On October 1, the Constitution Education Fund Australia (CEFA) held its
NSW 2008 Awards Ceremony at Government House, Sydney. The event was
hosted by the Governor of New South Wales, Her Excellency, Professor Marie
Bashir AO CVO.

The ceremony was held to reward excellence in CEFA civics education
projects, programs and awards in schools and universities from across NSW.
Young Australians participate in a variety of civics projects to become
engaged, responsible, active and informed citizens. The Awards recognised
achievements in three areas:

• Parliamentary Club Primary and Secondary School students, teachers
and new mentors;
• University students who were the winners in the Undergraduate Essay
Competition; and
• CEFA Community Civics & Citizenship Awards for outstanding
contributions to mentoring and volunteering services in support of
CEFA’s work.

Her Excellency presented awards to students, teachers and schools for their
outstanding effort in implementing the CEFA Parliamentary Club. This
initiative is a whole-of-school civics project where the school community
creates a mini democracy through a school parliament to provide a highly
practical civics education learning experience for participating students.

The primary school awards were the first to be presented and they were
preceded by an invitation to the Prime Minister of Al Zahra College, The Hon
Mustafa Al-Kahi, to address the gathering of distinguished guests.

Following The Hon Mr Al-Kahi address, Her Excellency presented the Primary
School recipients with certificates for Achievement in Civic and Citizenship
Education. The recipients for the awards were as follows

From Al Zahra College Arncliffe
• Mustafa Al Kahi
• Mohammed Jawad Saadi
• Bilal Abou-Gayda
• Zeinab Jomaa
• Ismail Hamdy

This was follow by acceptance of the award for the most Outstanding
Parliamentary Club Primary school by Dr Ken Darvall on behalf Al Zahra
College Arncliffe. Al Zahra was CEFA’s first established primary school
parliament. Earlier this year, Al Zahra showcased the initiative to the
Administrator of the Northern Territory and the school has been the subject of
a recent episode of ABC TV’s COMPASS program. The audience warmly
acknowledged the school for their great work in Civics and Citizenship
Education.

At the end of the presentation of the Awards, Her Excellency expressed her
thanks and congratulations to all the students and teachers who participated in
CEFA civics education programs and reiterated the importance of helping
young people to develop into a new generation of active, knowledgeable and
informed citizens.

CEFA’s Executive Director, Mrs Kerry Jones, then thanked Her Excellency for
her generosity of time and spirit in hosting this memorable occasion for all
those who attend and presented the Governor with the symbol of our civics
education programs – the CEFA Parliamentary Mace.