Tom Harvey Award 2012

The Tom Harvey Award is named after the late inaugural Chairman of the Australia Youth Trust and recognises the outstanding contribution of a young Australian between the age of 15 and 30 to citizenship.

The Award comprises a cash prize of $2,000, and is presented at the annual Commonwealth Day Luncheon held at Parliament House, Sydney, which will be held on Monday 12th March 2012.

Commonwealth Day is celebrated across the Commonwealth of Nations – a voluntary association of 53 member nations, including 1.8 billion people or 30% of the world's population.

The award is made as part of a wider programme of grants made by the Trust to assist young people working together within Australia and developing Commonwealth nations within our region, supporting projects such as:

• the relief of poverty and suffering
• literacy, education, training and employment opportunities
• the promotion of youth leadership exchange
  

The Australia Youth Trust was established by the Commonwealth Day Council (NSW) and launched by the late Diana, Princess of Wales in October 1996 at a gala luncheon in Sydney.

Since then, the Trust has made annual grants to a variety of organizations and individuals including the Sir David Martin Foundation for Young Australians, the NSW Arts Education Foundation, the One Laptop Per Child Program, and the Solomon Islands Australia Foundation.

Past recipients of the Tom Harvey Award for Citizenship are:

• Tammy van Wysse (2001)
  For her marathon swim to raise awareness of the plight of the Murray-Darling.
  
• Veronica Anderson (2002)
  For her rehabilitation and care of youth people through the Youth Off the Streets programme.
• James Moody (2003)
  For his work with the UN on sustainable development.
• Christina Parasyn (2004)
  For her work with disability programmes in the Maldives.
• James Strong (2005)
  To undertake vocational eduction training in the Cook Islands.
• Melissa Hurd (2006)
  For working with homeless children in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
• Angela Bailey (2007)
  For her work in helping to establish a school for under privileged children in Tanzania.
• Karangi Public School NSW (2008)
  For the school community's efforts in undertaking environmental rehabilitation and sustainability projects.
• Clary Castrission (2009)
  For his contribution in the construction of a Learning Centre in Bangalore for severely underprivileged children.
• Nicole Kuepper (2010)
  For her development of a revolutionary solar cell that can be manufactured at low temperatures using everyday items like a pizza oven, nail polish and an inkjet printer.
• Robert Ma (2011)
  For establishing a special mentoring program for indigenous high schools to support their studies and aspirations for entry to university.

To be an eligible candidate for the Tom Harvey Award for Citizenship, the recipient must be an Australian citizen aged between 15 and 30, and have made an outstanding contribution in some form reflecting the aims and objectives of the Australia Youth Trust.

The successful nominee must also be available to attend the annual Commonwealth Day Luncheon (as our guest) to receive the award.

The Board of the Australia Youth Trust presently invites individuals and organisations to nominate candidates for the 2012 award.

Applications for the 2012 Tom Harvey Award have closed.
The winner will be announced at the 2012 Commonwealth Day Luncheon.