First Certified Parks and Leisure Professionals named at PLA national awards

Australia’s first Certified Parks & Leisure Professionals have been named by Parks and Leisure Australia at the organisation’s national conference on the Gold Coast this week.

The professional certification, where members of Parks and Leisure Australia (PLA) can be known as a Certified Parks and Leisure Professional CPLP (Australia) was agreed by the organisation and the World Parks Academy at the World Urban Parks Asia Pacific Congress in Singapore in July this year.

Those achieving CPLP status this week include:

• Neal Ames, Sport and Recreation Coordinator, City of Campbelltown
• Mark Band, Chief Executive, Parks and Leisure Australia
• Sophia Czarkowski, Sports and Education Supervisor, Rockhampton Regional Council
• Hugh Gardner, Parks Technical Officer, City of Subiaco
• Ben Thomas, Nature-Based Recreation Officer, Ipswich City Council
• Rachel Thorpe, Consultant, AECOM and PLA National Board Director 

Writing about his CPLP recognition on LinkedIn, Ames wrote “this certification is a game changer for the sport, recreation, leisure and open space industry. 

“The CPLP is now the recognised industry certification. Just like the CPA is for accountants, the FAIA is for architects and the P.Eng is for engineers the CPLP will become the industry standard for those working within the industry.”

Other awards presented at the PLA National Conference included:

Best Use of Technology Award National Winner - Sport and Recreation Service, SRS Spatial
Community Program of the Year Award National Winner - Botanic Gardens & Centennial Parklands, Community Greening
Event of the Year Award - National Winner City of Joondalup, Kaleidoscope Festival
Leisure Facility of the Year Award National Winner - City of Gosnells, Mills Park Leisure Facility
Leisure and/or Open Space Planning Award National Winners - Ku-ring-gai Council, Activate Ku-ring-gai and Brimbank City Council, Creating Better Parks
Park of the Year Award National Winner - City of Kwinana, Kwinana Adventure Park 
Playspace Award (less than $500,000) National Winner - Fiona Robbe Landscape Architects, Halvorsen Park Playground
Playspace Award (more than $500,000) National Winner - City of Kwinana and Josh Byrne Associates, Kwinana Adventure Playspace
Research Project Award National Winner - Federation University & Victoria University, Sport & Recreation Spatial
David Aldous Student of the Year Award National Winner - Jacksone Holland, City of Greater Geelong
Emerging Leader of the Year Award National Winner - Jo Massoud, Nillumbik Shire Council
Frank Stewart Distinguished Service National Winner - Penny Davidson

Image: Hugh Gardner, Rachel Thorpe, Mark Band, Sophia Czarkowski and Neal Ames receive their recognition as Certified Parks and Leisure Professionals. Image: PLA/Facebook.

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