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Citizen of the Year Awards

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WINNERS ANNOUNCED!

Winners of the 2023 Citizen and Young Citizen of the Year have been announced.

Citizen and Young Citizen of the Year

Every year the City of Ryde publicly acknowledges and recognises the outstanding accomplishments by individuals in our community who have excelled in their chosen field.

Citizen of the Year recognises outstanding service to the community over an extended period.
Young Citizen of the Year Recognises outstanding service to the community over an extended period by a young person aged 12-25yrs.

The awards are held under the auspices of the Australia Day Council of NSW and judging is conducted by a local selection panel. All nominees and their nominators will be invited to a private awards ceremony on the evening of Thursday 19 January 2023.
Winners and nominations in the past have come from fields as diverse as sporting administrators, business leaders, fire fighters, social enterprise entrepreneurs, school captains, writers, youth workers and other community leaders.

2023 Winners

Young Citizen of the Year | Maria Gharemanian

Maria supports the local Armenian community by volunteering her time and skills at a community club. Her volunteer work extends to fundraising activities for charities such as the Salvation Army and to raise funds for new toys, equipment and books for a local playgroup held at Santa Rosa Scouts Hall.

She also encourages young people to volunteer in the community and support migrant families settling in Australia.

Maria provides voluntary care and support for the elderly residents of a retirement village. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Maria was a great asset to her grandmother and her elderly neighbours. She ran errands for them and ensured that maintenance requests were promptly sent to the building manager.

Citizen of the Year | Ross Forster

Ross is a volunteer coach who has worked with Ryde Athletics for over 40 years and has acted in many volunteer roles within the athletics community. He has been involved in local committees and acted as an official at major sporting events.

He played a crucial role in setting up Ryde Athletics’ fundraising activities to provide travel grants to their athletes who represent NSW or Australia. This has contributed to many athletes making their NSW debut.

Ross has coached and continues to coach many athletes to compete at the national and international level. At 82, he still coaches regularly at Dunbar Oval and volunteers his time every Saturday in summer for the Ryde Little Athletics competition.