
An independent panel of judges reviewed nominations from across six categories and the results stand
as a reminder of the resilience, ambition and work ethics among Australian Filipino’s who are at the
forefront of their fields.
The winner of the Sports category is Christopher Remkes. A Gymnast from Adelaide and humble
beginnings, who won a Gold Medal at this year’s Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast. He shares
the title of overall State Achiever of the Year with Ms Carmen Garcia, Managing Director of
Community Corporate and internationally acclaimed social entrepreneur who has taken out the
Career Achievement award. Among her personal achievements is being named a top 3 finalist in the
Telstra Business Women’s SA Awards, second place recipient of the National Australian Mumpreneur
Rising Star Award and her company receiving the 2018 Governor's Multicultural Award for
Outstanding Economic Development through her work with refugee and migrant communities to
secure work and small business pursuits.
Other awardees this year include:
• Community Achiever Award: Joy Goodridge. A passionate community worker and volunteer
for the Murraylands Filipino Australian Association for 15 years.
• Young Achiever Award: Leonarda Spee. Dedicated animal welfare worker and advocate who
enjoys volunteering, plays the guitar and piano and received an Outstanding Academic
Achievement Award at Adelaide University three years in a row from 2015-17.
• Senior Achiever Award: Luz Pore Shields. One of the Adelaide Filipino community's favourite
Filipino folk dancers, a folk arts choreographer and tireless community volunteer who is also
a Filipino seniors and positive ageing advocate.
• Arts Achiever Award: Valerie Berry. Professional actor, performance maker and theatre educator from an artistic family of siblings who has worked with prolific theatre directors and companies including Adelaide based Act Now Theatre and Anino Shadowplay Collective
from Manila.
“We may be a small community but we are a proud one.
The success and contributions our people
have made not only in SA but with a national and international impact is something worth taking
notice of!” Said Judging Panel chair,
Mr Ben Hur Winter. “I can’t think of two better champions and advocates to represent SA at the national Filipino
Australian Achievement Awards in October in Perth than Christopher and Carmen” Said Mr Winter
Formal presentation of the awards will occur on Saturday 9th June at Slovenian Hall 11 La Salle
Street Dudley Park SA at the formal Gala Dinner. Media are welcome to join us.
For media enquiries contact:
Ben-Hur Winter | Email: benhur.winter@fsccsa.org.au | Mobile: 0406874966 |
