Every Canberran who took part in the territory's public health response to the coronavirus has been jointly awarded the 2021 Canberra Citizen of the Year.
This broad group of Canberrans acknowledged by the award spans from leadership figures, to frontline workers and people working behind the scenes to ensure the success of the ACT's response to COVID-19.
Chief Minister Andrew Barr handed out the award on Thursday morning. It was accepted by the territory's Chief Health Officer, Dr Kerryn Coleman, accompanied by her deputy, Vanessa Johnston, and other public servants involved in the response, Cassandra Beaumont, Drazen Persic and Lynette Cheruka.
"Throughout 2020, these Canberrans have undertaken our COVID-19 testing, tracing and quarantine," Mr Barr said.
"They have cared for patients, established and run multiple testing sites and conducted over 100,000 COVID-19 tests; managed 15,000 exemptions requests, supported COVID-19 compliance and kept our community well informed throughout the pandemic.
"This work is continuing with the roll out of our vaccination program."
Dr Coleman said the public health response would continue to step up throughout 2021.
"There's still a long way to go," she said.
"We've only just started the rollout of the vaccine program. Things will change.
"We need to learn how to live with COVID-19 as an endemic disease."
Dr Coleman said the success of the public health response came from within the Canberra community.
"From my experience, Canberrans are very proud of their city, their community, their neighbours, and everybody really at heart wants to do the best that they possibly can," she said.
"People are willing to actually listen and work with us.
"That's pride in who we are and [pride in] our community."
Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said the award highlighted the "team of teams" that responded to the pandemic.
'We owe them all a debt of gratitude," she said.
"We would not be in the position that we are without Dr Coleman, [or] without all of those people who have worked so hard over the last 12 months."
It's not the first time a group has been named the Canberra Citizen of the Year.
Last year, the ACT Emergency Services Agency and ACT Parks and Conservation staff were awarded the gong after their efforts in fighting the black summer bushfires.
In 2019, the Canberra Capitals and their fans won the award, and the Canberra Community won the award after the January bushfires in 2003.
