She took something devastating and made it matter for thousands
Each year, a nation pauses to ask itself who among its people has quietly bent the arc of ordinary life toward something more just, more humane, more whole. In Canberra, sixteen such people have been named nominees for the 2026 Australian of the Year Awards, their work spanning grief-turned-advocacy, decades of refugee service, climate litigation, and the slow, patient building of communities that leave fewer people behind. They will gather at the National Gallery of Australia on November 17, where four will be chosen to carry the territory's story into the national conversation on Australia Day eve.
- From a mother's loss of two children in pregnancy to a hospital unit that now holds space for grieving families, the nominees carry wounds that became blueprints for systemic change.
- A 21-year-old who led a landmark climate lawsuit, a 22-year-old author challenging perceptions of autism, and a 27-year-old historian who has walked 10,000 people through erased women's stories signal a generation refusing inherited silences.
- Decades of quiet endurance also shape the field — a 78-year-old refugee advocate with fifty years of service and a doctor who spent 31 years on the Thailand-Myanmar border rewriting global standards for maternal malaria care.
- The tension between individual heroism and structural need runs through every nomination: these are people who identified a gap, then spent years — sometimes lifetimes — refusing to look away from it.
- On November 17, four ACT recipients will be elevated to national finalists, with the country's highest civic honors to be awarded on Australia Day eve 2026 in a ceremony that asks Australians to recognize themselves in the people they celebrate.
Sixteen Canberra residents have been named nominees for the 2026 Australian of the Year Awards, recognized across four categories for work that reaches from the Thailand-Myanmar border to suburban automotive workshops, from school climate strikes to hospital bereavement wards.
In the main Australian of the Year category, four finalists stand out for the breadth of their commitment. Lauren Cannell founded Educación Diversa, teaching human rights and reproductive health through art-based programs. Sarah McGoram has spent decades advocating for rare cancer patients and securing access to life-saving treatments. Professor Rose McGready has provided healthcare to displaced people along the Thailand-Myanmar border for 31 years, her research on maternal malaria now adopted as the global standard by the World Health Organisation. And Karen Schlage, after losing two children during pregnancy, channelled her grief into systemic reform — her advocacy led directly to a dedicated early pregnancy loss unit and a perinatal bereavement companion program at Canberra's Centenary Hospital.
The Senior Australian of the Year finalists include Marion Lê, who has spent five decades helping refugees navigate immigration systems; basketball legend Calvin Bruton, whose foundation mentors disadvantaged students; football pioneer Heather Reid, who unified four associations under a single peak body; and palliative care advocate Dr Adele Stevens, still working at 82 to empower healthcare consumers.
Among the Young Australian nominees, Anjali Sharma led a landmark civil action against the federal government over fossil fuel duty of care — activism she began at 14. Liam Adams has self-published eight books to challenge perceptions of neurodiversity. Howard Maclean founded Greater Canberra and campaigned for medium-density housing reform. And Sita Sargeant has brought more than 10,000 people on tours recovering overlooked women's histories across three cities.
The Local Hero category honours Ben Alexander, who co-founded Running for Resilience with a goal of making Canberra suicide-free by 2033; pharmacist Bradley Butt, who built a national men's urological health service; Michael Phelan, who runs a mentoring program for young people at the Bimberi Youth Justice Centre; and Raffy Sgroi, who has self-funded a career program mentoring 186 students from underrepresented backgrounds through her automotive workshop.
The 16 ACT nominees form part of 134 Australians recognized nationally. Four territory recipients will be announced November 17 at the National Gallery of Australia, advancing as national finalists toward the Australian of the Year Awards on Australia Day eve, January 2026.
Sixteen Canberra residents have been named as nominees for the 2026 Australian of the Year Awards, a recognition that spans four categories and reflects the territory's depth of community leadership across healthcare, advocacy, humanitarian work, and social change.
The nominees were announced on November 3 and represent a cross-section of ages and causes. In the main Australian of the Year category, four finalists will compete for the territory's top honor: Lauren Cannell, a humanitarian and advocate who founded Educacin Diversa to teach human rights and reproductive health through art-based programs; Sarah McGoram, a cancer patient advocate who has spent decades raising awareness about rare cancers and securing access to life-saving treatments; Professor Rose McGready, who has spent 31 years providing health services to displaced people along the Thailand-Myanmar border and whose research on maternal malaria has become the global standard adopted by the World Health Organisation; and Karen Schlage, a maternity care advocate whose own experience losing two children during pregnancy drove her to transform how the health system supports families facing perinatal loss. Schlage's advocacy led to the opening of a dedicated early pregnancy loss unit at the Centenary Hospital for Women and Children and the implementation of an in-hospital perinatal bereavement companion program.
The Senior Australian of the Year category includes Marion Lê, a 78-year-old refugee advocate who has spent five decades helping migrants and refugees navigate immigration requirements and advocating against discriminatory elements in Australian policy; Calvin Bruton, a 71-year-old basketball legend who founded the Bruton Basketball Foundation to mentor disadvantaged high school students; Heather Reid, a 69-year-old football pioneer who was instrumental in establishing women's soccer in the ACT and as the first female CEO of Capital Football brought four associations into a single peak body; and Dr Adele Stevens, an 82-year-old palliative care advocate who has dedicated over a decade to ensuring better healthcare and consumer empowerment in health services.
The Young Australian of the Year nominees are Liam Adams, a 22-year-old author and cartoonist with autism who has published eight books through his self-publishing business to challenge perceptions about neurodiversity; Howard Maclean, a 30-year-old housing advocate who founded Greater Canberra and led the Missing Middle Canberra campaign arguing for medium-density housing; Sita Sargeant, a 27-year-old historian who founded She Shapes History to uncover overlooked stories of women and has taken more than 10,000 people on tours across three cities; and Anjali Sharma, a 21-year-old climate campaigner who began organizing school strikes at 14 and was the lead litigant in a landmark civil action case against the Australian Government over its duty of care regarding fossil fuel projects.
The Local Hero category recognizes Ben Alexander, a 40-year-old mental health advocate who co-founded Running for Resilience to help make Canberra suicide-free by 2033; Bradley Butt, a 42-year-old pharmacist who founded Men's Health Downunder to make urological health discussions less awkward and has expanded the service across the country; Michael Phelan, a 34-year-old Barunggam and Gunggari man who runs the Reconnect mentoring program at the Bimberi Youth Justice Centre teaching vocational and life skills; and Raffy Sgroi, a 48-year-old who runs an automotive workshop with her husband and has mentored 186 students through a self-funded 12-week career program focused on women, neurodivergent people, and young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
The 16 ACT nominees are among 134 Australians being recognized across all states and territories. Four recipients—one from each category—will be announced on November 17 at the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra and will then represent the territory as national finalists in the 2026 Australian of the Year Awards, to be presented on Australia Day eve in January 2026. National Australia Day Council CEO Mark Fraser described the nominees as "extraordinary people" who are "working to educate, generate awareness, create opportunities and improve lives" by drawing on their own experiences or responding to needs they have identified.
Notable Quotes
Drawing on their own life experiences or responding to a need they've identified, they are working to educate, generate awareness, create opportunities and improve lives.— Mark Fraser, National Australia Day Council CEO
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
What strikes you most about this group of sixteen?
The specificity of their work. These aren't general do-gooders. Lauren Cannell placed free sanitary products in public toilets and helped make the ACT the first jurisdiction to legislate that. Karen Schlage didn't just advocate—she changed hospital policy. That's the pattern.
Karen's story is particularly heavy. Two children lost during pregnancy, and then she turns that into systemic change.
Yes. What's remarkable is that she didn't stop at her own grief. She testified to an inquiry, got a unit built, got a bereavement program implemented. She took something devastating and made it matter for thousands of other families.
Professor McGready has been working in Thailand for 31 years. Why does someone stay that long?
She saw a gap—refugees fleeing Myanmar couldn't access maternal care in Thailand. Instead of leaving, she built clinics. Her research on malaria in pregnancy became WHO standard. That's not charity work. That's expertise applied to the most vulnerable.
The young nominees seem to be fighting different battles than their elders.
They are. Anjali Sharma sued the government as a teenager over climate duty of care. Howard Maclean is arguing for housing density in suburbs. Sita Sargeant is rewriting history to include women. They're not working within systems—they're trying to change what the systems are.
And the Local Heroes—they seem to be filling gaps the system left.
Exactly. Bradley Butt made men's health less embarrassing. Ben Alexander runs free mental health walks. Michael Phelan teaches young people in the justice system that they have value. They're all saying: this thing nobody wants to talk about, or this group nobody's investing in—I'll do it.
What does it mean that Canberra produced all of these people?
It suggests a place where people see problems and act. Not all at once, not all dramatically. But they see something broken and they fix it, or they try to.