Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index The Australian of the Year Awards commenced in 1960. The award recipients are decided by Australia Day Committees in each state and territory. The awards are presented on Australia Day (January 26) each year. The Australian of the Year Awards recognise and reward those Australians who have a consistent record of excellence, who have made outstanding achievements in their field, and contributed in a significant way to our nation. The Young Australian of the Year Award was introduced in 1979, Senior Australian in 1999, and the Local Hero Award in 2003. See also List of Australian of the Year Award Recipients List of Senior Australian of the Year Award Recipients List of Australian Local Hero Award Recipients Outside links http://www.australianoftheyear.gov.au/ Australian of the year Website This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.