Community living reimagined by Townsville student
Date published: 10 August 2020
An Oonoonba State School student has won top honours in a state-wide competition that encouraged students to create and plan their perfect community.
Grade 3 student Victor Jensen was recently presented a $2,500 cheque by Townsville Mayor Jenny Hill for his winning entry in the Local Government Association of Queensland’s (LGAQ) Better Communities competition.
The Better Communities competition challenged primary and high school-aged students to build a community while balancing realistic economic, environmental and community factors.
Cr Hill said Victor had a promising career in town planning ahead of him.
“The judges commended Victor on the great look and feel of his community, especially the range of housing types and good access to services and parks,” Cr Hill said.
“You never know – one day Victor might join the team at Townsville City Council working to make our city an even better place to live and work.”
Students used the Better Communities simulation game – which the LGAQ developed with award-winning Queensland game development studio Bail! Enemy Jet and local communications experts Articulous – as the platform to create their entries.
LGAQ CEO Greg Hallam said: “The entries we received from across the state showed a lot of creativity and innovative thinking. Town planning and civic leadership requires out of the box thinking and it is clear there is a lot of ingenuity and big ideas out there in Queensland’s schools.”
The competition judges were former Attorney-General, former Minister for Local Government and lecturer in Strategic Metropolitan and Transport and Infrastructure Planning Paul Lucas, planner and University of Queensland School of Earth and Environmental Sciences associate lecturer Laurel Johnson, and LGAQ CEO Greg Hallam AM.
 LGAQ Better Communities Presentation 1 |  LGAQ Better Communities Presentation 2 |
