2025 Young Floodplain Manager of the Year

Floodplain Management Australia

Floodplain Management Australia (FMA) has announced Naomi Harris, from Blacktown City Council in Sydney, New South Wales as the winner of the 2025 FMA IAG Young Floodplain Manager of the Year Award.

The prestigious award is presented to a Young Floodplain Manager who has made an outstanding contribution or achievement to the flood risk management industry in their early career.

Naomi is an exceptional young floodplain manager showing great dedication and resilience advancing flood risk management in the Blacktown Local Government Area (LGA).

FMA President Sue Ribbons said the Award provides an opportunity to publicly showcase and promote the incredible work Australia’s young flood risk professionals are undertaking.

Through her work at Blacktown City Council, Naomi has demonstrated her strong commitment to collaboration and knowledge sharing of floodplain management within Council and across the Blacktown community. Naomi prioritises community awareness and understanding through compassionately engaging with residents at community consultation events, and developing an array of community-focused resources such as FAQ materials and user-friendly online flood maps.

Beyond community engagement, Naomi has contributed greatly to Council’s floodplain risk management activities including developing flood studies, working to formulate a comprehensive floodplain risk management strategy for the area and assembling Council’s first Floodplain Risk Management Advisory Committee.

Ms. Ribbons said “Naomi is an incredible asset to the flood risk management industry. Her compassion, initiative and drive for making communities safer is to be commended and celebrated. The success that Naomi has achieved so early in her career is testament to her hard work and dedication to best practice flood risk management. FMA is excited to present her with this esteemed Award, and follow her achievements into the future.”

IAG Manager Flood, Bushfire, Coastal & Climate Risk, Andrew Dyer, said: “We congratulate Naomi on the award and her outstanding work and dedication to supporting communities through Blacktown City Council.

“Helping people and communities understand their level of flood risk is critical to their safety and helping them to become better prepared and more resilient into the future. We look forward to seeing Naomi’s many more outstanding achievements across her career.”

The winner of the FMA IAG Young Floodplain Manager of the Year was announced at the FMA National Conference in Melbourne on 15^th May.

FMA brings together experts from across Australia and overseas to help build a more flood resilient nation. Members include over 180 councils, catchment management authorities, government agencies, businesses, and professionals involved in urban and rural flood risk management.

For more information on FMA, visit floods.asn.au.

IAG Contact

E) [email protected]

 P) +61 (02) 9292 9742

Floodplain Management Australia
President Sue Ribbons | [email protected]