As the weather heats up, so too does the action at the ACAA.

Spring and summer are proving hot, hot, hot as we launch into preparations for our biggest event of the year, the Annual Australia China Alumni Awards. We’re pleased to announce that CPA Australia has signed on as the title sponsor for the awards for the third year running. The awards are set to be better and brighter than ever this year, with a gala awards ceremony in Beijing on September 24 and finalists’ receptions in Guangzhou, Shanghai and Beijing. If you know someone worthy of recognition, visit our website and get your nomination in!

Awards prep aside, a busy calendar of events has kept us on our feet. A short sampler follows …

More than 80 Australian alumni and ACAA members met with Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard at a breakfast networking event at the St. Regis Hotel in Beijing on March 27. The crowd included up-and-coming young professionals as well as more senior VIPs. Together they represented alumni from more than 30 different Australian universities. The Australian PM gave a speech acknowledging the importance of China-based alumni and mingled with the group.

Professor Steven Schwarz, Vice-Chancellor of Macquarie University, welcomed Macquarie University alumni to a reunion dinner at the Grand Hotel in Beijing on April 24. The group started the night with networking cocktails overlooking the Forbidden City, followed by a Chinese banquet. Professor Schwarz updated the alumni on the latest developments at Macquarie University, including the new fully-automated library, the new medical centre, Cochlear moving on campus, and the new train link.

More than 50 alumni and friends attended the University of Wollongong’s Sydney Business School Alumni Reunion at the Peninsula Hotel in Beijing. Professor John Glynn, Executive Dean (Business), gave an update on the latest happenings at the School including its new $3 million harbor-side premises in the Gateway Office Tower at Circular Quay. He encouraged all alumni to drop in to see the new facilities and to join the celebrations for UoW’s 60th anniversary later this year.

We’re running many other events, big and small across China. For more information on how you can get involved, visit our website at www.austchinaalumni.org.

Anna Willett launched her career as a professional photographer in Shanghai after years of taking photographs as a hobby. Her current project began in 2011, when she stayed at Lao Wang’s Orphanage in Anhui province with the support of MiFan Mamas. The photos she took provide the viewer with a powerful behind-the-scenes insight into life in a Chinese orphanage. Anna has compiled these images into a book that will be sold to raise funds for the orphanage. Thanks to the support of the book’s main sponsor, Westpac, Anna plans to raise RMB70,000 – or 100 percent of the proceeds from book sales – for the orphanage. For more information, please contact Anna at willettanna@gmail.com.

Anna specializes in outdoor family portraits and events, and has a keen interest in travel and food photography. She was official photographer for the Australian Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo in 2010. ■