Award Nominations Now Open

Our Engineering Excellence Awards recognise the people leading Victoria’s public works sector and the projects they’ve delivered for their communities.


Participation in the Awards program provides a wonderful opportunity for your project, your team and your organisation to be acknowledged for its work. Our Awards will be presented on Thursday 14 May 2026 during our Public Works Conference Dinner with over 200 people expected to attend.

Nominations close on Friday 27 February 2026 and all winners will receive a Public Works Foundations course registration valued at $2,000!

Awards submissions are invited for the following categories:

1. Excellence in Public Works Project
This Award recognises excellence in the design and/or construction of a significant public works infrastructure project that demonstrably benefits the community.

  • <$2m value

  • $2m - $5m value

  • >$5m value

2. Excellence in Innovation
This category recognises excellence in the implementation of ideas that can be considered exceptional by traditional standards.

  • Metropolitan Melbourne

  • Regional Victoria

3. Excellence in Asset Management
This category recognises best-practice asset management and the pursuit of a whole-of-life perspective.

4. Excellence in Environmental Sustainability
This category recognises environmentally sustainable design and the development or adoption of new or improved techniques.

5. Emerging Public Works Leadership Award
This Award recognises outstanding achievement in public works engineering by an individual aged under 35 at the time of nomination.

6. Public Works Leadership Award
This Award recognises outstanding individual achievement in public works engineering.

Eligibility Criteria:

  • a 50-100 word Executive Summary (for publication)

  • a 400-500 word Nomination Overview (for judging) addressing the following:
    - Category 1-4: Project objectives, outcomes, problems, solutions & community benefit
    - Category 5-6: Nominee skills, experience, achievement/s & community contribution

  • a high-resolution photograph suitable for publication

Projects must have been completed between February 2025 and February 2026 and be operational at the time of nomination.

Submissions must highlight the role played by the nominee or project team and identify the role/s played by external consultants and/or contractors.

At least one person representing each nomination must register to attend the Conference Dinner for the nomination to be eligible for an Award.

DEADLINE: FRIDAY 27 FEBRUARY

SUBMIT YOUR NOMINATION NOW

Meet The MC – Lehmo

We’re delighted to welcome one of Australia’s most loved comedians and media personalities, Lehmo, as the Master of Ceremonies for the PWC 2026 Awards Function. He starred for five seasons as the hilariously inept Jim on the award-winning ABC series Utopia and has appeared on Have You Been Paying Attention?, The Cheap Seats, The Front Bar, House of Games, and The Roast of John Cleese. He’s hosted Helloworld Travel, the Invictus Games, and the Australian of the Year Awards for ABC. Earlier TV work includes The Project, Before the Game, Rove Live, Neighbours, and many more.

  • Utopia. An ABC satire about the difficult process of taking grand, uncosted, inadequately planned, fundamentally flawed schemes - and passing them off as "Nation Building".

  • Featuring Australia’s best comedians, Utopia brings an infrastructure bureaucracy to life...all episodes are available from https://iview.abc.net.au/show/utopia

  • Enjoy the trailer here!