Gnowangerup takes home silver in the new Tiny Tourism Town category of the 2022 GWN7 Top Tourism Town Awards

It might have missed out on the top prize, but Gnowangerup has once again been recognised for its tourism qualities. The Great Southern town took home silver in the inaugural Tiny Tourism Town category at this year’s GWN7 Top Tourism Town Awards, adding to the growing list of accolades linked for its Horsepower Highway project. Winners were announced at the WA Tourism Conference Dinner at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre on June 22. Gnowangerup was pipped by the Gascoyne town of Denham, which serves as a base for the Shark Bay World Heritage Area. It finished runner-up ahead of the historic mining town of Coolgardie. The new category covered towns with a population of fewer than 1200 people. Horsepower Highway project manager Cassandra Beeck made the nomination on behalf of her community. Ms Beeck said she was proud of what Gnowangerup had been able to achieve. “It is an amazing achievement considering the Horsepower Highway and Stirling Range Trails app, which were both a large part of the application, were only launched in September,” she said. “It is pretty hard competing against a town like Denham where you can swim with turtles and they have a government-funded visitor centre.” Ms Beeck said Gnowangerup’s entry had scored silver despite its lack of resources. “I did the video we had to put in for the application at my kitchen table, the itinerary I made on Canva,” she said. “The budget for the application was basically zero dollars.” Great Southern Treasures marketing and industry liaison officer Carly Watts accepted the award on behalf of the town at last week’s ceremony. It was the latest in a series of awards the community has received since the Horsepower Highway was launched last year. Gnowangerup won the Community Action and Wellbeing category of last year’s Tidy Towns Awards before winning three awards at the Australian Street Art Awards earlier this year. Ms Beeck hoped the accolades would help promote tourism across the Great Southern. “I think people are a bit naive about what the area can achieve,” she said. “We are now the alternative pathway for the South West — we are drawing people away from Margaret River and Dunsborough and towards our area. “All it takes is a group of passionate people and a bit of time to promote the region.” Mandurah took out the title of Top Tourism Town, while Exmouth was the winner in the Small Tourism Town category. More than 6700 people voted in this year’s awards, with winners determined by the public alongside an industry panel of judges.