2026 Australian Toy Library Awards winners announced
Toy library people from across Australia came together online for on Sunday 11 October to celebrate the 2026 Australian Toy Library Awards.
The awards recognise the people and toy libraries making a real difference for children, families and communities.
This year’s nominations shared stories of kindness, dedication, leadership, creativity, inclusion and strong community connection.
Congratulations to every toy library and every toy library hero who was nominated. Being recognised by your own community is something to be proud of.
We are delighted to celebrate our 2026 finalists and winners.
Community Volunteer of the Year
Winner: Donna Thomas, SECC Toy Library
Finalists:
Nathan Simpson, Cockburn Toy Library
Maureen Zhang, Moorabbin Area Toy Library
Pat Hipwell, Carindale Toy Library
Donna Thomas has volunteered at SECC Toy Library for 17 years, she has spent around six hours each week cleaning, checking and returning toys to the shelves, ready for the next family. Across that time, her contribution adds up to close to 5,000 hours of volunteering.
Every toy that leaves SECC Toy Library passes through Donna’s hands. Across the many years she has had to adapt as her role has also changed as the service has changed, from the extra cleaning required during COVID to recently supporting the toy library’s new programs and resources.
Donna’s contribution shows the extraordinary impact of quiet, consistent service. Her reliability, care and commitment are not only helpful, they are part of the foundation the Toy Library has been built on.
Toy Library Committee Member of the Year
Winner: Khyalla Morgan, Ocean Grove Toy Library
Finalists:
Monique Brennan, Carindale Toy Library
Kristy Rodwell, Tiny Tots Toy Library
Ruth Kennedy, Exmouth Toy Library
Khyalla Morgan stepped into the role of President at Ocean Grove Toy Library at a time when no one else on the committee was able to take it on. Through her leadership and grant writing, the Toy Library improved its financial position, including helping to secure funding for Ocean Grove’s first Toy Librarian and supported an extra weekly opening session.
Khyalla has led practical improvements to the space and worked with others to improve systems and make toys easier for families to find.
Just as importantly, Khyalla invested in the people around her. She supported the new staff member, encouraged training across the toy library volunteers, recognised volunteers and made herself available to mentor and support others.
Khyalla did not simply keep Ocean Grove Toy Library running. She helped move it forward and left it stronger for the future.
Toy Library Staff Member of the Year
Winner: Claire Kingdon, Kew Toy Library and Hastings Toy Library
Finalists:
Trish Rufus, Capricorn Coast Toy Library
Jana Graham, Brisbane South Toy Library
Margaret Clingin, Ocean Grove Toy Library
Claire Kingdon has brought more than 15 years of experience, warmth and knowledge to toy libraries.
At Hastings Toy Library, she has provided continuity and stability across generations of families, committees and volunteers. Since joining Kew Toy Library in 2023, she has brought that same community focus to strengthening accessibility, member engagement and programs such as Stay and Play. Her contribution has also supported strong membership growth at Kew, helping it to be a sustainable local service.
What stands out most is Claire’s ability to combine deep experience with genuine curiosity. After more than 15 years in toy libraries, she is still asking how services can be better, how families can be better supported and how toy libraries can keep learning from one another.
Her impact can be seen in the families she has welcomed, the staff and volunteers she has supported, the services she has helped improve and the knowledge she continues to share across the wider toy library community.
Metropolitan Toy Library of the Year
Winner: Hobart Toy Library
Finalists:
Just 12 months ago, Hobart Toy Library existed largely as an idea.
The volunteer team built everything from the ground up, including governance, policies, systems, branding, funding, a toy collection and a volunteer team.
The doors opened in March 2026 and demand came quickly.
Within three weeks, new memberships were temporarily paused while the collection caught up. In its first six months, Hobart Toy Library reached 186 member families, built a collection of 827 toys, supported almost 3,000 loans and involved 47 volunteers.
What makes the achievement even stronger is that the team has not been satisfied simply to open the doors and grow quickly. They are already listening to members, improving systems and planning carefully for the future.
This is not just an impressive start. It is the beginning of what has every sign of becoming an important part of the Hobart community.
Council Toy Library of the Year
Winner: Mount Isa City Library
Finalists:
The past year has been a story of rebuilding and reinvention for Mount Isa City Library’s Toy Library. Following renovations and relocation, the service had become non-operational. Rather than simply putting everything back where it had been, the team used the disruption as an opportunity to rethink the whole service.
Toys and resources were assessed, cleaned, sorted and catalogued, resulting in a refreshed collection of high-quality toys. The team also introduced clearer cataloguing, safety information, cleaning procedures and systems that staff across the broader library service could use confidently.
Since reopening in May 2025, borrowing has grown strongly. The team did not simply reopen the Toy Library. They rebuilt it to be safer, easier to use, better organised and more connected to local families.
Rural, Regional or Remote Toy Library of the Year
Finalists:
Kath Dickson Family Centre has operated a toy library from its Crows Nest base for many years, and that service continues today. The team also recognised that families living further away did not have the same access to a toy library.
That led to The Toy Bus. The mobile service began just over a year ago and now reaches 25 communities across around 400,000 square kilometres of southwest Queensland.
The team has adapted the model as it has grown, adding Click and Deliver, local collection and return points, and better internet access.
In Charleville, visits from the Toy Bus helped build enough local interest and identify community champions to establish a permanent community toy library.
The Toy Bus shows what becomes possible when a service is designed around the reality of people’s lives. Instead of asking rural and remote families to overcome distance and access barriers, the team changed the model and took the Toy Library to them.
And perhaps the strongest sign of success is that the Toy Bus is not only lending toys. It is building local demand, creating community champions and helping new toy libraries take root.
Excellence Award: Accessibility, Inclusion and Belonging
Winner: Burnside Toy Library
Finalists:
Burnside Toy Library has taken a practical and thoughtful approach to accessibility, inclusion and belonging.
One important change was the introduction of supported borrowing sessions for families who may find regular borrowing sessions difficult, including families of children with disability, developmental delay or additional needs. Families do not need a diagnosis to attend.
Burnside also joined the TLA led Hidden Disabilities Sunflower program, invested in disability awareness and inclusion training, worked with local therapists and built stronger connections with families and disability organisations.
What particularly stood out was how the work was developed. Families with lived experience helped shape the changes, therapists shared professional knowledge, staff helped embed new approaches and volunteers put those changes into practice. The result is not one isolated inclusion project. Burnside has changed the way the Toy Library thinks, works and welcomes people.
It has shown that inclusion is not about adding one special program. It is about listening carefully, removing barriers and changing everyday practice so more people can genuinely participate and belong.
Excellence Award: Collaboration and Connection
Winner: Lane Cove Toy Library
Finalists:
Lane Cove Toy Library has shown what can happen when a toy library builds strong community partnerships.
Over the past year, it has worked with local government, community organisations, health professionals, businesses, schools and local services.
These partnerships have supported improvements to the soft play area, sustainability and recycling work, resources showing how toys can support speech and occupational therapy goals, and free memberships for families affected by domestic and family violence.
What particularly stands out is that Lane Cove has not pursued partnerships simply for the sake of having more connections. Each relationship has a purpose, creates value and helps the Toy Library do something it could not have achieved alone.
As a volunteer-run organisation, that takes judgement as well as energy.
Lane Cove has shown how a toy library can become much more than somewhere families borrow toys. It can become a trusted, connected and active part of the community around it.
Forell and Glue Award
2026 recipient: Trish Mullins, Kath Dickson Family Centre Toy Library
The Forell and Glue Award for outstanding individual contribution.
It recognises people who have made a lasting contribution not only to their own toy library, but to the wider Australian toy library community.
The award is named in honour of Annetine Forell and Mary Glue, who established Australia’s first toy library in Melbourne in 1971.
Our 2026 winner Trish Mullins has a special ability to take an idea and make it work.
When families in regional and remote Queensland could not easily access a toy library, she helped turn the idea of a mobile service into the Toy Bus. But the value of Trish’s work goes far beyond the communities directly served by the bus. She has created a model others can learn from, evidence others can use and possibilities that did not exist before.
The Toy Bus provides strong proof that different toy library models can work. That evidence helps open conversations with governments, funders and partners and strengthens advocacy for the wider toy library community.
Trish is also willing to step into those conversations herself. She clearly explains community need and matches it with evidence of what toy libraries can achieve.
As an active member of the Queensland Toy Library Community Leaders Group, she also shares her experience generously and supports other toy libraries to develop and strengthen their own services.
More than 50 years ago, Annetine Forell and Mary Glue took an idea that responded to a local need and turned it into something practical and powerful. Trish has done much the same. She has looked at barriers and seen possibilities. She has brought people together around an idea, worked through the detail needed to make it real and then used the result to open doors for others.
Her contribution is already shaping not only the communities she directly serves, but what the rest of us can imagine for toy libraries across Queensland and beyond.
Congratulations to all our finalists and winners
These awards celebrate a small number of people and toy libraries, but they reflect what happens every day across Australia.
Volunteers, staff, committees and community partners are helping children play, helping families access what they need and creating welcoming places to connect.
Keep following their stories
Want a little more joy and inspiration in your social media feed?
Follow our 2026 award winners and see how they continue to support children, families and their local communities through play, connection and sharing.
There is a lot to learn from grassroots organisations doing thoughtful, practical work every day, and plenty to celebrate along the way.
