The announcement was made at a special function held at the Wauchope RSL Club on Saturday.

Wauchope Pink Ladies is the first group to be acknowledged in the Citizen of the Year awards since its inception in 1983.

The decision to expand the nominations from individuals to include groups was seen by the Apex Club as a major step forward in acknowledging the hard work of volunteers.

The Gazette's Peter Daniels said that decision would ensure the Citizen of the Year award remains relevant.

"Increasingly we are seeing more people move into local groups and organisations to work within our community," he said.

"And while there are many people who work individually, many volunteers do not like to be mentioned above any other member within their organisation.

"So it makes sense to include groups in the structure of the awards.

"Every group is made of volunteers who work tirelessly for our community.

"We will, however, continue to promote the idea that individuals make up the group and we have no problem identifying one person as our citizen of the year in the future."

The awards this year feature four entries: Wauchope Pink Ladies, Deborah Carmichael from Wauchope Community College, Wauchope Community Arts Council, and Brian Smith – nominated by Bob and Fay Shirtliff – from the Wauchope Fire Brigade.

The Wauchope Pink Ladies play an instrumental part in working within the health service in Wauchope and have done for many years.