Judges find city’s best ideas

DIGITAL feedback platform Suggest it has awarded three concepts recently submitted to their 2022 Ballarat’s Best Ideas competition.

Loreto College staff member Stella Watson had the idea for the school’s Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning students to make and distribute their winter essential care packs for Ballarat’s homeless community via The SoupBus.

The SoupBus’ Craig Schepis said the initiative is an “amazing” one and the organisation is grateful for.

“I’m thrilled for them to be one of the finalists, and to have won, because they’ve put so much care into the packs, and haven’t just gone with a great range of products, but a lot of them are handmade by the girls to a high quality,” he said.

“We’re really excited about it. We’re serving around 65 people a night, five nights a week, and there are a lot of people in our community who need our help.

“It’s great to have the support of the Loreto girls. From little things, big things do grow.”

Thirteen-year-old Cooper’s memorable suggestion was that Sports Central run a day for people with disabilities to give a range of sports a try, and increase their self-confidence.

Sports Central’s Michael Flynn said the concept aligned perfectly with the organisation’s core values.

“We look forward to getting Cooper involved in making it all happen, connecting lots of people in the community to existing sports, and hopefully some new ones as well,” he said.

Lastly, Platypus Coworking’s Samantha Davies was congratulated for her sustainable idea to establish a reusable cup exchange at neighbouring business Cobbs Coffee, to lessen the use of disposables.

The Lydiard Street cafe’s owner Brendan Wrigley praised the competition for creating a forum to hear from “all different corners” of the community.

“If you’re having a conversation at the table and you think an idea resonates there, it’s probably going to resonate somewhere else,” he said.

Launching in March, the second annual Ballarat’s Best Ideas competition crowdsourced hundreds of positive and constructive suggestions for the city from local people, and visitors, particularly during the Begonia Festival period, and the Australia Junior Basketball Championships at Selkirk Stadium.

A mix of ideas were received, from bringing fishbowls into the waiting rooms of medical centres, to making train travel between the Wendouree and Ballarat stations free, and even creating a ‘taste of Ballarat’ ice cream to draw visitors.

Young people in particular were encouraged to have their input, and most entries had a business and service focus. There was, however, an increased push this year towards sustainability.

The idea submitters, or ‘Gurus’ have received either an Apple watch, Ballarat weekend escape or a Trek Bike, and the businesses or organisations at the centre of the concept have been given $500 to help them implement the idea.

In delivering the initiative, Suggest it worked with the City of Ballarat, Commerce Ballarat, the Committee for Ballarat, Runway, Federation University, Ballarat Regional Tourism, and Crazy Ideas College.

Experts from these partner organisations helped to judge the competition.