Federal Member for Newcastle Sharon Claydon has launched the 2017 Newcastle Volunteer Awards and encouraged Novocastrians to nominate a volunteer for an award.Ms Claydon said volunteers make an invaluable contribution to Newcastle and deserve to be recognised. As the Federal Member for Newcastle, I have the pleasure of attending community events and meeting many of our fantastic, dedicated and hard-working volunteers, Ms Claydon said. With this in mind I established the Newcastle Volunteer Service Awards. These awards provide an opportunity to thank volunteers for their valuable contribution." Ms Claydon said she had launched the awards in Parliament Houseto coincide with National Volunteer Week. "National Volunteer Week is a great time to reflect on the incredible contribution volunteers make across the country," Ms Claydon said. "Close to a third of Australians engage in volunteering activities which contributes $290 billion to the social and economic wealth of the country." Ms Claydon urged Novocastrians to support volunteers in their community by putting in a nomination. Nominating a special volunteer is easy and will only take around fifteen minutes just download the nomination form from www.sharonclaydon.com, Ms Claydon said. For more information on the 2017 Newcastle Volunteer Awards, visit www.sharonclaydon.com/2017newcastlevolunteerawards or phone 4926 1555.