With the last of our Awards Gala Presentation Dinners for the Young Achiever Awards held this past Friday night, we are now pleased to be able to announce our 2019 Young Achievers from each State and Territory of Australia.
Awards Australia own and operate the Seven News Young Achiever Awards in Victoria, New South Wales & ACT, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia, along with the Tasmanian Young Achiever Awards and the Northern Territory Young Achiever Awards. This year saw record numbers of nominations received from throughout Australia, with each category boasting a long list of incredible semi finalists.
It wasn’t easy for the judges to narrow down the field with so many fantastic submissions, and we’re pleased to report that this year’s young achievers are all a tribute to their generation, and an excellent reflection on the Awards themselves.
Each year we ask our judges to not only determine the winner of their category, but to also specify a winner they feel deserves additional recognition as our Young Achiever of the Year. These young people are our country’s next thought leaders, innovators and advocates. Their compassion, determination, creativity and bravery in the face of adversity inspires all of us.
Dr Anosh Sivashanmugarajah
2019 NSW/ACT Young Achiever of the Year
Winner of the Western Sydney University Academic Achievement Award, Dr Anosh Sivashanmugarajah, 28 of Greenacre graduated in 2015 with a ‘Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery’ Degree with an Academic Medal, the Dr. David Graham Prize & the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists Prize.
Currently a Medical Registrar at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and is completing a ‘Masters of Internal Medicine’, Anosh is an Associate Lecturer in the School of Medicine at University of Sydney, University of Queensland and James Cook University. He was a 2017 NSW Junior Medical Officer of the Year Award Finalist. Anosh is currently pursuing a research project on ‘Statin Intolerance’, with the aim of publishing the results soon.
Rikki Bruce
2019 Northern Territory Young Achiever of the Year
Winner of the Genesee & Wyoming Australia Indigenous Achievement Award, Rikki Bruce, 28 of Stuart Park is proud to represent Aboriginal people in engineering. She completed her Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering at CDU and was awarded eight scholarships. In 2016, Rikki became the NT Indigenous Representative for Young Engineers Australia. She uses this position to help engage Indigenous people to consider engineering as a career path.
Rikki was involved with the CareerTrackers Indigenous Internship Program and the Department of Health and Education’s Young Mothers are Strong Mothers project. A former Aboriginal Student Ambassador, she aspires to be a role model for all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth.
Madina Mohmood
2019 Queensland Young Achiever of the Year
Winner of the Soroptimist International Women Empowering Others Award, Madina Mohmood, 22 of Redland Bay is dedicated to promoting and raising awareness of cultural diversity and empowering young women. She helped establish the Afghan Student Association and the Muslimah Student Society at the University of Queensland. Madina was directly involved in creating the Queensland Afghan Community Association youth committee. As a result, many young Afghans and Muslim women gained confidence to contribute in public discussions.
In 2017, Madina was chosen as university delegate to visit New York for the National Model United Nations. She secured a state leadership position as part of the QLD Vision Generation and was a keynote speaker at the International Women’s Day Breakfast.
Sean Grealy
2019 South Australian Young Achiever of the Year
Winner of the First National Real Estate Innovation Award, Sean Grealy, 23 of Morphettville is committed to improving aged care services. He founded Care Konnect, a suite of software enabling better communication and service quality in aged care, to solve his family’s own problem when his grandfather entered aged care services for the first time. Care Konnect brings together ageing and vulnerable people, their families, and care providers reducing social isolation, promoting healthy ageing and overall service transparency.
Care Konnect is working with aged care providers nationally and expects to connect over 3,000 families in 2019. Sean contributes to his community by working with early stage start-ups with the University of Adelaide ThincLab and Hacker Exchange program across Israel, America, France and Australia.
Matthew Etherington
2019 Premier’s Young Achiever of the Year
Winner of the St.LukesHealth Healthier Communities Award, Matthew Etherington, 23 of Sandy Bay is committed to helping people experiencing disability and disadvantage in his community. Matthew helps promote healthier communities through the Big Issue Community Street Soccer Program, using sports to empower and improve the lives of the disadvantaged.
Matthew organised a Mental Health First Aid Initiative at UTAS to prepare over 330 students to exercise self-care, promote mental health and encourage peer support. He is a national Youth Health Forum member and former Head of Welfare at UN Youth and the Tasmanian Youth Local Government. Matthew also led the organising committee of the Red Cross Social Connectedness Summit during Mental Health Week 2018.
Arun Thomas
2019 Victorian Young Achiever of the Year
Winner of the Royal Flying Doctor Service Victoria Regional and Rural Health Achievers Award, Arun Thomas, 29 of Horsham is an experienced Registered nurse who has a strong focus and passion for leadership, governance and aged care. In 2018, Arun was awarded Victorian state-wide Celebrating Aged Care Leadership Award and became a finalist – Excellence in Leadership by Victorian Healthcare Association for championing resident care and safety.
Arun has established a leadership scholarship as a part of ‘giving back’ to his Alma Mater to unlock the potential of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. Arun is a Board Director at Stawell Regional Health and an Associate Nurse Unit Manager at Edenhope District Memorial Hospital.
Jilen Patel
2019 Western Australian Young Achiever of the Year
Winner of the Masonic Care WA/Freemasons WA Community Service and Volunteering Award, Jilen Patel, 29 of Sorrento is a paediatric dentist committed to helping the vulnerable and disadvantaged families in remote Aboriginal communities in the Kimberley, homeless people, refugees in the Perth metropolitan area and children with complex medical needs. He developed the Kimberley Dental Team, providing oral health education and volunteer-based dental services to cohorts across WA.
Jilen also spearheaded the implementation of Strong Teeth for Kimberley Kids School tooth brushing program and developed a multidisciplinary oral health education and prevention program for resettled refugee children. He pioneered the use of digital technology to better facilitate the surgical repair of neonates with cleft lip and palate.
Learn more about all of our Young Achievers
To read the inspirational stories of each of our Young Achievers, not just the overall winners, please visit each program’s individual “Current Winners” page. We are so proud of these inspirational young Australians.
- NSW/ACT Current Winners
- Northern Territory Current Winners
- Queensland Current Winners
- South Australia Current Winners
- Tasmania Current Winners
- Victoria Current Winners
- Western Australia Current Winners
If you know a young Australian who deserves recognition for their achievements, please refer to them us and we’ll let both of you know when the next Awards program opens for nominations.
