State and territory finalists for the 2007 Young Australian of the Year Awards (along with the related Australian of the Year and Senior Australian of the Year Awards) have been announced. The press release mentions two young finalists by name: ‘Muslim leader Iktimal Hage-Ali (NSW), who has been selected … for her work establishing positive relationships between the Muslim and non-Muslim communities [and] Shasheen Jayawerra (NSW) … recognised for co-founding a network of youth organisations for sustainable futures across the Pacific’, who I think are also the two most likely to take out the final Award. Unfortunately, both Iktimal and Shasheen reside in NSW, and the process means that they will need to compete against each other before entering the national competition.
State and Territory Award recipients for each category as well as the Regional and Metropolitan Local Heroes of the Year will be announced at ceremonies in each capital city throughout November and early December.
Recipients in each category then become national finalists for the final Awards, to be announced at Parliament House on 25 January, 2007.
For a full list of state and territory finalists, see http://www.australianoftheyear.gov.au/pages/page257.asp. Full biographies of finalists are available at http://www.australianoftheyear.gov.au/pages/page245.asp.
