DANDARAGAN Shire’s 2010 Citizen of the Year and Young Citizen of the Year awards have both been won by Jurien Bay residents.

About 140 people attended the awards, which were held in Badgingarra last week.

Leto Gunter took out the Young Citizen of the Year award for his tireless contributions towards a range of youth oriented services in Jurien Bay.

As a member of the Junior Police Rangers, Leto took on leadership roles that have seen him deliver phone books to the Jurien Bay community and participate in memorial services such as those held for Anzac Day and Remembrance Day.

Leto also assisted with the 10-12-year-old group session at Jurien Bay Youth Group and helped with the Sandy Cape Trek overnight camp run by the group.

When he is not busy with these commitments, Leto can be found helping to coach junior basketball teams, umpiring basketball matches and being on call to fill in for the senior team when they are short on players.

Also from Jurien Bay, the Citizen of the Year award was presented to Danelle Fauntleroy, who was nominated by three community organisations for her commitment to the town’s development.

With a background in events management, Danelle has been a vital coordinator of events and festivals in Jurien Bay.

Among these was the Easter Festival for which she applied for grants, sourced sponsors, formed the committee and arranged entertainment for the event.

As well as that, Danelle also coordinated the Jurien Bay Lions Markets; junior basketball for the 2009 season; coached ‘Hoops’ for the under 10-year-olds’ basketball program; arranged ladies’ netball sponsors, fixtures and court bookings; coached Net-Set-Go for under eights; and organised fundraising for the senior netball team to go to Perth for the Association Carnival.

Though her talents and dedication have seen her snapped up by the Mt Magnet Shire as their community development officer, Danelle has continued to provide her assistance to the Easter Festival and has remained on the committee of a number of other groups.