Everyday dad Bruce Maya from the Gippsland town of Labertouche was today named Victorian Father of the Year for 2009, by Professor David de Kretser, AC, Governor of Victoria in a ceremony at the Melbourne Town Hall.

The award is made annually by the Father's Day Council of Victoria. Bruce was named from thousands of nominations received across the state, "because ordinary people can have an extraordinary impact on their children's lives," said Father's Day Council Chair, Don Parsons.

Bruce was nominated by his 10 year old daughter Lucy who attends St Ita’s Primary School in Drouin. She nominated her deserving dad through the Warragul Leisure Centre’s YMCA Local Community Father of the Year. Lucy declared in her nomination: “I reckon my Dad is brave because he fought the Black Saturday bushfires. It (the bushfires) unfortunately burnt our house down. I’m lucky that dad is still here to look after our family. I love my Dad.”

Bruce Maya did the same thing that thousands of volunteers and Dads did on that fateful Saturday in February; he fought to save his family home on their twenty acre property at Labertouche, ten minutes out of the Gippsland town of Drouin. Bruce and his wife Narelle and children Jack, 12, and Lucy, 10, operate Mayford Cabinets and managed to save their business premises but they are living on their property in a bus while they rebuild their home. It hasn't been an easy time but Bruce has remained strong and connected to the community to get through. He is the type of guy who works tirelessly in the community and is heavily involved in the Drouin Junior Football Club where he has been a committee member, runner, junior representative on the senior committee and Team Manager for his son Jack's team. When the footy is finished loves to play cricket and help out with Lucy's netball.

Lucy's teacher, Peter McKenna from St Ita's Primary School, said "Lucy and the family have done it tough, they were the only family in the school community to lose their home. Lucy's dad is her hero."

"This annual event celebrates the significant role that fathers and male role models play in our community, and acknowledges that ordinary people can have an extraordinary impact on children's lives," Mr Parsons said. "The real winners are the everyday dads out there doing their best, on a daily basis, for their children. This award remains all about raising awareness about the importance of fathering in our communities, and to our communities' wellbeing. Fathers and father-figures have an incredibly important role to play in their children's development."

To enter, school and pre-school aged children were invited to nominate their dad - or someone who is like their dad - for their local YMCA Community Father of the Year event - by writing or drawing about why their father or father figure (brother, uncle, grandfather or friend) is special to them. Each nominee received a YMCA Family Swim Pass, to encourage fathers and their children to spend active time together at their local recreational facilities.

The Father's Day Council of Victoria has been awarding a Victorian Father of the Year Award for more than 50 years. The YMCA has awarded a YMCA Community Father of the Year award for the past seven years, and has a historic connection with the award, having first celebrated Father's Day in 1910.

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