• Country Education Foundation of Australia (CEF) announced the winners of the 2020 Alinta Energy – CEF Alumni Awards
• Charles Sturt Alumna Brooke Kaveney is the winner of the highest accolade, CEF Alumni of the Year
• The awards were a virtual event connecting current and past recipients, foundations, the CEF National team and passionate stakeholders on Saturday 7 November 2020

From women in STEM through to wool classing and optometry, this year’s Alinta Energy – Country Education Foundation of Australia (CEF) Alumni Awards recognise achievements of current and past recipients from a wide range of vocations.

Winner of the highest accolade, CEF Alumni of the Year and Charles Sturt Alumna Ms Brooke Kaveney recently completed her PhD with the Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation on soil biochemistry and is starting a post-doctoral research position with the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR).

Much of Ms Kaveney’s research focusses on the importance of scientific collaboration in developing a hunger-free world.

“It is an honour to be awarded Alumni of the Year. Previous winners have accomplished so much and I feel privileged and humbled that my work has been recognised to be of a similar standard,” Ms Kaveney said.

Ms Kaveney was proudly nominated by Leanne Parkman, Chair of CEF Young.

The winners of the five categories are as follows:

• Alinta Energy – CEF Alumni of the Year, Brooke Kaveney (CEF Young)
• Alinta Energy – CEF Community Champion, Lauren Hutchinson (CEF Orange & Districts)
• Alinta Energy – CEF Young Achiever, Raymond Happ (Coonamble & District Education Foundation)
• Alinta Energy – CEF Launching Star, Jamee Johnson (Blackall-Tambo District Education Group)
• Alinta Energy – CEF Rising Stars, Heather Walker (CEF Grenfell) and Matilda Langford (Shoalhaven Education Fund)

CEF CEO, Juliet Petersen is thrilled to see nominations and engagement in the CEF Alumni Awards grow significantly in only their third year.

“This shows how passionate our volunteers are about access to education, the students they support and how exceptional the youth of rural and regional Australia are,” Mrs Petersen said.

“We are delighted to acknowledge Brooke, Lauren, Raymond, Jamee, Heather and Matilda and look forward to seeing what the future holds for all our winners and nominees and our ever-growing alumni network.”

Alinta Energy General Manager Sales & Marketing, Jane Mills, comments, “Alinta Energy would like to congratulate all the nominees and award winners; everyone should be very proud of their achievements during such a challenging year”.

“The future is looking very bright with the abundance of talent showcased in those nominated, further highlighting the impact of CEF’s amazing work.”

Country Education Foundation of Australia is an education charity offering equity-based financial support for further education to young people (16-25) in the 44 locally based foundations based in rural and regional Australia.