The Young Australian of the Year Awards commenced in 1979, and recognises those aged 16 to 30 who are considered exceptional young Australians. 1993 was the only year in which an award was not given.
The Miles Franklin Literary Award is an annual literary prize awarded to "a novel which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases". The award was set up according to the will of Miles Franklin (1879–1954), who is best known for writing the Australian classic My Brilliant Career (1901). She bequeathed her estate to fund this award. As of 2016, the award is valued at A$60,000.
Kurt Harry Fearnley, is an Australian wheelchair racer, who has won gold medals at the Paralympic Games and crawled the Kokoda Track without a wheelchair. He has a congenital disorder called sacral agenesis which prevented fetal development of certain parts of his lower spine and all of his sacrum. In Paralympic events he is classified in the T54 classification. He focuses on long and middle-distance wheelchair races, and has also won medals in sprint relays. He participated in the 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016 Summer Paralympic Games, finishing his Paralympic Games career with thirteen medals. He won a gold and silver medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and was the Australian flag bearer at the closing ceremony.
Leah Maree Purcell is an Aboriginal Australian stage and film actress, playwright, film director, and novelist. She made her film debut in 1999, appearing in Paul Fenech's Somewhere in the Darkness, which led to roles in films, such as Lantana (2001), Somersault (2004), The Proposition (2005) and Jindabyne (2006).
Kerryn Lyndel Phelps is an Australian medical practitioner, public health and civil rights advocate, medical educator and former politician.
Rebel Melanie Elizabeth Wilson is an Australian actress, comedian, writer, singer, and producer. After graduating from the Australian Theatre for Young People in 2003, Wilson began appearing as Toula in the SBS comedy series Pizza and later appeared in the sketch comedy show The Wedge (2006–2007). She wrote, produced and starred in the musical comedy series Bogan Pride (2008). Shortly after moving to the United States, Wilson appeared in the comedy films Bridesmaids and A Few Best Men, both in 2011.
The New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, also known as the NSW Premier's Literary Awards, were first awarded in 1979. They are among the richest literary awards in Australia. Notable prizes include the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction, the Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry, and the Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-Fiction.
The Longford Lyell Award is a lifetime achievement award presented by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA), a non-profit organisation whose aim is "to identify, award, promote and celebrate Australia's greatest achievements in film and television." The award is presented at the annual AACTA Awards, which hand out accolades for technical achievements in feature film, television, documentaries and short films. From 1968 to 2010, the award was presented by the Australian Film Institute (AFI), the Academy's parent organisation, at the annual Australian Film Institute Awards. When the AFI launched the Academy in 2011, it changed the annual ceremony to the AACTA Awards, with the current award being a continuum of the AFI Raymond Longford Award.
Tasmanian of the Year Awards is an award given to the most outstanding Tasmanian in any given year. The Awards are made by the Tasmania Committee Incorporated and is organised and funded with government support. It was first awarded in 1985.
Dylan Martin Alcott, is an Australian former wheelchair tennis player, former wheelchair basketball player, radio host and motivational speaker. Alcott was a member of the Australia men's national wheelchair basketball team, known colloquially as the Australian "Rollers". At the age of 17, he became the youngest Rollers gold medal winner, at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics, and was the youngest to compete in the wheelchair basketball competition. In 2014, he returned to wheelchair tennis with the aim of participating at the 2016 Rio Paralympics, at which he won gold medals in the Men's Quad Singles and Doubles. He was named the 2016 Australian Paralympian of the Year due to his outstanding achievements at Rio.
Samantha May Kerr is an Australian professional soccer player who plays as a forward for Chelsea in the FA Women's Super League and the Australia women's national team, which she has captained since 2019. She is widely regarded as one of the best forwards of all time. As of 2022, Kerr is the all-time leading Australian international scorer, and is the all-time leading scorer in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) in the United States. She is the only female soccer player to have won the Golden Boot in three different leagues and on three different continents—the W-League in 2017–18 and 2018–19, the NWSL in 2017, 2018, and 2019, and the Women's Super League (Europe) in 2020–21 and 2021–22.
Mathew David Ryan is an Australian professional football player who plays as a goalkeeper for Eredivisie club AZ and captains the Australia national team.
Aaron Frank Mooy is an Australian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He is considered to be one of the greatest Australian midfielders of all time and one of Huddersfield Town's greatest player in recent decades. Mooy was voted PFA Footballer of the Year a record three times, consecutively, and was nominated for the 2017 Asian Footballer of the Year award. He was named in the A-League Men Team of the Season twice, and was named in the PFA Team of the Year and EFL Team of the Season once. He was voted and named in the Socceroos Team of the Century.
The Australia women's national soccer team is overseen by the governing body for soccer in Australia, Football Australia, which is currently a member of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and the regional ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) since leaving the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) in 2006. The team's official nickname is "the Matildas" ; they were known as the "Female Socceroos" before 1995.
Georgie Robertson Stone is an Australian actress, writer and transgender rights advocate. At the age of 10, Stone was the youngest person to receive hormone blockers in Australia, which set a precedent that eventually changed the law that compelled transgender children and their families to apply to the Family Court of Australia to access stage one treatment. She continues to advocate for transgender children, and is one of the most visible transgender people in Australia.
Andrew William Hastie is an Australian politician, and a former military officer, serving as the Shadow Minister for Defence since 2022. Representing the people of Canning, a semi-urban region on the south coast of Western Australia, he is a senior member of the Liberal Party. He has served in federal government as the Assistant Minister for Defence, from 2020 to 2022. Hastie was Chair of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security from 2017 to 2020, rejoining the committee in 2022. Prior to politics, he was a troop commander in the Special Air Service Regiment.
Latrell Mitchell is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a fullback for the South Sydney Rabbitohs in the National Rugby League (NRL), and has represented both New South Wales in the State of Origin series and Australia at international level as a centre.
The A-League Men Coach of the Year is an annual soccer award presented to coaches in Australia. It recognises the most outstanding manager in the A-League Men each season. The recipient is chosen by a vote of all coaches at the conclusion of the regular season. The award was established in the first A-League season, 2005–06.