2023 Finalists

Jessica is a tireless advocate for youth and the Cunderdin community. The 15-year-old has been a member of the Cunderdin Youth Council for five years, is a student councillor at the Cunderdin District High School, volunteers at community events, assists with netball coaching for young children and is a peer leader.
She's helped organised a "Pink up our Town" campaign to recognise and raise money for breast cancer awareness. Jessica also supported two Tour De Cunderdin bike riding events, the redevelopment and opening of O'Connor park, numerous Ninja Warrior and R U OK day events at the school, Tidy Towns nominations and multiple youth events run through the Shire and the Cunderdin Community Resource Centre.

Shortly after coming to terms with their own self and identity, Dillian became an active ally and advocate for LGBTIQA+, First Nations and transgender young people.
The proud Whadjuk Ballardong person has been involved with various advocacy groups for several years. They have shown a passion and tenacity to unapologetically love and accept yourself and others. Dillian has been the youngest serving member on multiple advisory and working groups such as Pride Yarns with Mob, which has helped with research on the Walkern Katatdjin project. The national research project aims to understand and promote the mental health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander LGBTIQA+ young people.

Sharon started her first fundraising campaign to support Legacy in March 2023.
Born in Chennai, South India, Sharon came to Perth in 2014 when she was four years old. She had heard stories of her great-grandfather who fought in World War II and served in the Royal Indian Air Force from 1943 to 1947 so she wanted to support families of veterans like him. Sharon has run many fundraising stalls at the local marketplace, community sporting events, shops and Bunnings. The 13-year-old helped Legacy raise nearly $2000 by July 2023 as part of its ANZAC Day Fundraising mission.

Since the age of nine, Brady has been giving back to the community. He has raised funds for SecondBite, volunteered his audio and visual talents at Snapshot Youth Theatre, emceed fundraiser quiz nights, and made hampers for people experiencing homelessness. He's also motivated others to join his community efforts recruiting friends to volunteer at Cancer Council Relay for Life as well as selling daffodils at Bunnings to raise more vital funds. Brady is an active Surf Life Saving volunteer who has been recognised for his long hours of commitment. He's an avid hockey player and last year was selected on the State's under 13s hockey team.

Maisara has a passion for supporting her peers and community. A migrant from Bangladesh, she has experienced racism and discrimination and is determined to break down barriers and support the culturally and linguistically diverse community. She was Head Girl of her school, a school councillor, and is now studying law. She is the youngest Cultural Ambassador for the City of Canning. Maisara created the MY (Multicultural Youth) Sorority to bring young women from different backgrounds and cultures together and is also a UN Youth Facilitator. She was elected to Youth Parliament and was the Youth Leader of the Opposition. Maisara is a board member and volunteer for not-for-profit charity Ubuntu Australia.

Isabella is a lived experience advocate working across youth, disability, mental ill-health, and LGBTIQA+ areas. They are passionate about celebrating intersectional community and creating opportunities for young people to have a voice. To support this, they created a lived experience newsletter to support young people into lived experience roles. Isabella sits on several councils, including; CYDA Youth Council, the Victorian Department of Health Lived Experience Steering Group, is supporting CoMHWA to establish a lived experience leadership course, and is co-chair of the NMHS Mental Health Advisory Council. In their day job, they work at YDAN and in their spare time, they host accessible events for members of the disability community to come together and be unapologetically disabled.

Zoe is a Murri and grew up on Gubbi Gubbi country in Queensland. A senior educator with the Youth Affairs Council of Western Australia, she leads the team on the Youth Educating Peers project, which provides sexual health education. Zoe has worked in a number of youth services since she came to Perth about two years ago. She has provided LGBTIQA+ sexuality-based workshops at high schools. Zoe teaches dance and has used those skills to help spread sexual education on social media. She is studying a Masters of Sexology and is a peer mentor at Western Australia Aid Council’s Freedom Centre, an LGBTIQA+ youth support service.

For Paris, sport brings a community together. The 20-year-old from Derby started playing netball when she was 10. She has represented the North West Region at the State Cup competition and has also captained the team. When declining numbers threatened the sustainability of netball in Derby, she became president of the Derby Netball Association. For the first time in 15 years the association was represented at the North West Championships by four teams: two junior and two senior teams. Paris helped with recruiting, coaching, umpire training, organising travel, accommodation, and registrations. Paris was awarded the Citizen of the Year (Youth) award by the Shire of Derby/West Kimberley in 2023.

Siddharth's journey as a young leader started with helping to develop the City of Canning's youth engagement strategy in 2021. After participating in the City of Canning Changing Your World forum in 2022, Siddharth, with mentoring from Millennium Kids, developed climate change postcards in English, Punjabi and Mandarin. The postcards have straightforward climate change messaging with ten steps families can take to reduce their carbon footprint. He is now on the Millennium Kids Youth Board, attends events to inspire young people to have a voice around the environmental issues they care about and has helped facilitate the Agents of Climate Change, a project co-designed by young people to engage in climate education and action.

Alicia has been advocating for social justice since taking part in the School Strike for Climate action in 2019. After graduating, they became involved in campaigns to improve community mental health outcomes, LGBTQIA+ issues, youth homelessness, and addressing sexual harassment and violence at universities. Alicia has had their own battles with homelessness and actively campaigns on the issue. They are secretary of UWA's Amnesty International club and are part of YACWA's Youth Homelessness Advisory Council for which they are now the Policy and Project Support Officer. They have assisted in research projects focusing on homelessness and housing, and they have been a lived experience consultant involved in People with Disabilities WA's Business Accessibility Empowerment Program.

Jack has a passion to transform the education landscape. He co-founded a not-for-profit textbook authoring organisation ThrivED, which uses the proceeds from every two sales to produce a textbook for a student in a low-socioeconomic area. Jack is chair of the ThrivED board. He is also a filmmaker and co-produced a documentary Realising Dreams. The film raised more than $9000 for Cancer Council WA and Ignite Mentoring, which runs mentoring programs to develop the self-confidence of high school students. Jack has also been a competitor in the Ninja Challenge League Finals and helped raised money for charity with a 24-hour pull-up challenge.

At 15, Gabriel was subjected to gay conversion practices in the Esther Foundation. In early 2022 he formed a support group, Survivors of the Esther Foundation. The group helped reconnect lost friends and provided healing through shared experiences. He helped coordinate pro-bono legal assistance and sought out psychological support for his peers. Through the group’s activism, the Esther Foundation was closed, and a state parliamentary inquiry was undertaken. This led to a government commitment to banning gay conversion practices along with other reforms in mental health. Gabriel and two other survivors have now established their own not-for-profit organisation, Flying Free.

UN Youth WA is proudly for youth, by youth and is fostering a community of empowered young citizens across Western Australia. The organisation is run by a group of volunteers under the age of 26 who deliver peer-to-peer education programs relating to human rights, global affairs and civics for high-school-aged students. UN Youth WA estimates it has worked with tens of thousands of young Western Australians. It runs state conferences, Model UN competitions, residential camps, public speaking competitions, school excursions, crisis simulations, listening tours, and has given young people the opportunity to question state and federal government ministers over issues affecting young people and broader concerns.

The Hedland Night Lights program engages at-risk youth, gives them a voice and improves awareness of mental health and wellbeing services. The program is primarily facilitated by the Hedland Youth Stakeholder Action Group. It runs regular skateboarding sessions, discos and workshops, AFL sessions, basketball referee and coaching courses, basketball tournaments, and multi-sports community events. It's funded by the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries and The Town of Port Hedland. The program also receives additional in-kind support from key Hedland community organisations. In its first year, it ran 231 sessions approximately four times a week with about 6,8881 young people engaging in the program.

The Kwinana Youth Advisory Council has created safe and vibrant spaces in Wellard while bringing young and older people together to build intergenerational relationships. The council, whose members are aged between 14 and 24, was supported by RAC's Reconnect WA initiative to makeover Wellard Village in seven days. They worked with people outside their council to paint walkways, create hexagonal seating, nature-play areas, wicking beds, a wishing well, a table-tennis table, a large chess board and more. They have designed a place for people to gather, feel safe and enjoy. The project empowered the council's members who re-designed the spaces, planned the builds, and delivered on their project in a very short time period.

The Youth Pride Network (YPN) is a peer-led LGBTIQA+ youth systemic advocacy organisation working to improve the lives of all young LGBTIQA+ people across Western Australia. Established in 2017, the YPN formed in response to the marriage equality plebiscite in order to give a voice to queer young people, and currently operates with a committee of 15 young people between the ages of 12 - 25 and three extraordinarily dedicated staff members. The YPN operates across three key pillars – advocacy, education, and community. They work towards a future where LGBTIQA+ young people don’t have to face systemic discrimination and aim to ensure the future generation of leaders are empowered in their advocacy.

Home Stretch WA is a program that supports young people leaving Out of Home Care in Western Australia, with the option to continue to receive support up until the age of 21. The program is being implemented by the Department of Communities in partnership with Anglicare WA and Yorganop, facilitating the Community of Practice (CoP) function.

Young people have been at the heart of the design, development and delivery of the Home Stretch WA COP since its inception. The Home Stretch WA Youth Advisory Group helped design the functions of the CoP and created the job description and roles for lived experience consultants who are employed within the CoP. There have been five young people employed as lived experience consultants, including two young Aboriginal people and one young person living with a disability.

The Community of Practice is formed by the collective efforts of Yorganop, AnglicareWA, Bloodwood Tree, MG Corporation, Broome Youth and Families Hub, Marra Warra Warra Corporation, Jungarni-Jutiya, Robe River Karuma, Salvation Army, Mission Australia, South West Aboriginal Medical Service, Wanslea, Streeties, Albany Youth Support Association

The Pride Yarns with Mob project is a collaboration between Walkern Katatdjin and the Youth Pride Network bringing together LGBTIQA+ First Nations young people, researchers and Elders to create intergenerational resources on queer young people’s experiences. Aboriginal LGBTIQA+ young people and Noongar Elders have created Tik Tok and YouTube videos modelling healthy conversations about sexuality and gender diversity including modelling responses to a young person coming out. Yarning circles with six Noongar Elders and five Aboriginal LGBTIQA+ young people were held. Walkern Katatdjin is led by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander LGBTIQA+ researchers and Aboriginal researchers. It is overseen by a Youth Advisory Group and a governance committee.

The Agents of Climate Change is a climate education and action program led by the Millennium Kids Youth Board, which identified the need for more informed processes for climate change education and action. The program has been designed to meet curriculum needs for schools and can also be run as a community initiative. A youth team codesigned, trialled and reviewed the program in Mundaring, Mandurah, Karratha and Bunbury. The program is now supported by the US Government with program uptake in the Shire of Mundaring and City of Canning which ran the program in schools and CALD youth groups. Recommendations from young people have been tabled in the council's Climate Change Energy Transformation strategy.

The Youth At Risk Network (YARN) is a collection of service providers that support young people with mental health, alcohol and other drug misuse, homelessness, sexual health, out of home care and more. The network comes together once a month and collaborates to put on safe events for at-risk youth so attendees can engage with multiple services at once and receive soft referrals. YARN has been youth led for the past two years and has had young people involved in the committee since its origins in 2015. YARN has delivered 22 events in more than eight years with an average of 80 at-risk young people attending each event.

The Youth Educating Peers (YEP) project, coordinated by the Youth Affairs Council of Western Australia, provides sexual health education to young people and the youth sector. The YEP Crew is a group of peer sexual health educators from Aboriginal, LGBTIQA+, migrant, refugee and disability communities. They work directly with young people and provide person-centred, trauma-informed, inclusive, engaging, evidence-based and fun sexual health education in person and online across Western Australia. The project consults with young people to determine the best ways to educate young people and support their sexual health. It runs a hybrid model, in person and online, which has reached more than 100,000 unpaid annual views on YEP's social media platforms.

Elizabeth Knight is a startup founder, public speaker, facilitator, app developer and youth advocate. At 19 years old, she founded Purposeful, a startup to help young people find their place in the world and careers they are passionate about. Purposeful has supported more than 15,000 high-school and tertiary-aged students towards meaningful work through programs and a podcast. Purposeful also created an Innovation Network and has run 15 Exploration Expos connecting 20-30 young people with high school students inspiring them to consider entrepreneurial, innovation and advocacy-focused career pathways. Elizabeth also co-founded No Code Odyssey to help entrepreneurs and creators to build websites, apps and other technological solutions.

Samuel Thomas created Sam's Spares, a not-for-profit organisation reducing IT, computer and e-waste by bridging the gap between the IT end-user and the E-waste recycler. The organisation refurbishes and repairs discarded computer electronics to give to those in need. Sam's Spares also provides one-on-one repair training for neurodivergent people, which helps develop technical abilities, as well as communication and teamwork skills. In its first 12 months, Sam’s Spares received 45.9 tonnes of E-Waste, properly recycled 28.7 tonnes and diverted 919 refurbished pieces of free technology back into the community. Sam's Spares continues to expand with a new 700 sqm facility and is aiming to increase its processing capacity by 16 times.

After she experienced bullying as a six-year-old because of her stutter, Sian Williams founded Kidzucate in 2012. She wanted a fun, kid-friendly solution to her problem and created her own. She began using YouTube to present her educational videos to help young people be kinder to others and address bullying. In 2014, Sian attended Youth for Human Rights' summit in Brussels, Belgium representing Australia and was the youngest delegate to attend the summit. She has received numerous awards for ongoing work to address bullying. Kidzucate has developed the Take-A-Stand program for six to 12-year-olds to develop healthy behaviours and break the chain of bullying.

Xanthe Turner has squeezed a lot into life so far: author, illustrator, publisher, volunteer, university student, actor, musician, animator, zoo attendant, headspace volunteer, the list goes on. What drives her is a passion to support her community. Mandurian Stories is one of her latest projects and she recently launched her second community anthology, sales of which are donated towards community arts projects. Xanthe has been a member of youth parliament and won awards for her art. She also volunteers as an arts class facilitator and has been running creative, arts-based workshops in and around Mandurah since her early teens. She is studying a double degree in Fine Arts and Professional Writing and Publishing.

Award-winning singer-songwriter Indigo Ellis is using her voice to explore her Noongar Nunga culture and to help young people in her community. Indigo is an ambassador for the Valuing Children Initiative and advocates for First Nations youth and those within the LGBTIQA+ community. She has used her platform to speak about youth mental health, especially in Indigenous communities. Indigo's debut single Home, written when she was 13, won several NAIDOC and WAM awards. Home is sung in English and Noongar language and explores her connection to culture and her family heritage, which has links to the Stolen Generations. Between studying her Cert III in music and writing new material, she’s also teaches and mentors others.

Harrison Lambert is considered a critical cog in Margaret River HEART's technical team. HEART is the town's multi-purpose entertainment, arts and business venue. Harrison is a media systems technician and has co-programmed the cinema program at HEART. The refreshed cinema program has helped Arts Margaret River bring the community a diverse and robust schedule that has been well received with increased attendance from previous years. Harrison, who is also a St John Ambulance volunteer, assisted with this year's CinefestOZ further displaying his commitment to the local community in helping to deliver a film festival that is a staple on the region's events calendar.

Shivani Panneri is a very impressive young person. At just 10 years old, she raised funds for Autism WA by painting and auctioning off 25 pieces of art. For her selfless effort, she was recognised as City of Gosnells’ 2022 Young Community Citizen of the Year. Since then, she has written and published a book, Luke And The Cheese Of Hope, the sales of which will go towards The Kids’ Cancer Project. Her book was inspired by a family members experience in fighting cancer. Shivani is an inspirational young person who offers her own words of wisdom; “work hard, follow your dreams, give back and take care of others.”

Nathan Swayne left the lucrative mining industry to follow his passion for supporting young people to achieve better outcomes at the Youth Involvement Council. He has gone above and beyond his role and is often a young person's last port of call. Nathan stays calm in tense situations and understands the trauma that a young person has gone through. He continually upskills and has been the organisation's acting CEO several times. He will source football boots for a young person who feels shame at having none, will drive another young person hundreds of kilometres so he can attend a funeral and works hard to maintain strong connections with police, the legal community, Elders and youth groups.

Adeleine has been instrumental in building the reputation of Altone Youth Service in the communities of Beechboro, Lockridge and surrounding areas as a safe and dedicated space for young people seeking support and refuge. She has consistently developed programs and activities which reflect young peoples’ primary needs and respond to issues within the community. The Free to Be Me program, for young men aged 12 to 17 years, was approached from a cultural, trauma-informed perspective and looked at identity and relationship to self, family and community, self-care, healthy relationships, coping skills, mental health, and communication. Other projects include the Altone building mural, which was a result of consultation and collaboration with young people.

Ben Dancey has spent more than 15 years working with youth in remote Aboriginal Communities as well as street-present young people. In the past five years, Ben has been pioneering the Home Stretch WA Program, which was co-designed by young people and is being rolled out as a permanent part of the child protection system. The program supports young people, aged 18 to 21, as they leave out-of-home care and transition into adulthood. Ben was one of the first youth transition coaches and has helped roll out the program throughout the state. Home Stretch participants receive holistic and practical support such as budgeting, access to housing as well as life coaching to achieve employment, connect with their identity, culture and community.

Raena is an authentic, non-judgemental, dedicated and compassionate youth worker. She places young people at the core of her work and always ensures their voices are heard. Raena is known for her capacity to hold space with the young people she works with, and to walk alongside them. Raena was a part of the development and implementation of the Vinnies Compass Outreach Program which is a pilot program being run out of Passages Youth Engagement Hub until May 2024. This program supports young people at risk of or experiencing homelessness with intensive case management to set and achieve their goals. Raena is valued amongst her peers and supports staff to create a supportive and therapeutic environment for young people at the Hub. On her free weekends she also works casually on the Mission Australia Youth At Risk Strategy.

Abigail is the founder of WA Consent an advocacy organisation campaigning to amend WA's intoxication and consent laws. Abigail has appeared before a Senate committee which is examining current and proposed sexual consent laws and she made a submission to the WA Law Reform Commission about consent in WA. Abigail volunteers at the Centre for Women’s Safety and Wellbeing’s Lived Experience Advisory Group and the Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Foundation. She is studying a double major in Law & Society and Criminology and is this year’s Ciara Glennon Memorial Law Scholarship at The University of Western Australia. She is also a voluntary paralegal at the university's Student Legal Advice Centre.

After experiencing bullying and assaults at school, Troy has become a strong advocate for young people and the LGBTIQA+ community. Troy is chair of the Youth Pride Network which is working to improve the lives of young LGBTIQA+ people through systemic advocacy, education, and events. He is a community development officer at the Town of Port Hedland and recently helped form the town's first youth advisory council. Troy is also a board member for the Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Youth Advisory Group and has been a member of YMCA's Youth Parliament. The environment is also a passion of Troy's and he has been involved with the Australian Association of Environmental Education.

Zac Chu started Diet to Save Earth (DTSE) shortly after arriving in Australia several years ago. DTSE is a youth-led movement to educate and mobilise young people to encourage their families, communities and societies to promote and adopt dietary changes to help the climate. Zac is also a strong advocate for young people with disabilities. He is a member of the Australian Government's Reimagining NDIS Working Group, and the NDIS PACE System Working Group. Zac, who is studying a Bachelor of Science in Cybersecurity, also represented Australia as a delegate to the 16th UN Climate Change Conference of Youth, an official precursor event of the COP26.

Twin sisters Katrina and Kassandra Hon struggled with significant mental health issues during their adolescence often in silence because of cultural stigmas. However with the support of their family and a mental health team they recovered and are using their experiences as catalysts for change. They are active youth advisors for headspace Midland and Lifeline and are serving as accredited suicide crisis supporters at Lifeline. They are both passionate advocates for youth mental health and tirelessly promote the importance of early intervention and prevention services such as headspace Midland, Youth Focus and Lifeline Australia. The sisters are doing Honours in Psychology and want to keep challenging outdated cultural norms with their lived experience and learned knowledge.