{"id":511,"date":"2026-08-05T16:07:45","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T06:07:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chapter.ser.org\/australasia\/?page_id=511"},"modified":"2026-08-13T12:25:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T02:25:07","slug":"award-2-sera-award-for-ecological-restoration-excellence-small-project-under-50-ha","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/chapter.ser.org\/australasia\/sera-awards\/sera-awards-2026\/award-2-sera-award-for-ecological-restoration-excellence-small-project-under-50-ha\/","title":{"rendered":"AWARD 2 \u2014 SERA Award for Ecological Restoration Excellence: Small Project (under 50 ha)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>SERA Award for Ecological Restoration Excellence \u2014 Small Project Category<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">This award celebrates restoration excellence at a smaller scale \u2014 recognising that meaningful ecological recovery doesn&#8217;t require vast tracts of land or expansive areas of ocean just sound science, careful planning, and sustained commitment. It&#8217;s for projects under 50 hectares that demonstrate outstanding results relative to their size.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">Small projects are sometimes where the most innovative restoration thinking happens \u2014 tight budgets, close community involvement, and hands-on adaptive management. This award puts a spotlight on that work.<\/p>\n<h5><a href=\"https:\/\/icebergevents-sera-2026.eventsairsite.com\/sera-awards\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #008000\"><strong>APPLY HERE<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/h5>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>Prize: <\/strong>$1,500<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>Who&#8217;s eligible:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">Any individual, organisation, agency, or community group leading or closely involved in a restoration project under 50 hectares, located in Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand, or the Pacific Islands. There is no restriction on project age. Previous finalists and winners may reapply.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>What you&#8217;ll need to supply:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A written project summary describing the site, its history, and the restoration approach taken (word limit \u2013 700 words)<\/li>\n<li>Evidence addressing the judging criteria (see below) \u2014 monitoring data, site reports, or survey results<\/li>\n<li>Photographs of the site for use in SERA&#8217;s promotional materials and, if shortlisted, the awards presentation<\/li>\n<li>Details of stakeholder or community involvement<\/li>\n<li>Optional: supporting documents such as published research, media coverage, or funding acknowledgements<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">If shortlisted, you&#8217;ll be contacted directly and asked to prepare a short video showcasing your project, to be shown at the awards presentation.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>How to apply: <\/strong>Submit via the <a href=\"https:\/\/icebergevents-sera-2026.eventsairsite.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">conference portal<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Preparing your application: what judges are looking for<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">Your 700-word project summary and supporting evidence will be assessed against the following criteria.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>Scientific and ecological foundation<\/strong><br \/>\nTell us about the science behind your project \u2014 sound ecological research, a monitoring program, or research partnerships. Even informal, in-house monitoring that informs your decisions strengthens your case.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>Planning and scale-appropriate delivery<\/strong><br \/>\nShow that your planning, implementation, and monitoring are well matched to your site. At this scale, judges want to see thoughtful, intentional design \u2014 not just &#8220;doing what we can&#8221; with limited resources.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>Stakeholder engagement<\/strong><br \/>\nWho else is involved? Judges look for genuine, secure engagement with local stakeholders or partners, however small your team or community group might be.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>Indigenous ecosystem reference<\/strong><br \/>\nDescribe how you&#8217;ve used an appropriate local Indigenous ecosystem as your recovery reference \u2014 the ecological community you&#8217;re aiming toward, and how you determined it.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>Sustainability and connectivity<\/strong><br \/>\nExplain how your project is built to last, and whether it links to surrounding ecosystems \u2014 even a small site can contribute to a much bigger picture of connectivity.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>Climate adaptability<\/strong><br \/>\nHave you factored climate change into your design \u2014 species choices, water management, or planning for future rather than historical conditions?<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>Demonstrated recovery<\/strong><br \/>\nThis is where your evidence matters most: monitoring data, survey results, photos, or reports showing recovery is genuinely underway.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>X factor<\/strong><br \/>\nSmall projects often have standout qualities that don&#8217;t fit neatly elsewhere \u2014 an innovative approach, strong community story, or unusual outcome. Tell us about it.<\/p>\n<h5><a href=\"https:\/\/icebergevents-sera-2026.eventsairsite.com\/sera-awards\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #008000\"><strong>APPLY HERE<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SERA Award for Ecological Restoration Excellence \u2014 Small Project Category This award celebrates restoration excellence at a smaller scale \u2014 recognising that meaningful ecological recovery doesn&#8217;t require vast tracts of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":118,"featured_media":0,"parent":496,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-511","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chapter.ser.org\/australasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chapter.ser.org\/australasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chapter.ser.org\/australasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chapter.ser.org\/australasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/118"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chapter.ser.org\/australasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=511"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/chapter.ser.org\/australasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":566,"href":"https:\/\/chapter.ser.org\/australasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/511\/revisions\/566"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chapter.ser.org\/australasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chapter.ser.org\/australasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}