And the winners are…

Ten social change-makers have been announced winners at the 2019 Third Sector Awards, annual award celebrating the leadership and innovation in to the purpose and impact driven sector.

This year’s awards themed “Avantgarde – Celebrating the sector’s most extraordinaire”, presented by Spark Strategy, highlighted innovative and progressive sector leaders and organisations.

The winners of the Third Sector Awards were revealed at a ceremony at Le Montage, Sydney on 24 September.

The Awards was put together in partnership with the Centre for Social Impact with an unbiased and objective point of reference, and nominees were judged based on their social impact, outcomes measurement, social innovation, collaboration, leadership and systems thinking.

The winners are:

Emerging NFP Organisation of the Year
Harding Miller Education Foundation

Campaign/Marketing Executive of the Year
Chris Frame (Braemar Presbyterian Care)

Young Leader of the Year – presented by category sponsor Woolworths
Riley Saban (PolySpine)

Volunteer of the Year
Peter Frazer (SARAH Group)

Social Entrepreneur of the Year
Weh Yeoh (OIC Cambodia, Happy Kids Clinic, Umbo)

Emerging Leader of the Year – presented by category sponsor CSNET
Kaz McGrath (Act for Peace & the Ration Challenge)

Small Charity of the Year (10 people or less) – presented by Akolade
Bowel Cancer Australia

CEO of the Year – presented by principal partner Spark Strategy
Lindsay Cane ( Royal Far West)

Board Director of the Year
Robyn de Szoeke OAM (Dress For Success Sydney)

Influencer of the Year
Yvonne Keane

Lindsay Cane AM, CEO of Royal Far West, was very humbled by winning CEO of the Year category. She thanked her organisation and Third Sector for recognising all the tireless work she has put into leading Royal Far West and to all partners, friends and supporters who voted.

Lindsay: “Being acknowledged by one’s peers and colleagues is the ultimate honour – my sincere thanks to everyone who generously supported my nomination and thank you to my dedicated team and our clients for enabling me to make a difference. Recognition of this award is recognition for Royal Far West, and it will help us to continue to grow our services for kids in rural and remote communities.”

The ceremony was held in conjunction with Third Sector Live annual conference for leaders and decision makers in the not-for-profit sector. This year’s conference focused on ‘cutting through the noise’ and standing out from the crowd in an oversaturated market.

The speaker lineup for the two-day event included Claire Rogers, CEO at World Vision, Katherine Raskob, CEO at FIA, Paul Ronalds, CEO at Save The Children, and Kylea Tink, CEO at Camp Quality.