A ceremony at Parliament House was held on Thursday 14 November to recognise 76 secondary school students from across South Australia for their contribution made to their school through accessing democratic processes.

The Muriel Matters Awards program has been conducted annually by the Department for Education, Catholic Education and Independent schools since 2021.

The awards were developed to acknowledge the trailblazing work and life of Muriel Matters, a suffragist, educator and social reformer, who was born in Bowden, South Australia in 1877.

Mrs Matters-Porter passed away in 1969 and in 2009 the Muriel Matters Society was established to research her life’s work, along with encouraging the wider adoption of her principals for social justice and equality.

All SA schools with secondary enrolments are eligible to nominate a student from years 7 to 12 to receive an award to recognise they have exhibited self-initiative in promoting democratic discussion and activity in the community.

Nominations in 2024 included students who have shown leadership through areas such as wellbeing, volunteering, supporting others and being active on student councils or in the Youth Parliament.

Department for Education Chief Executive Professor Martin Westwell said these students are exemplary leaders in their school communities – using democratic processes for change or to support others.

“Often demonstrating initiative and leadership beyond their years, they have used their voice and skills to make improvements for other people at their school, and in their wider communities”.

“I commend them for their active demonstration of civics, citizenship and democracy more than 100 years after Muriel Matters used her voice to make a difference”.

Some of the awardees, who receive a medallion, certificate and a copy of the book 'Muriel Matters – That Daring Australian Girl' by Collette Snowden, attended the event, welcomed to Parliament House by the Speaker Leon Bignell, along with the Minister for Education Training and Skills Blair Boyer. They were then invited to observe Question Time.

The award program has seen a 20% increase in nominations since last year, and in total 269 students have been recognised since 2021.

Read more about the Muriel Matters Awards.