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The 2025 SW Community Recognition Awards: A Night Built By, For, and With Sex Workers

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On Thursday, 16 October 2025, our community came together at Metropolis in Southbank, Melbourne to honour the people and projects who keep sex work visible, respected, and thriving. The SW Community Recognition Awards were never just about glitz or applause, they were about celebrating those who rarely get recognised, whose dedication, advocacy, and creativity shape our industry from the inside out.

The SW Community Recognition Awards were founded to celebrate the diversity, resilience, and leadership within the sex worker community. Created by Harper Valentine, Nova Hawthorne, and Blaire Hunter, the founder of Ivy Societe.  The event is entirely peer-led and supported by ethical partners who share our values of respect, representation, and self-determination.

Why This Event Exists

We wanted to create an event where our community could come together to celebrate the people who often go unrecognised, the ones who quietly support, inspire, and lead behind the scenes. This night is about honouring the work that keeps our community strong, safe, and connected.

We also wanted to build something ethical and transparent. Our voting process reflects that: categories were chosen by our board, votes were cast by peers within the community, and a fan-voted category helped raise donations for Vixen. Every part of this event was designed with integrity, by sex workers who understand our values, our needs, and the importance of celebrating ourselves on our own terms.

Why It Mattered For Ivy Societe To Take Part

For Blaire Hunter, Melbourne escort and the founder of Ivy Societe, peer-led events have always been an essential part of building genuine connection and support within the community. These spaces allow sex workers to network, share knowledge, and celebrate one another.

Taking part in this event was about contributing to a space created by sex workers, for sex workers. Ivy Societe believes that peer-run initiatives are where real progress happens, where ideas grow, collaborations form, and our collective voice strengthens. Supporting this event was a way to honour that tradition and to help nurture the kind of community that sustains us all.

Presenting Partner Spotlight: Why Stigma Health The Right Fit

We were proud to welcome Stigma Health as presenting partner because their model reflects sex-worker realities instead of forcing us to bend to outdated systems.

What they do: An online sexual-health clinic that gives instant pathology referrals nationwide, bulk-billed telehealth with Australian GPs, and discreet results to your phone, built to make regular testing easier, faster, and stigma-free. (Stigma Health)

How they got here: Stigma began when co-founder James sat in a waiting room for two hours for a routine check and thought, there has to be a better way. From the start (2015), they committed to co-designing services with communities most affected by stigma so access, cost, and attitudes weren’t barriers.

Why this matters to workers:

  • Testing that reflects our needs. Tick “sex worker” and Stigma adds M-gen (mycoplasma genitalium) to the referral, something mainstream care often overlooks, because workers asked for it.
  • Real access. Bulk-billing with Medicare where eligible; paid options when speed or convenience is the priority.
  • Beyond the clinic. Funding community events (like Afterglow), building tools that reduce admin friction, and partnering on peer-led initiatives rather than parachuting in.

The Night: Food, Flow, and Feeling

Where we gathered: Metropolis, on the top level of Southgate Melbourne, panoramic skyline views across the Yarra, nine-metre windows, and a setting that felt worthy of the work we were honouring. (Metropolis Events)

Cocktail Hour took place from 7:00 to 8:00 pm, giving guests a chance to mingle and connect. We hosted a “coming solo” gathering, complete with conversation cards to help break the ice and encourage new friendships. Afterward, everyone moved into the dining room for a family-style dinner, designed for sharing plates, sparking conversations, and creating a warm, communal atmosphere.

The evening flowed between cheering on award winners, snapping photos in the booth (with props provided for a touch of playful anonymity), and taking quiet breaks as needed. Guests were treated to incredible performances by Kitty Obsidian and a mesmerizing fire show by Veronica Vae. Vixen delivered a heartfelt presentation about their current initiatives, followed by a closing speech from Stigma Health founder James Sneddon.

The night then transitioned seamlessly into the afterparty, hosted by SLVT, where the celebrations continued late into the evening.

What we ate:

  • Canapés: Seared wagyu tataki crostini; lemongrass-lime turmeric chicken; snapper tartare on black sesame rice wafers; plus three chef-selected vegan bites.
  • Shared entrées: Non-vegan and vegan grazing platters with house breads.
  • Mains: Middle-Eastern spiced BBQ chicken with harissa & black quinoa; slow-cooked Black Angus cheek with smashed peas; vegan zucchini flowers with cashew feta; forest mushroom & cauliflower pithivier.
  • Sides for all: Roast King Edward potatoes; radicchio orange salad; Italian slaw with fennel, currants & almonds.

The Winners We Celebrated

Please join us in congratulating:

To our winners: thank you. Your visibility, creativity, and advocacy lift the floor for everyone. We’ll be sharing more content featuring winners in the coming weeks. Please bear with us as we finalize approvals before releasing media to the public.

$6,500 Donation for Vixen

Throughout the voting period, we collected donations in exchange for votes in the fan-voted categories and sold raffle tickets on the night. This event contributed $6,500 to Vixen in donations, Victoria’s peer-only sex worker organisation, run 100% by and for sex workers. Vixen advances our cultural, legal, occupational, and civil rights and has led the statewide push for full decriminalisation. 

Vixen runs a range of projects that strengthen and empower the Victorian sex worker community. Their initiatives include peer education and outreach, legal and health advocacy, research collaborations, and harm reduction campaigns. These projects aim to ensure that sex workers have access to resources, representation, and a genuine voice in shaping the policies that affect their lives. You can learn more about their ongoing work and how to get involved by visiting Vixen’s projects page.

What This Night Says About Our Future

We’ll keep building spaces where workers feel safe to show up as themselves, where excellence is documented, and where resources flow back to peer-run services. That’s the promise of the SW Community Recognition Awards and the invitation to everyone who wants to stand with us.

With Gratitude

To every nominee and finalist, every volunteer, our presenting partner Stigma Health, and our community supporters: thank you for making 16 October 2025 unforgettable. To our winners, shine on. And to Vixen, thank you for being the backbone we rely on.

Nights like this remind us that celebration is also resistance and that visibility, joy, and solidarity are some of our most powerful tools. We’ll be uploading official photos and content once everything has been reviewed and signed off, stay tuned!

See you next year.

SWCRA Team
(Pictured below, from left to right: Harper Valentine, Nova Hawthorne, and Blaire Hunter)

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