Greeks honoured in the Multicultural awards

Forty one Greeks and one Greek community organisation were among the more than 200 Victorians whose outstanding service to diversity in Victorian communities was acknowledged at the Victorian Multicultural Awards (VMC) for Excellence on Thursday.

The awards were announced at a ceremony held at Government House. Victorian Premier John Brumby said it was important to recognise the achievements of those who had contributed so much to help strengthen cultural diversity and respect in Victoria.

“Victorians take great pride in our diverse multicultural heritage and that’s why it is important we honour the individuals and organisations that both support and promote our culturally, religiously and linguistically diverse communities,” Mr Brumby said.

Thirty two Greek-Australians were awarded for Meritorious Service to the Community.

Apostolos Alexiadis, Roma Siachos and Ioannis Lambrianidis for their outstanding voluntary contribution to the Pontian community of Victoria.

Catherine Alexopoulos, George Catsourakis, Peter Vlahos, Niki Pezaros, Thekla Scarcella  and Constantine Efthymiadis for their outstanding voluntary contribution to the Greek community of Victoria. 

Thalia Carydias, Vasilios Rouvalis, Helen Rapassanis, Anna Kontekakis, Anthony Petsis,  Fotini Vassos, Anastasios Theodorellos, Dimitrios Potamidis and Xanthi Dellis for their outstanding contribution to the community of Oakleigh.

Helen Constas for her voluntary contribution to the Greek community of Frankston and Peninsula.

John Diplaris for his outstanding voluntary contribution to the Greek community of Malvern.

Theodoula Ioannou for her voluntary contribution to the elderly Cypriot community of the southern suburbs of Melbourne.

Katina Lerias for her outstanding voluntary contribution to the Greek community of Maribyrnong.

Paul Mavroudis for his outstanding voluntary contributions to the Scottish community of Victoria.

Irene Nomicos for her outstanding voluntary contribution to the Greek community of Lalor.

Aliki Pandis for her outstanding voluntary contribution to the Geek community of Springvale.

Antonis Papazoglou for his outstanding voluntary contribution to the Greek community of Broadmeadows and District.

Andrew Pavlou for his outstanding voluntary contribution to the multicultural community of Victoria.

Eleni Sakelaridis for her outstanding voluntary contribution to the Greek community of Rye and Peninsula.

Simeon Sarres for his outstanding voluntary contribution to the Greek community of North Eastern Victoria.

Costas Tolongos for his outstanding voluntary contribution to the Cypriot community of the Southern suburbs of Melbourne.

Anestis Tsousis for his outstanding voluntary contribution to the Greek community of Frankston and Peninsula.

Aris Vlahogeorgos for his outstanding voluntary contribution to the elderly Greek community of Moreland.

Eight Greek Australians received the Service Delivery to Multicultural Victoria Award.

Effie Dres for working in a voluntary capacity for more than fifteen years as the coordinator, principal choreographer and administrator of cultural youth dance group, Romiosini.

Peter Gogorosis was recognised as a leader for his work to advance both practice and knowledge within the aged care sector.

Nick Loupos for his work with community radio, as he has been contributing to the Greek community of Melbourne for over 25 years.

Nicholas Alexander Moraitis has for his work as a Community Liaison Officer at the Commonwealth Bank, liaising with new migrants in order to help them to organise their finances.

Despina Rovolidis as she has been involved in the Oakleigh Greek Orthodox Community since 1970.

Anthea Sidiropoulos, for promoting Melbourne’s multicultural communities with her services as a singer, performer of multicultural music events and programs.

Loula Spiridonos-Papazois for actively being involved in a number of community organisations in a voluntary capacity and has been actively involved in promoting cultural activities for over two decades.

Anastasios Stathopoulos through his capacity as Principal of the ZINON School of Languages, he has specialised in teaching HSC/VCE level students and also in lecturing for all Greek HSC/VCE candidates on classical Greek literature and translation.

Constable Rebecca Amiridis received the Probationary Constable Award as she was the Squad 10 recipient of the Blue Ribbon Foundation Communication Skills award for outstanding performance in communication skills. Constable Amiridids who is born in Australia is of Greek and Italian descent.

The awards were originally established in 2002, and are provided across nine categories, including Meritorious Service to the Community, Service Delivery to Multicultural Victoria, Media, Local Government, Education, Police and Community Multicultural Advisory Committee Award and a Business category.