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Helen Clarke has been working with rural women in the “Renewal for Rural Women” and “Women’s Wellness / Hand to the Land” projects since 2001.

(1) A “Renewal for Rural Women” weekend retreat that provided between 20 – 30 women with holistic support for their physical, emotional, cognitive and spiritual lives (May 2007)

(2) A Women’s Wellness weekend entitled “A Hand to the Land” which provided holistic well being supports for women. This is captured in a DVD entitled “A Hand to the Land”. (June 2007)

"Through the “Hand to the Land” and “Renewal for Rural Women” programmes I aimed to support women in isolated rural areas, physically, emotionally and spiritually. I believe the programmes supported the women and in turn supported their families," says Helen Clarke.

Helen is recognised as a leader in the community for reaching out to women on the land and developing support for them in drought affected areas .

Helen Clarke's formal note of thanks to CLW upon receiving the Award:

"The award means so much to me and to the women who will benefit from the support and the recognition. It means I can continue on a bit longer and bring some cheer and "good News" to these women. They are "Salt of the Earth" women and really ask for nothing. In supporting them I am supporting their families, because in so many cases they are holding the families together. They have given me more than I believe I have given them. The money will be well used to support these women."

"In July 2006 I set out to start a choir for women who wanted to sing uplifting music in a community setting. It was important to me that this is an inclusive activity, and that women who perhaps had never sung before, or who had been told that they had “no voice”, would feel welcomed and comfortable when joining this activity. Because of this, there was no requirement for members to be able to read music, to audition or to have had any prior experience with singing.

Eighteen months later, I am delighted and proud to know that we have a vibrant choir of between 15 – 20 women who have been courageous enough to share my vision. We have joined together in fortnightly singing sessions, we have had four workshops, two performances – one in conjunction with another local community choir, made practice CDs and a DVD of our first performance and we are now looking forward to singing in Tasmania next July at the Festival of Voices. We intend to continue our goal of two public performances a year and plan to be part of the Multiple Sclerosis Society’s “Go for Gold” Scholarship Presentation evening in 2008.

Indeed the Soufflé Sisters have achieved what our motto says: WE RISE UP SINGING”

"Thank you so much for announcing my application as a successful short listed application.

I am so thrilled, honoured and humbled to be considered worthy to be in such an inspiring cohort. My congratulations to all the other winners and my sincere thanks to you and your fellow judges in your choice of the Souffle Sisters.

I have spread the good news to the choir and they are all very excited."

"I set out to help create awareness on climate change and sustainability in my community. I was acting on the belief think global and act local, to create the necessary change that humanity must address as both a moral and economic imperative. My son is the light of my life and his existence gives me the strength and courage to stand up for what I believe in, which is a concerted effort at all levels of society to consider what legacy they are leaving for future generations.

We are at cross roads in humanities history, where the old model is failing us and our beautiful planet. In order to survive humanity needs to recognise that without our richness of biodiversity and the resources that many of us take for granted, we will not survive and it will be the poor and lower socio economic groups that suffer the most. In the 21^st century this is not acceptable. As a species we need to evolve to a higher plane of understanding, that real personal growth and satisfaction, comes not just from houses, cars, material possessions, but it comes with giving back and make the world a better place.

When all is said and done and we leave this planet, our future generations will judge us not upon how much we consumed, but what we left for them. Surely our legacy to our children must be not only good health and an education, but a planet that they can survive in, without wars, famine and social injustice and inequity. In many ways Climate Change is a merely a symptom of the world’s greater malaise, that we just stopped caring enough about other human beings."

Danielle Ecuyer's formal note of thanks to CLW upon receiving the Award:

"I would very much like to extend a big thank you to Diann Rodgers-Healy and the Leadership Achievement Award for Women Program.

I believe it is an excellent initiative to recognise the hard work that is conducted by women in communities. Much of this work is done selflessly and goes without recognition in many instances. I know from my own experience that it was really wonderful to have been Short Listed for the 2008 Prize. At the time I commenced my work on Climate Change and Sustainability there was strong resistance and fear in my community, which with the help of the great women supporting me, we managed to overcome some of the fear and fallacies of the science. Although there is still a long way to go into creating a sustainable planet for the children of the world, I have no doubt that the endeavours of WFCA managed to make a difference. Recognition of all our hard work, was wonderful and in many ways where the results are sometimes intangible, it was fabulous to be acknowledged.

Thus I want to congratulate Diann on her excellent leadership for women initiative and extend my congratulations to everyone that either won or partook. We all can make a difference in our communities with a little bit of will and belief that women can change the world."

It was through the death of her son Tony in 1998 to a heroin overdose that the founder of Bridge Back To Life Foundation Rhonda Obad embarked on her journey in hope of making a difference for others. Rhonda has said that it has not been arriving at the destination that has been the most important thing but the journey getting there and all the wonderful people she has met along the way.

Rhonda in 1999 founded Bridge Back To Life Foundation a not for profit organisation whose work is devoted to the enhancement of children and young peoples lives.

For the past several years volunteers of the Foundation has worked tirelessly to secure builders and most materials for free to erect a home for youth at risk aged between 12 years to 18 years. This was achieved solely through the commitment of 10 key volunteers.

Consultations with Young Shire Council, Mayor Jerry Bailey and Tony Kelly Minister of NSW lands have helped to secure the land required to erect the home. This gesture of kindness from those concerned demonstrates a wonderful community spirit and is a further strong early indicator of the support this project has in the Young community of NSW. Building of the home will commence in 2008 and the building of the children’s lives will be ongoing.

I wish to thank one and all for your time in judging the Centre for Leadership for Women Awards for 2008. Assessing the applications and discussing the merits of each would not have been any easy task. Thank you sincerely for your efforts.

The Achievement Award has provided me, my family and friends with a great amount of pride.

My work and commitment to make a positive difference within our community is very tiring work and not always appreciated by everyone which at times is very hard to cope with. It requires a great deal of energy and dedication.

The Achievement Award provided me with encouragement that the work I do is recognised as important and is worth the effort. It is very difficult in raising awareness that we as Australians are all responsible for the wellbeing of our vulnerable children and that working together will make a major difference.

I am optimistic that the recognition I received will open many doors which will allow for me the opportunity to strengthen my ties with the community and that as a community we can together make the world a better and safer place for our precious assets our children.

Margaret Gurry is the Founder and Co-ordinator of the The Friday Night School which was created to give children from non-English speaking backgrounds, in particular refugee children from third world countries, educational opportunities not available to them to help them to achieve success in whatever vocation they chose. Margaret Gurry also wanted to break down the barriers of isolation and loneliness.

The Friday Night School is based around a tutoring program held each Friday night. It has developed to include camps, scholarships, textbooks and computers and to enable wider social involvement from the children's families The Friday Night School has over its eleven years, and with the assistance of hundreds of dedicated volunteers, enabled many children to succeed.

"Thank you for advising me that I had been selected as the Highly Commended Applicant for the 2008 CLW Leadership Achievement Award for Women.

It is a great honour to have been selected and one which I share with all those wonderful volunteers who have helped me over the last 12 years at the Friday Night School.

I have donated my prize money to our Friday Night School Scholarship Fund. You might be interested in the enclosed brochure and leaflets. This year Friday Night School is supporting 8 secondary students at a variety of schools and in 2009 the number will be increased to 14 students.

But congratulations must also go to your foresight in initiating the awards and the panel of Judges who have given their time. Publishing the achievements of a few and the encouragement the winners receive from you will no doubt lead to more women having the courage of their convictions to "make a difference".

My colleagues at Blake Dawson, family and friends were delighted to hear of my Award."