There’s a Hunter dominated field in line for this year’s NSW Australian of the Year title.
Of the four nominees, three are Newcastle-based.
Paralympian Kurt Fearnley caps off a stellar year with a nomination – after being named an Officer of the Order of Australia back in June, and officially retiring from competing for Australia after the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.
Also nominated, former Newcastle Knights player turned brain cancer campaigner Mark Hughes. He co-created the Mark Hughes Foundation back in 2014, and has since partnered with organisations such as the NRL to bring brain cancer research front and centre across Australia.
And the Newcastle Herald’s Walkley winning journalist Joanne McCarthy has also been nominated. Joanne’s investigative reporting was instrumental in helping to creating the Royal Commission into the church’s child sex scandal.
The winner will be announced in Sydney on Monday night.
He or she will then represent the state at the 2019 Australian of the Year ceremony at Canberra on January 25.
