The Gill Owen essay prize 2017

Raise your voice for energy efficiency and social equity

AGL Energy, the Institute for Sustainable Futures at UTS, the Association for Energy & Environmental Equity, Uniting Communities and Guardian Australia are very proud to announce an essay competition to honour the memory of Dr Gill Owen.

Dr Gill Owen was a tireless campaigner in the fields of energy efficiency and social equity.

A passionate and pioneering campaigner for social justice, Gill was one of the first women to bring the voices of the consumer and the disadvantaged to the Boards of the UK’s and Australia’s competition and economic regulators.

Gill fought bravely and passionately for these causes until her untimely death from an aggressive brain tumour in August 2016.

To celebrate Gill’s contribution to the empowerment of the disadvantaged and her unwavering commitment to improving energy efficiency, we invite emerging voices under the age of 35 to offer their own valuable perspective on the future of energy efficiency and social equity. This essay competition will be held annually until 2019.

Award winners:

The winners of the awards were announced on Wednesday 7 February at the State Library Victoria, with David Green (husband of Dr. Gill Owen), Michelle Groves (CEO, Australian Energy Regulator), Jim Cox (board member, Australian Energy Regulator), Sharon Darcy (CEO, Sustainability First) and Cameron Reid (Program Manager – Transition & Rehabilitation, AGL) in attendance.

The winner of the Gill Owen essay prize, Dev Tayal, has recently completed his PhD in Renewable Energy at Curtin University. Previously, he has studied at the University of Cambridge as a Menzies Scholar, and worked as a consultant for the UK and Australian governments. He is a regular contributor to renewable energy journals and media outlets.

His winning essay prize, “The emperor of energy efficiency”, is available here.

We are also pleased to announce two runner-up prizes – one from the student submission category, and one from the non-student submission category.

Read the runner-up of the non-student award category, Tim Harrison’s essay “Energy efficiency programs: an equitable choice” here.

Read the runner-up of the student category, Sally Commins’ essay “Bill, and the case for those left out in the cold”‘ here.