To help fulfil its aims VALA grants the following awards:
- The Robert D. Williamson Award – Awarded biennially to an individual or organisation who, in the opinion of the judging panel, is currently making an outstanding contribution to the development of information technology usage in Australian libraries and is positively and significantly influencing development in information technology usage within libraries.
- The VALA Award – made biennially, is presented to the Australian library or information centre judged to have made the most innovative use of information technology during the previous two years.
- The VALA Diversity Scholarship is offered to individuals who in normal circumstances would not generally attend a VALA event or would struggle to attend due to financial or other hardship. New in 2017, this award has replaced the VALA Travel Scholarship and is offered specifically for either VALA Tech Camp or the VALA Conference.
- The VALA Student Awards – Each year, the VALA Student Award is presented to one student from RMIT University and one from Monash University, in recognition of outstanding achievement in postgraduate library and information management courses.
Award Winners 2020/2021
The 2020 VALA Award for Crisis Response recipients are:
- State Library of New South Wales – The Diary Files project
- State Library of Queensland – ANZAC Stories project
The 2020 Robert D. Williamson Award recipient is:
- Anna Raunik from the State Library of Queensland
The VALA2020 Diversity Scholarships sponsored by SAGE Publishing, recipients are:
- Luisa Fapiano – Fiji National University Library – Suva, Fiji Islands
- Anaseini Jese – Library Services of Fiji – Samabula, Fiji Islands
- Zoe Wilkinson – Beverley Community Resource Centre and Library – Beverley Western Australia