The annual Excellence in Surveying and Spatial Information (EISSI) Awards season kicked off at the Adelaide Convention Centre on Friday night.

Hosted by Surveyors Australia and Consulting Surveyors South Australia, the presentation event brought the EISSI Awards to South Australia for the first time.

The EISSIs have been held in NSW for more than 28 years, and in 2025 also expanded into Victoria, Western Australia and Queensland.

In a special collaboration, the evening also incorporated the South Australian Geospatial Excellence (SAGE) Awards and the inaugural Land Services SA Industry Awards, resulting a major celebration of achievement across South Australia’s surveying, spatial and geospatial professions.

The event recognised outstanding projects, professional achievement, innovation, technical excellence and contributions to the broader community.

“It was wonderful to bring the EISSI Awards to South Australia for the first time and see the profession come together in such numbers to celebrate its people, projects and achievements,” said Michelle Blicavs, CEO of Surveyors Australia.

“The calibre of entries was exceptional and demonstrated the technical expertise, innovation and leadership that exists across South Australia.

“Bringing EISSI together with the SAGE Awards and the inaugural Land Services SA Industry Awards also gave us the opportunity to recognise the breadth of the surveying, spatial and geospatial community in one very special evening.”

South Australia’s EISSI Award recipients

Damian Brogden was named South Australian Professional Surveyor of the Year, recognising his longstanding contribution and commitment to the surveying profession.

The judges highlighted Damian’s extraordinary commitment to giving back to the profession, including the pivotal role he has played in establishing and supporting Consulting Surveyors South Australia, his many hours of voluntary service to industry organisations and his contribution to professional development for licensed surveyors across the state.

They also acknowledged his service on the Surveyors Australia Board, support for the establishment of the Professional Standards Scheme, work assisting employers across Australia to understand the Surveying Award, and contribution through the Australian Consulting Surveyors Insurance Society… all while continuing to lead his own business with professionalism.

The award for the overall most outstanding project in South Australia for 2026, named the Colonel William Light Award, was presented to the company Alexander Symonds for the Norwood Green project.

The Award is named in honour of South Australia’s first Surveyor-General, Colonel William Light, whose plan for Adelaide remains one of the state’s most enduring surveying legacies.

The judges highlighted the exceptional complexity of delivering the large-scale mixed-use development, comprising five interconnected towers with shared basements, services, infrastructure and communal areas. They particularly recognised the innovative land division and staged community title strategy, together with the use of 3D as-built scanning to identify and resolve potential encroachment issues.

Alexander Symonds also was the recipient of the Urban Cadastral Surveying & Land Titling Award, and the company also took out the Professional Organisation of the Year award.

Other awards recognised the next generation of practitioners, with students and young professionals being rewarded for their achievements:

• Young Professional Surveyor of the Year: Despina Lambos
• University Student Project of the Year: Michael Osborne, Flinders University
• Vocational Student of the Year: Denva Timson

The other award recipients are:

• Infrastructure & Construction Award: Pyper Leaker Surveying Services, for the Hallett Group’s Green Cement Transformation Project
• Extra Dimension & Innovation Award: ESO Surveyors, for the SA Project Pump Stations
• Community & Sustainable Environment Award: Tonkin, for the Prospect Integrated Transport Plan
• Rural Cadastral Surveying & Land Titling Award: Joint Winners; Alexander Symonds for the Goyder South Wind Farm, and the Office of the Surveyor General for the Angorigina Area Land Recovery – Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park
• Surveying Project Management Award: Alexander Symonds for the Tea Tree Gully Sustainable Sewers (GIS for Survey Management)

All the South Australian EISSI category winners will now progress to the National EISSI Awards in Canberra in February 2027, where they will compete against state and territory winners from across Australia for national honours and the opportunity to be recognised as the ‘best of the best’ in Australian surveying.

SAGE and Land Services SA awards recipients

As mentioned, the event also saw the presentation of the inaugural SAGE Awards. These awards are presented by the South Australian Geospatial Alliance, one of the state-based groups set up following the demise of the Geospatial Council of Australia.

The award recipients are:

• Geospatial Professional of the Year: Ana Villa
• Emerging Geospatial Professional of the Year: Daniel Kennewell
• Local Hero Award: Geoffrey Aplin
• Local Impact Award: The Remote Visitor Night Patrol, Survey123 project

Regular readers of Spatial Source will remember Dan Kennewell, as we published an interview with him back in April. Having studied at Flinders University, Dan now works as a GIS analyst with the Government of South Australia.

Also presented were the Land Services SA Industry Awards. There were two categories: Surveying Firm of the Year and Excellence in Surveying ‘Light’s Top-Five’, the latter named in honour of Colonel William Light, the Surveyor-General who designed the City of Adelaide in 1837.

The recipients are:

• Surveying Firm of the Year: State Surveys
• Excellence in Surveying ‘Light’s Top-Five’: Alexander Symonds, Fyfe, John C Bested & Associates, Pyper Leaker Surveying Services, and State Surveys.

Spatial Source adds its congratulations to all the award recipients!