Floods and ferocious weather wouldn’t hold us back on Wednesday night as we chatted by the cozy fire at the Young Street Hotel in Carrington. For May’s Awesome Newcastle, we welcomed several returning board members including Sharife Rahmani of Coal LSL, Scott McShane of Reflections Holiday Parks and Adrienne Donnelly of Organised by Adrienne. We welcomed first time guest board member Tiana Jarvis of Lawn Liaison (and previously an Awesome Newcastle winner!) and first time guest board member Pete Lucas from Engineroom Design Co. Thank you all for generously joining us!

May had a stellar line up of finalists: Bianca Bartlett of Not Just Jeans, Dominic May of Coast XP and Natalie Davis of Busking at the Station.

Bianca went first. She’s a previous Awesome Newcastle finalist with her Purple Card Project, a local social enterprise. Bianca returned to talk to us about her latest initiative. Jeans in June is Upcycle Newcastle’s inaugural textile awareness month, and to kick it off, Purple Card Project will be hosting a clothes swap event on June 2nd called Not Just Jeans! This event has both environmental and social benefits, and offers a platform for local textile and sustainability experts to share their passion and knowledge with the community. She would use the money to cover costs for venue and equipment hire as well as to pay a local sustainability and textile experts who will speak on the day.

Dom went next. He explained how he is the founder of CoastXP, an adventure tourism company based in Newcastle and Lake Macquarie. He offers coastal sightseeing, whale watching and guided bushwalking experiences along the Hunter coastline. Dom explained that he wants to capture and produce 360-degree footage of some of the most memorable moments on his tours in order to produce a 360 VR experience to share with both disability and aged-care markets. It would make their experiences and our beautiful city as accessible as possible. He would fund the project but use the money to purchase a 360-degree camera and VR mobile headset.

Natalie was our final finalist. She explained to us that she’s a musician who runs a business called Marmalade Sky Music, and they host “Busking at The Station” in Newcastle East, a monthly performance opportunity that supports local musicians, surrounding businesses & the wider community. From July 2024 until June 2025, her event will be held on the first Sunday of every month. Everyone is invited to come along and play a song, and all busking tips earned go to a different charity or organisation. She would use the money to help fund each monthly event throughout the year.

The judges had a tough task ahead of them, but votes needed to be cast. At last we invited Sharife to the stage to award the $1000 no-strings-attached cold hard cash! Sharife passed the money along to Bianca of Not Just Jeans. Congratulations! We hope your clothing swap is Not Just Jeans and so much more! We’ll be cheering you on! Big thank you to Dom and Natalie as well! We love what you’re doing and who knows, we might see you sometime soon at another Awesome Newcastle as Applications never expire!

Until next month! Get to brainstorming your next big idea, and apply for Awesome Newcastle today!