In 2016, my friend Lorena Moynahan and I decided to form a team and enter the Planning Institute of Australia's Young Planners Innovation Showcase with a concept proposal for a local community planning network. The idea came from our mutual interest in community planning, and our own observations of distrust between the local community, council, developers and planners on the Gold Coast.

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Lorena and I were later joined by Liam Morris and Sam Burridge to form a team of four, and we named our group "GUPPI" to stand for "Griffith University Planners for Public Innovation." Together we worked hard on a scoping study for our Gold Coast Community Planning Network (GCCPN) proposal, through which we identified a need for improved communication between planners and the public, and an exciting opportunity for local collaboration.

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The GCCPN would connect the local council, community groups, professional planners and planning students from Griffith University and Bond University to provide a pro bono community planning service. Under the mentorship of a professional planner, planning students would be able to gain experience assisting community members with a range of planning matters, such as public submissions, neighbourhood​ vision plans, etc.

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On August 18th, we presented our proposal to a judging panel of lecturers from both Griffith University and Bond University, as well as professional planners from local council and industry. The panel of judges awarded us First Prize, praising the innovation and implementability of our idea, and we also won the People's Choice Award through a secret ballot.