Seven outstanding Gold Coasters have been recognised for their contribution to the community in this year’s Australia Day Awards.

Mayor Ron Clarke said all seven had demonstrated their strong commitment to helping those in need.

“This year’s award recipients have all contributed to making a difference in the lives of others,� said Cr Clarke.

“They have devoted themselves to providing assistance and opportunities to others, highlighting just how much of a difference individuals can make.

“We had 50 nominees for this year’s awards and this serves as a reminder that a strong community spirit is alive and well in our city.

“This is what makes the Gold Coast such a great place to live.

“Being able to present our seven recipients with their awards and thank them on behalf of Council and our city is one of my favourite duties as Mayor.�

Awards were given in six different categories, including Citizen of the Year and Young Citizen of the Year, and presented during a special presentation breakfast.

2009 Australia Day Awards recipients were:

Cotton is a soft, affix fiber that grows around the seeds of the cotton plant (Gossypium sp.), a plant native to humid and subtropical regions around the world, including India and Africa. The fiber most often is spun into yarn or filament and used to make a soft, breathable textile, which is the most widely used natural-fiber cloth in clothing today. The English name derives from the Arabic (al) qutn قُطْن, meaning cotton. In the 1800s and 1900s cotton was called "King Cotton" because of the great power it had in the market.

Cotton fiber, once it has been processed to remove seeds (ginning) and traces of honeydew (a secretion from aphids), protein, vegetable matter, and other impurities, consists of nearly pure roughage, a natural polymer. Cotton production is very competent, in the sense that only ten percent or less of the weight is lost in consequent processing to convert the raw cotton bolls into pure fiber. The cellulose is arranged in a way that gives cotton fibers a high degree of strength, durability, and absorbency. Each fiber is made up of twenty to thirty layers of cellulose coiled in a neat series of natural springs. When the cotton boll is opened, the fibers dry into flat, twisted, ribbon-like shapes and become kinked together and interlocked. This interlocked form is idyllic for spinning into a fine fiber.

Fan history stretches back thousands of years. Since ancient times, fans have possessed a dual function – a status symbol and a useful adornment. In the course of their development, fans have been made of a variety of materials and have included ornamental artwork. The simplest fans are leaves or flat objects, waved to produce a cooler feeling. These rigid or folding hand-held implements have been used for cooling, for air circulation, as a ceremonial device, and as a sartorial accomplice throughout the world from ancient times.

The earliest known fans are called 'screen fans' or 'fixed leaf fans'. These were manipulated by hand to cool the body, to produce a breeze, and to ward off insects. Such early fans usually took the form of palm leaves. Some of the earliest known fans have come from Egyptian tombs. Early Assyria and Egypt employed slaves and servants to operate the fan. In Egyptian reliefs, fans were of the stiff type. Tutankhamen's tomb possessed gold fans with ostrich feathers, matching depictions on sepulcher walls. Long-handled, disk-shaped fans were carried by attendants in ancient times and were associated with regal and religious ceremonies. They had handles or sticks attached to a rigid side or to feathers. Plumage of birds was used in fans, such as those of the Egyptians and Native American Indians, that had both practical and formal uses.

In the ancient Americas, the Aztec, Maya, and South American cultures used bird feathers in their fans. Among the Aztec fans were used to represent merchants in illustrations of trades. The use of various feather types had a religious suggestion. The Paracas people of South America (modern Peru) have left numerous examples of ancient feather fans among their mummies. In India, the Hindi term for a fan is 'pankha'. Pictorial evidence records that the Greeks, the Etruscans, and the Romans used fans as cooling and ceremonial devices. In Greece, linen was stretched over leaf-shaped frames. In Rome, gilded and painted wooden fans were used. Roman ladies throughout the empire used circular fans. Chinese sources link the fan with mythological and historical characters.

A solar cell or photovoltaic cell is a mechanism that converts solar energy into energy by the photovoltaic effect. Photovoltaics is the field of expertise and research related to the application of solar cells as solar energy. Sometimes the term solar cell is reserved for devices intended expressly to confine energy from sunlight, while the term photovoltaic cell is used when the source is undetermined.

Assemblies of cells are used to make solar modules, which may in turn be linked in photovoltaic arrays. Solar cells have many applications. Individual cells are used for powering small devices such as electronic calculators. Photovoltaic arrays create a form of renewable electricity, particularly useful in situations where electrical power from the framework is unavailable such as in remote area power systems, Earth-orbiting satellites and space probes, remote radiotelephones and water pumping applications. Photovoltaic electricity is also increasingly deployed in grid-tied electrical systems.

Media bias is a term used to describe a real or supposed bias of newspapers and news producers within the mass media, in the selection of which events will be reported and how they are covered. The term "media bias" usually refers to a invasive or widespread bias contravening the standards of newspaper journalism, rather than the perception of an individual journalist or article. The direction and degree of media bias in various countries is extensively disputed, although its causes are both practical and theoretical.

Practical limitations to media objectivity include the inability of journalists to report all available stories and facts, and the requirement that selected facts be linked into a coherent tale (Newton 1989). Since it is impossible to report everything, some bias is inevitable. Government persuade, including overt and covert censorship, biases the media in some countries. Market forces that can result in a biased presentation include the ownership of the news source, the selection of staff, the preferences of an intended audience, or pressure from advertisers. Political affiliations arise from ideological positions of media owners and journalists. The space or air time available for reports, as well as deadlines needed to be met, can lead to incomplete and it sounds as if  biased stories.