Lismore's Grace Parsons has won the inaugural Queensland Cricket Pike-Maher Medal.

The medal was awarded to Parsons for her efforts to assist the Lismore Community during last year's flooding events in northern NSW, especially in her home town.

Parsons received the award at the annual Queensland Cricket Awards held on Saturday 1 April.

Grace also took out the Queensland Fire Player of the Year Award in a huge night for the young cricketer.

Parsons has had a strong season for the Queensland Fire and also plays with the Gold Coast Dolphins in the Queensland Premier League, playing her junior cricket with Marist Brothers.

The success at the Queensland Fire comes off the back of a very successful Australian U/19 Crickets Championships for Parsons in 2022.

Queensland Cricket recognised "The significant contribution of former Queensland and Australian players Kirsten Pike and Jimmy Maher to charities and community cricket has been recognised with the establishment of the Pike – Maher Community Medal."

"The award recognises the Queensland male or female cricketer who played a major role in creating a positive difference in Queensland’s communities through charitable and community contributions."

Queensland Cricket Chief Executive Officer Terry Svenson paid tribute to Maher and Pike for their contribution to cricket. 

“The Pike – Maher Community Medal is one we hope all of our players will aspire to win. 

"Anyone who is privileged enough to don a Queensland or Brisbane Heat cap has a duty to leave the game in a better place than when they came into it, and this award recognises those players who go above and beyond to make a significant impact in the community. 

"Kirsten and Jimmy are deserving to have this award named after them. 

“Kirsten Pike raises money each year for charities through her cycling trips across Australia and is a great example to our current players of utilising their platform to make a difference in the community. 

“As a former Queensland captain, then Founder and Managing Director of the Bulls Masters, Jimmy Maher has dedicated much of his life to cricket. 

"The Bulls Masters use their status as past legends of the game to grow cricket with a focus on regional Queensland, while raising money for local cricket associations.  

“Both Kirsten and Jimmy have made outstanding contributions to cricket and our communities and are role models for anyone coming into our Queensland squads to look up to. 

“We’re looking to celebrating the achievements of our players, staff, volunteers, and clubs at our upcoming awards dinner.” 

And in an interesting addition to the new awards, local Jodie Purves was also recognised on the night with her own award.

The Jodie Purves Trophy is a new award that has been created to recognise the best Queensland female performer across all formats to run alongside the Ian Healy Trophy as the best male player for the Queensland Bulls.

The first ever recipient of the Jodie Purves Trophy was Laura Harris.

"The Jodie Purves Trophy sees player-voted points gained across Queensland Fire and Brisbane Heat performances in the WNCL and WBBL cumulated for an overall Player of the Year to complement the Queensland Fire Player of the Year and Player’s Player Awards."

"The award is named in recognition of former Queensland and Australian wicket-keeper Jodie Purves who captained Australia to two World Cup victories along with playing four Tests, 67 One Day Internationals and 37 T20 Internationals for her country. She was inducted into the Queensland Cricket Women’s Hall of Fame in 2020."