My Home Garden Awards

When I received this in my email for 2022 and 2023, I got plan­ning. When I received my vic­tims of crime com­pen­sa­tion in 2024 I began to build my gar­den for myself and the com­plex as a com­mu­nal gar­den

The My Home Awards cel­e­brates con­nec­tions to home, com­mu­ni­ty and cul­ture, and the pos­i­tive con­tri­bu­tions of Queens­land pub­lic hous­ing ten­ants.

The awards encour­age ten­ants to keep active, con­nect with their neigh­bours and com­mu­ni­ty, and share their sto­ries and cre­ativ­i­ty.

Thank you to all the entrants in the 2024 My Home Awards and the con­tri­bu­tions you make to your com­mu­ni­ties; we enjoyed vis­it­ing your gar­dens, hear­ing your sto­ries and shar­ing in your pas­sions and tal­ents.

Read about some of this year’s prize win­ners.

Carmel’s garden paradise

Reg­u­lar Gold Coast entrant and mul­ti-award win­ner Carmel, 80, nur­tures her gar­den as well as those across her social hous­ing com­plex.

‘I like to live in a nice place, we all do, and gar­dens are a big part of that.

‘I came here with two pot plants and couldn’t tell you how many I’ve got now!

‘The first week­end I moved in, I shift­ed 13 wheel­bar­rows of soil into my gar­den – and I can still lift bags of soil and use a mat­tock now,’ Carmel said.

‘I tell every­one here that gar­den­ing is my fam­i­ly, and I do it for my health.

‘If I sit inside, I’m full of pain, but going out­side and los­ing myself in the gar­den keeps me healthy and strong.’

Carmel won first prize in the com­mu­nal gar­den cat­e­go­ry in the 2024 My Home Awards for the Gold Coast area.

Creativity shines though in Sharyn and Gary’s Sunshine Coast garden

Sharyn and Gary won mul­ti­ple prizes in the 2024 My Home Awards, includ­ing first prize in the house gar­den cat­e­go­ry and run­ner up in the water wise gar­den cat­e­go­ry for the Sun­shine Coast area.

For Sharyn and Gary, gar­den­ing is a labour of love – for the plants they prop­a­gate and the mosaics Sharyn cre­ates in mem­o­ry of her late mum Ivy.

Their impres­sive gar­den fea­tures about 200 vari­eties of suc­cu­lents and stun­ning mosaics, some of which include trea­sured chi­na owned by Ivy.

‘My mum was a real­ly big plant lover, so she and I used to spend a lot of time out­side.

‘I like being able to use her things, that were spe­cial to her and put them into a mosa­ic that I can put back out into the gar­den,’ Sharyn says.

‘The mosaics and the gar­den help keep Mum with me in life.

‘When I’m out­side and I see dif­fer­ent things, I can hear mum’s voice talk­ing to me, hear her talk­ing about those things. I find com­fort in it.’

Katherine’s art inspired by tradition and connection to country

Katherine’s excep­tion­al tal­ent was hon­oured with a first prize in the cel­e­brat­ing cul­ture cat­e­go­ry (Bris­bane Region).

‘My paint­ings rep­re­sent coun­try, walk­ing on land, the old way, hunt­ing, and track­ing. What­ev­er comes to mind flows onto the can­vas,’ Kather­ine said.

Kather­ine’s cre­ative process is deeply thought­ful, often span­ning months as she works on mul­ti­ple projects at once, tak­ing her time to let each piece evolve nat­u­ral­ly with­out rush­ing.

Heather shares her garden with local birdlife

Manoo­ra res­i­dent, Heather, won first prize in the house gar­den cat­e­go­ry in the 2024 My Home Awards (Cairns area).

‘I love my gar­den. It’s big­ger than some people’s hous­es! I’ve got every­thing in plants here; you name it, I’ve got it.

‘I’ve got 2 bird baths and 3 bird feed­ers, so the birds come in while I’m hav­ing my brekkie. If I haven’t got my door open by 7am, they’re tweet­ing at the front door.

‘And a cou­ple of the birds, if there’s a cou­ple of leaves or bark off the wil­low tree in the water, they look at me and say hur­ry up and clean it!

‘The My Home Awards cer­e­mo­ny is a great oppor­tu­ni­ty to con­nect with oth­er gar­den­ers.

‘The recog­ni­tion is love­ly and it’s nice to see pho­tos of their gar­dens and to swap lit­tle bits of infor­ma­tion,’ she said.