The Tasmanian Women’s Council, Inspiring Young Women's Award (The Award) will recognise and celebrate young Tasmanian women including those with a trans and/or non-binary experience; who have demonstrated incredible potential, contributions or achievement out of strong self-motivation.

The achievements and contributions of the Award recipients will be promoted and championed in communities across Tasmania.

For her bravery, motivation and advocacy the Award is affectionately named in Honour of Grace Tame.

Grace is a survivor of child sexual abuse, author, columnist, campaigner, and advocate for fellow survivors. She is the Founder of The Grace Tame Foundation (GTF), a not-for-profit organisation which creates and funds initiatives to prevent, disrupt and respond to child sexual abuse. In 2022 she released her number one best-selling memoir, The Ninth Life of a Diamond Miner, which was shortlisted for three Australia Book Industry Awards. Between the ages of 18 and 24, Grace lived and worked in the United States as an artist. She now resides in her hometown of Hobart and regularly competes in ultramarathons around the country. On 2 December 2023, she broke the female course record for the Bruny Island 64km Ultra in a time of 5:04:07 and in May 2023 won the Great Ocean Road Ultra as the first woman and 6th overall. She is a regular columnist for titles including The Monthly and the Saturday Paper. For her contribution to legal reforms that allow child sexual abuse survivors to tell their own stories publicly, Grace was named the 2021 Australian of the Year.

Young women, including those with a trans and/or non-binary experience aged between 12 and 25 years (inclusive) who have demonstrated incredible potential, contributions or achievement in their chosen field, passion or area of interest can be nominated.

The Tasmanian Women’s Council invites nominees from all fields of endeavour including but not limited to community service; humanitarian pursuits; activism, advocacy; art and music; education; professional pursuits; or in areas that women have traditionally occupied, but for which they go mostly unacknowledged and unrecognised, such as caring roles and in family life.

You can nominate an individual for the Award if they:

• identify as a woman, including those with a trans and/or non-binary experience

• are 12 to 25 years of age (7 March 2025)

• reside in Tasmania

• have demonstrated incredible potential, contributions or achievement out of strong self-motivation.

We encourage nominations of Aboriginal women, women with disability, women from regional and rural communities, women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and LGBTIQA+ community, including those with a trans and/or non-binary experience.

Nominations for the inaugural Inspiring Young Women's Award can be made here by clicking on the next button below and following the prompts. If you are having trouble with any aspects of the nomination form please email women@dpac.tas.gov.au or call 6232 7679 for support.

Self-nominations are also invited. Nominees under 18 years of age require written parent/guardian consent to be nominated.

You can nominate more than one person, but a separate nomination is required for each nomination.

The nominator must be able to discuss nominee’s potential/achievements in detail.

The online nomination form allows up to 800 words for you to describe your nominee’s achievements. It is important to complete all relevant sections of the nomination form, providing enough detail to allow the Judging Panel to fully assess your nomination.

Tips for sharing your nominee’s story include:

• describe the nominee’s activities and include examples of what they have done

• explain how their actions demonstrate incredible potential or achievement

• explain how the nominee’s actions have made (or could make) a positive impact in their chosen field, passion, or area of interest

• outline how the nominee’s actions position them as a role model or inspiration for other young Tasmanian women, including those with a trans and/or non-binary experience

• use supporting information such as media or newsletter articles or letters of support if available.

Once you submit the nomination, you will receive a confirmation email acknowledging its receipt. DPAC officers may be in touch with you as the nominator, to clarify details, as necessary.

All nominations will be assessed by a panel comprised of a representative/s of the Tasmanian Women’s Council, the Youth Community and a senior official from the Department of Premier and Cabinet. 

The panel will consider the following criteria:

• the personal, academic, professional or community contributions of the nominee in their area of passion or area of interest

• how the actions/achievements of the nominee have positively impacted (or have the potential to positively impact) the nominee’s passion or area of interest and/or the people around them, such as immediate family, individuals or groups (for example caregivers or sporting/social clubs)

• how the actions/achievements of the nominee position them as a role model or inspirational figure for other young Tasmanian women, including those with a trans and/or non-binary experience.

Nominations open 7 March 2025 and close on a date to be confirmed.

The Tasmanian Women’s Council, Inspiring Young Women's Award is maintained in accordance with the Personal Information Protection Act 2004 (the PIP Act), which establishes a framework for the responsible collection and use of information by the Tasmanian public sector. The Department of Premier and Cabinet as the administrator of The Award has an exemption from the PIP Act enabling the collection of personal information of a nominee over 18 years of age without the consent or knowledge of a nominated individual. Information provided by nominees and nominators will only be used for the purpose of assessing The Award nominations.

Where the nominee or the nominator is under the age of 18 we require the consent of both the youth and their parent or legal guardian for the collection, use and disclosure of their personal information as required under the PIP Act. If we do not collect this personal information we will be unable to assess the nomination. You have a right to access the information we collect, which you can do by contacting women@dpac.tas.gov.au.  

For recipients and finalists of The Award, some of the information nominators provide will be used to develop a biography suitable for publication on the Tasmanian Government Women’s website. As part of that process, each recipient or finalist will be asked to confirm the accuracy of the biography.As part of that process, each recipient or finalist will be asked to consent to the publishing of their personal information and confirm the accuracy of the biography.

Further information regarding the handling of personal information is available in The Graces Personal Information Procedure [PDF].

We publish a photograph alongside every finalist on the Tasmanian Government’s Women in Tasmania website. This can be a photograph of a person, or something that represents the individual. The Department of Premier and Cabinet will email each finalist and award recipient with a request for an image, accompanied by an attached consent form which must be completed before an image will be uploaded onto the Women in Tasmania website.

If a finalist or award recipient is under 18 years of age, parental/legal guardian consent must also be obtained.

Finalists and their family and friends will be invited to attend a presentation by the Minister for Women at a date to be announced.

To find out more about the Inspiring Young Women's Award, contact the Women’s Policy team in the Department of Premier and Cabinet.

Our team can provide you with support to read, understand and prepare an application.

Email women@dpac.tas.gov.au or phone 03 6232 7679.

Young person and parent/legal guardian consent to the collection, use and disclosure of the young person’s personal information, including sensitive information.

If a person is under 18 years of age this section must be signed before a nomination is accepted.

Note: if this is a self-nomination please skip to the next page.

Young person and parent/legal guardian consent to the collection, use and disclosure of the young person’s personal information, including sensitive information.

If a person is under 18 years of age this section must be signed before a nomination is accepted.

Please provide the contact details of two referees to enable us to verify, clarify or seek further information if required.

(may be the Nominator if over 18 years of age and not a self-nominee)

The purpose of this section is to understand the actions and achievements of the nominee.

The panel will primarily use the information provided in this section to make its decision.

The panel will consider the following criteria:

• the personal, academic, professional or community contributions of the nominee in their area of passion or area of interest

• how the actions/achievements of the nominee have positively impacted (or have the potential to positively impact) the nominee’s area of passion or area of interest and/or the people around them

• how the actions/achievements of the nominee position them as a role model or inspirational figure for other young Tasmanian women, including those with a trans and/or non-binary experience.

Contributions can be at any level, whether family (caring), local (grassroots), state, national or international.

Please do not assume that the panel will know about the nominee. A strong application will explain the contributions of the nominee and demonstrate it through examples. Suggested 500-800 words.

Please attach relevant information to support your claim. This could include:

• letters or references

• images or videos (explicit consent must be obtained from nominee, and if under 18 years of age, consent is also required from parent/guardian)

• information on a website

• newspaper articles

• reference from a book or magazine

• previous honours or awards

When referencing websites or documents, please include relevant information, and/or cite specifically so that references can be reviewed. Maximum 10 pages.

Please check the subject(s) that best matches the nominee’s area(s) of activities/achievements. Multiple sectors can be checked if applicable:

Please review your submission by clicking the previous and next buttons, then hit submit below.