At the recent Orienteering Australia Awards night, Bernard Walker was announced as the winner of the Silva Award which is Orienteering Australia's top award. The award is acknowledgement for Bernard's outstanding work as Event Director, Oceania Championships and Round 1 of the IOF World Cup.
Ultimately responsible for the success of this major international event, Bernard provided outstanding leadership of the Organising Committee. In Tasmania national and international carnivals are conducted by an Organising Committee representing all clubs and all orienteers throughout the state (rather than having individual clubs organising specific events). As such, Bernard’s role involved putting together and leading the Organising Committee that successfully managed all aspects (Technical, Services, Social, Media, Entries, Presentations etc.) of every event for the whole carnival. The carnival was highly complex with World Cup races held along with Oceania Championship races, Australia/New Zealand Schools Challenge races, and public races, all with a number of other competitions embedded in the overall programme.
Bernard has been a stalwart of orienteering in Tasmania for over 20 years. A member of the Wellington Ranges Orienteering Club in Hobart, Bernard has been a regular competitor in his age class throughout his career with many national titles and many top three placings in Australian Championships and Australian Three Days.
Bernard has been Vice President of Orienteering Tasmania Incorporated for eight of the past eleven years, making a valuable contribution to our sport in Tasmania and representing Tasmania at Orienteering Australia Annual Conference on a number of occasions.
Bernard’s major contribution to orienteering in Tasmania and in Australia has been through his involvement in major event organisation. Together with his regular contribution to the organisation of club and state events, Bernard has been instrumental in the staging of five major national and international carnivals between 1992 and 2015.