Scott Andrews 25 years

For the past 10 years Scott has volunteered as a life saver at the Surfers Paradise Surf Life Saving Club. During this time he has contributed over 1500 hours of beach patrol and over 400 hours of training, education and assessing new and existing members. Last year he successfully raised over $30,000 in funding for the club. Scott holds many prestigious positions including patrol captain, chief instructor, waverunner crewman, communications officer and state duty officer. In 2003 and 2004 he was awarded Queensland Young Life Saver of the Year.

Aedan Whyatt 23 years

Aedan is one of Australia’s most promising young and emerging playwrights. In 2003 he was chosen to represent Queensland in the Australia Council for the Arts program SPARK: A National Theatre Mentorship for Young Artists. The nine month mentoring program provided Aedan with the opportunity to work with professional playwright Sven Swenson in creating and developing a series of plays. His play, “I Witness”, won the Queensland Theatre Company’s George Landen Dann Award for Young Playwrights in 2004 and was subsequently produced at the National Young Writers Festival in Newcastle.

Marayke Jonkers 23 years

Marayke has won two bronze medals for swimming at the Athens 2004 Paralympic Games and two silver medals at the 2002 International Paralympic Committee World Championships. The swimming sensation made her paralympic debut at the 2000 Sydney Paralympics. She holds the world record for the 100 metres butterfly and has broken over 60 Australian records in breastroke, individual medley, freestyle and butterfly. Marayke is currently training to represent Australia and break the world record in the 50 metre breastroke in Beijing, 2008. Marayake is an advocate for sports people with disabilities.

Alan Wu 21 years

As founder of his own environmental group, Wellspring, Alan is focused on educating young people about sustainable consumption issues. In 2003 he became a Special Envoy for Young People to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). He has written numerous articles distributed by UNEP and is a member of their Youth Advisory Council. Alan has coordinated and delivered youth input into every UNEP Global Civil Society Forum and Governing Council. Last year he was one of 50 participants on the National Youth Roundtable to develop a set of principles for environmental education.

Chelsea Bond 26 years

Chelsea has worked as an Aboriginal health worker, researcher and lecturer in government, community and university sectors across urban and rural communities of South East Queensland. The Bachelor of Applied Health Science graduate with first class honours is currently undertaking her PhD in indigenous health at the University of Queensland. Chelsea has worked for Queensland Health and as a senior researcher and associate lecturer at the University of Queensland. She has received a number of academic and career scholarships and produced many articles for health journals.

Marina Reeves 25 years

Marina’s cancer research has had an impact on the practice of oncology nutrition in Australia and overseas. She is the first dietician to work for the Queensland Cancer Fund as the Senior Research Officer in cancer control. Marina has helped improve the health and quality of life of cancer survivors through her scientific nutrition research and fundraising efforts. Her research has been presented at both national and international conferences and her manuscripts published in many international scientific journals. Marina is currently chairperson of the Dieticians Association of Australia (Queensland Branch).

Melissa Brien 24 years

Melissa is the first Landcare Coordinator for the small isolated town of Tara. After two years of tireless work, she expects to attract a possible $450,000 in funding for on-ground environmental work in the shire through Envirofunds and sub-catchment planning. Melissa uses her skills to motivate and educate the community in sound land and conservation practices. She actively promotes the adoption of land use and land management practices that strike a balance between the community’s livelihood and a balanced ecosystem. Melissa is a Bachelor of Environmental Science graduate from Central Queensland University.

Marayke Jonkers

Age: 23 years