This award honours the late Richard John Evans, and has been presented annually since 1993. By all accounts, Richard Evans was a true professional as a skilled planning and valuation law expert and barrister. The Richard J Evans award is given in recognition of outstanding contributions to planning in Victoria, to persons who have demonstrated:
- a lifelong sustainable endeavour to town planning or the environment
- an outstanding contribution to town planning or the environment
- outstanding leadership in the practice of their profession
- through their professional activities to have been an inspiration to others
Members are invited to contact the Board regarding nomination suggestions for the R.J Evans Award.
Richard J Evans Award Criteria
2026 Award Recipients
L>R Congratulations to
Jess Noonan and Peter Jewell (Planning Xchange) and
Mark Bartley, Special Counsel, Russell Kennedy joint Richard J Evans Award Recipients in 2026
Mark Bartley
Mark graduated with a bachelor's degree in Geography and later completed a Masters of Urban Planning. In his early years as a planner he worked in regional and state planning authorities before establishing a private planning and project management consultancy, while also lecturing at Victoria University. His involvement in the planning response to the Coode Island explosion in 1991 placed him at the forefront of environmental regulation and land-use planning in Victoria. While raising a young family, he transitioned into planning law, graduating with Honours from Melbourne University. He is involved in all aspects of property development and has and continues to regularly appears before VCAT (and its various predecessors), Planning Panels and Standing Advisory Committees.
His career also includes substantial pro bono work including acting for an Indigenous elder from the Larrakia people; assisting the Lost Dogs Home and providing planning advice to community housing organisations. He has demonstrated exceptional leadership and contribution across multiple professional bodies including being director of the UDIA for 10 years, VPELA Board member for 9 years; and Victorian President of the Australian Water Association for 2 years.
His career reflects lifelong commitment, outstanding leadership, technical excellence, ethical integrity and unparalleled generosity of spirit. He lawyering skills, it is often said with affection, are only just rivalled by their dance moves. He is often described affectionately and accurately as one of the fathers of planning in Victoria, having contributed to the industry for 5 decades.
Peter Jewell
Peter was a student of planning at RMIT in the 1980s. He has always been a creative contributor to the discourse in planning, having an alter ego writing as “Educating Sara” and the “Red Jacket” in Planning News. He started his own consultancy in 1991 with an objective to drive innovation and promote high quality evidence-based decision making. Peter has consistently demonstrated leadership and foresight within the planning profession.
He conceived the idea for making podcasts well before they became a widely adopted medium. Peter is a formidable and respected interviewer, unafraid to explore challenging topics or pose difficult questions. He embraces constructive criticism and is willing to place himself under scrutiny if it advances understanding of important industry issues. In a profession where perspectives can easily become insular, Peter brings a rare capacity to interrogate entrenched views, encourage robust debate, and introduce alternative ways of thinking. He regularly looks outside his immediate environment for inspiration, looking overseas and interstate for different approaches to planning issues. He is an inspiration in respectful debate, in challenging the status quo and in consistently striving for improvement.
Jess Noonan
Jess came to planning profession from strong roots in regional Victoria, which she has maintained throughout her career. She studied her planning degree at RMIT and also did a Masters in Public Health at Deakin, with a focus on social connectedness in aged care facilities. As a student planner she was heavily involved in student planning associations and young professional committees. She has a strong commitment to mentoring and developing others, always taking emerging planners under their wing and sharing knowledge and building confidence.
She has worked across statutory, strategic and social planning projects at several of the major planning firms and has been an active participant in the planning industry holding a number of roles at PIA including the National Young Planner Representative for Victoria between 2009-2012, Chair of the Social Planning Chapter for the Victorian Division and since 2018 has held the position of Vice-President of the PIA Victoria Division Committee. In 2011, Jess was awarded Young Planner of the Year by the PIA and in 2017 was awarded the Female Achiever of the Year Award from the PIA and the Women’s Planning Network.
Peter and Jess came together 13 years ago with a single microphone and since then have conducted hundreds of interviews with guests from around the world in one of Australia’s longest running independent podcasts. Planning Xchange has become one of Australia’s longest-running independent planning podcasts and remains unparalleled in its breadth, longevity, and influence. While many have attempted to create similar platforms, none have matched its sustained impact or reach.
Other Recipients
1991 Evan Walker (dual recipient) - deceased
1991 Allan Hunt (dual recipient) - deceased
1992 Alistair Hepburn - deceased
1993 Les Perrott - deceased
1994 Denis Mahon - deceased
1995 Helen Gibson AM
1996 John Lawson - deceased
1997 Sir James Gobbo - deceased
1998 Peter Barber AM - deceased
1999 No award made
2000 Max Barr - deceased
2001 Michael Wright QC
2002 Brian Howe AM
2003 No award made
2004 David Whitney - deceased
2005 Chris Canavan KC
2006 Stephen Hancock - deceased
2007 Maxine Cooper
2008 Stuart Morris KC
2009 Rob MacLellan
2010 Albert Dennis AM
2011 Kathryn Mitchell AM
2012 Chris Wren KC
2013 Justice Robert Osborn KC
2014 Jane Nathan AM
2015 Geoff Underwood
2016 John Thwaites
2017 Tim Biles
2018 Justice Michelle Quigley KC
2019 Professor Roz Hansen AM
2020 Michael Barlow
2021 Jane Monk
2022 Tamara Brezzi
2023 John Rantio
2024 Catherine Heggen
2025 Jeremy Gobbo KC
2026 Mark Bartley (dual recipient)
2026 Jess Noonan & Peter Jewell, Planning Xchange (dual recipients)