Cairns Central Shopping Centre's focus on diversity and inclusion and the promotion of Indigenous models has been recognised with a national industry award.

The centre's Embrace The New Faces community campaign, which promotes diversity and inclusion in the local community, ended with Jarron Andy being named one of the "Faces" of the shopping centre.

Jarron is the first Indigenous male to be a "Face" of the centre and is also the first male, Indigenous model signed with Dallys Models and Chic Management.

Lily Rose was also discovered as one of the "Faces" of Cairns Central in 2016.

The centre's focus on inclusion and diversity won the Best Community campaign at the Shopping Centre Council of Australia Marketing Awards.

The awards attracted a highly competitive field with 192 nominations across 17 categories, including branding, digital, community, developments and sales, with Cairns Central marketing manager Louise Struber saying it was wonderful to be recognised with the award.

“Community engagement is a vital component of Cairns Central’s marketing mix and we love working with the community,” she said.

“The Embrace the New Faces campaign took a new direction for a school holiday program to promote diversity and inclusion.

“We couldn’t have achieved the results we did without our community partners, the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair, Headspace and Chic Management.”

The Embrace The New Faces community campaign was run in 2016 as an extension of the annual Face of Cairns Central ambassador search.

Jarron has gone on to pursue a career in acting and modelling in Sydney and continues to be an ambassador for Cairns Central and is a role model for Indigenous youth.

The industry awards recognise the important role and contribution shopping centres make to local communities, with the Shopping C entre Council of Australia’s executive director Angus Nardi saying the awards are growing each year.