Volunteer Mark Edmonds named 2026 Victorian Senior of the Year
This year's awards also honoured work supporting people with dementia, older migrants, multicultural communities and female veterans.
Volunteer Mark Edmonds has received the Premier's Award for Victorian Senior of the Year 2026, recognising his work helping build self-sustaining communities in Zimbabwe.
Recipients were celebrated at Government House with Minister for Seniors Nick Staikos, the Victorian Government announced on Thursday 22 October.
Other award recipients
- Sandra Verdam received the Positive Ageing Award for founding Memory Care Cafés, which support people living with dementia and their carers.
- Ronnie Figdor OAM received the Promotion of Multiculturalism Award for his lifelong work building connections between diverse communities and generations.
- Mahendrakumar Patel received the Emerging Impact Award for his work empowering older migrants and the multicultural community.
- Margaret Jager received the Veteran Community Award for more than 40 years of service to Victoria's female veteran community.
Council on the Ageing (COTA) Victoria Senior Achiever Awards were also presented to nine Victorians. Their contributions range from mentoring and supporting vulnerable people to providing leadership and training during emergencies and disasters.
About the awards
For more than 30 years, the Victorian Senior of the Year Awards have recognised seniors who give back through volunteering, advocacy and community leadership.
Mr Staikos said this year's recipients showed "the extraordinary impact older Victorians have in our communities". He also encouraged people to get involved in Seniors Festival events running across the state.
Profiles of the 2026 recipients are at seniorsonline.vic.gov.au/awards.
Sources: “Celebrating Victoria's Remarkable Seniors”, Victorian Government media release, 22 October 2026 Adapted from “Celebrating Victoria's Remarkable Seniors”, Victorian Government media release, 22 October 2026. © Copyright State Government of Victoria, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence; this version has been edited and shortened, and party-political content removed. Illustrations: The Dosage.