Nagle College, Bairnsdale, has been proudly announced as the National Winner of the prestigious 2025 ANZAC Day Schools’ Awards, an annual competition that recognises the remarkable contributions of students and educators across Australia in honouring the sacrifices of our military personnel and remembering Australia’s wartime history.
Now in its 25th year, the ANZAC Day Schools’ Awards is a national initiative aimed at encouraging students to engage deeply with the stories of our service men and women.
Schools across Australia are invited to participate by creating innovative and impactful projects that explore and honour Australia’s military history.
Entries come in many forms, including video, artwork, podcasts, websites, dioramas, and even memorials and gardens.
This year’s submissions once again showcased incredible creativity and dedication from students and educators alike.
The year nine students of Nagle College approached this year’s theme, “Remembering Gallipoli: 110 Years”, with passion and personal commitment, diving deep into the history of the Gallipoli campaign and connecting it to their local community’s veterans.
The project began with a truly special visit from a Second World War veteran, Bruce Crowl, an experience that deeply inspired the students and served as the perfect springboard for their research.
They chose to focus on the stories of East Gippsland veterans who served at Gallipoli, bringing these individual histories to life through creative writing.
The students meticulously crafted diaries, letters, journals, biographies, and note-
books that paid tribute to the service and
sacrifice of their local Gallipoli veterans, ensuring each story was told with respect
and attention to detail.
The culmination of their hard work was a powerful, hands-on exhibition, where the students proudly displayed their collected works for the entire school to explore and reflect upon.
This exhibition not only honoured the legacy of the Gallipoli veterans but also provided an educational resource for students and staff alike, ensuring these important stories would be shared and remembered by the entire Nagle College community.
“We are incredibly proud of our year nine students for their dedication to preserving and sharing the history of our local veterans. Their commitment to ensuring these important stories is never forgotten is a true reflection of the values of Nagle College and the spirit of our community,” principal of Nagle College, Doug Doherty said.
The 2025 ANZAC Day Schools’ Awards also offer an impressive prize pool of $39,000, which will be shared among the winning schools across the country.
Nagle College’s national victory not only places them at the forefront of this prestigious competition but also ensures their heartfelt tribute to our Gallipoli veterans will be highlighted on the ANZAC Portal, a national platform dedicated to preserving Australia’s military history.
The college congratulated all the students and teachers who contributed to this year’s ANZAC Day Schools’ Awards, and thanked them for their continued dedication to remembering the nation’s military history.
