The Aussies 2026 - Officials Nomination

Hi there,

Thanks a lot for nominating as an Official for the Australian Surf Life Saving Championships 2026 to be held on 21 March - 29 April 2026 at North Kirra, Bilinga and Tugun on Queensland’s Gold Coast.

NOMINATION: 

Roles that you can apply for include all technical (except Referee/s roles), support services and lifesaving roles. As the event will be conducted over a number of days, locations and areas, SLSA is looking for officials to fill a range of positions. If you are officiating to fulfil your club’s quota (see Aussies Quota Circular), please understand that the minimum amount of time you can be appointed for is:

• Half a day for Masters
• One day for Youth and Opens

You are also NOT able to swap appointed positions with other officials unless done through the SLSA Officials Advisor.

CHAMPIONSHIP PREFERENCE:

Your nomination should identify the preferred roles you wish to fulfil at the event, with three preferences for each Championship, listed in priority order.

Please note that we will, in most cases, appoint officials to two of the three Championships only to assist with officials wellbeing. You should indicate the priority order of the championships you wish to officiate at.

MENTORING OPPORTUNITIES: 

There will also be some opportunities to be mentored in roles that you are undertaking or might wish to undertake in the future. Please indicate in your nomination if this is something you would like to be considered for. This is separate to the formal scholarship program.

APPEALS:

Please also note that Appeals appointments will change slightly this year. Appeals panel members must satisy position descirptions, as described in the SLSA Surf Sports Manual, and may be allocated to specific areas at the Championships on different days. If applying for the Appeals panel, you should be prepared to work in a range of competition areas and be across the rules for each of those areas.

APPOINTMENTS AND CLOSE OF NOMINATIONS:

The appointment of Officials will be made jointly by the Championship Referees and the National Officials Advisor. Officials appointments will be finalised as soon as possible after close of nominations.

The first round of applications will close on Tuesday, 28 November and will be announced mid-December 2025, with unfilled roles highlighted.
The second round will close on 16 January 2026, and updated appointments will be announced on 30 January 2026. Please note that if a position is already filled in the published circular, you should not apply for that position.
Nominations will remain open up until Friday, 27 February 2026, however preferred positions may not be available by that time.
Final official appointments will be published and circulated via email on the 6th March 2026.

All appointments will be posted on the SLSA Hub (formerly known as the Members Area), and on The 'Aussies 2026' Website Event Page as well as on 'Stack Sport Team App' under 'The Aussies 2026'. You will receive an email advising you when appointments have been published.

Late nominating officials will be added to the 'Officials Pool' and appointments made will be subject to availability of roles. 

We are very much looking forward to receiving your nomination. 

Thank you for supporting surf sports,
SLSA Sport Events Team

Mentoring Opportunities
Are you interested in mentoring opportunities outside the scholarship program at the Australian Youth Surf Life Saving Championships? If so, please nominate as a mentor or a mentee for the Youth Champs!

Being a Mentor: People who are experienced, and prepared to share their expertise, would do so on days they are appointed as an official.
You must be interested, and prepared to mentor someone in a role that you are going to apply for at the Youth Champs. You would do so for one hour to a day of the championships (dependant on the mentee).

Being a Mentee: People who want to learn more about a role (eg. a senior role or a role such as a Starter). 
This would be done on days when you are NOT appointed as an official so if you are applying to officiate for both days of the Youth Championships you cannot be a mentee.
You will not get appointed to the Youth Champs but would be mentored during the Youth Champs for one hour to a day (dependent on what you wanted). 
You would NOT count as part of the quota.

*There will be limited availability so please understand if you are not selected. 
*If you are not interested in the mentoring program, please ignore the Nomination questions in the Youth Championships Officials Nomination.

All officials should ensure they are physically capable of carrying out their important functions over the course of the Championships.

In nominating for this event, all Officials warrant that they are and must remain, mentally and physically capable of carrying out all the functions of their appointed role(s) over the course of the entire event.
All Officials should undertake a medical check prior to departure for the event. SLSA may request Officials to provide a medical clearance if the Official has had a medical incident at a previous SLS event or if SLSA reasonably considers such request is reasonable and/or necessary. If requested, the Officials must provide the medical clearance before undertaking their rostered duties. 

Please understand that the Championships are considered a workplace for the lead up and duration of the event, and as such, all Queensland WHS requirements must be met by SLSA and its appointed officials. 

SLSA reserves the right in its absolute discretion to:

a) Not appoint an Official to any position whether an Official has nominated or not;

b) Remove an Official from any position at any time (whether before or during and SLSA event)

SLSA is not obligated to give reasons where it acts under this clause. 

Our event safety plan requires that all officials must be able to make their own way to and from their appointed position at the Championships. The only exception to this would be if someone has a physical disability and they require some support moving to and from the location of their appointment, particularly in an emergency. If you will or may require support, you must indicate this to us below, so that Championship safety plans can take account of this.