THEY'VE made it their life mission to help others - preventing illnesses like COVID, ensuring women age healthily, raising money for sick children, and bringing dreams to life for vulnerable people.
Novocastrians were honoured for their tireless work at the 2024 Citizen of the Year Awards on Monday.
Lord mayor Nuatali Nelmes thanked winners for their contributions and said it was often the "quiet achievers" that went above and beyond to make the city a better place.
Citizen of the Year - Professor Nathan Bartlett
THE privilege of being a citizen - of relying on human connections to bring joy - comes at a cost.
No one knows that better than University of Newcastle medical researcher Professor Nathan Bartlett.
"We are social animals, it's in our DNA," he said. "These groups of people ... these are so important to our happiness.
"Records dating back hundreds, thousands of years document civilisations inflicted by infectious disease, and these have always plagued citizens."
He said isolation and lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic were the antithesis of what it means to be a social citizen, but were the only things that could slow the spread.
Professor Bartlett made it his life mission to understand why germs cause illnesses, and has had significant breakthroughs, with the pandemic in 2020 bringing urgency to his work.
The viral immunologist played an integral role in the development of a nasal spray designed to prevent respiratory infections.
"Respiratory viruses have emerged as a clear and present existential threat to our society, and of course COVID has demonstrated that in no uncertain terms," he said.
Professor Bartlett thanked his family, Hunter New England Health, John Hunter Hospital, the University of Newcastle, Hunter Medical Research Institute, his team and key collaborators when he accepted his award on Monday.
"From my dad I inherited a real practical and sort of hard work ethic," he said.
"Practical and hard-working but also enjoys a beer, no doubt I inherited that from him as well."
Senior Citizen of the Year - Professor Julie Byles
PROFESSOR Julie Byles has spent a lifetime learning how to be a good senior.
"Having studied my whole life, it feels, to be a good senior, I finally get my chance to be one," she said.
"So this is an incredible privilege for me because I've been listening to older people for such a long time and wanting to understand how they have done so well, and now I get a chance to follow in their footsteps."
Professor Byles has been a long-time advocate for the health of women and older people.
She inspired and taught many young researchers during her 20 years as co-director of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health, which connected her with more than 40,000 women in their 20s, 40s and 70s to follow as they aged.
After retiring last year, Professor Byles became president of the Hunter Ageing Alliance and has lent her skills and voice to ensuring older people in the Hunter are part of their communities, enjoy their lives, and age well.
"Help helps - the earlier you get help, the more it helps, and the more help you get, the more it helps," she said.
"A lot of people think you age well by avoiding care, I think you age well by getting care."
Young Citizen of the Year - Olivia Hughes
OLIVIA Hughes is only 17 years old but she has felt the deep loss of losing a childhood friend too soon.
Her friend battled cancer for four years and sadly passed away in 2017.
Olivia started holding monthly craft sessions for sick kids and their families at Ronald McDonald House.
"Seeing how much she needed help got me into helping other people so they didn't have to go through what she had to go through," she said.
Olilvia raises money for cancer research and for communities in disadvantaged countries by taking on surfing challenges, runs a Nippers program for children with disabilities, and volunteers at sporting events.
Olivia has been involved with Nobbys Surf Life Saving Club since the age of five, and said the modified Nippers program was a success, jumping from about a dozen kids last year to 25 this year.
"They love it, it makes them feel really welcome and included," she said.
The Year 12 student said she's keen to continue her charity work and volunteering as she gets older.
"It's definitely a big help having the community around you and hearing everyone else's stories," she said.
Community Group of the Year - LIVEfree Project
LED by Chris Jones from the Adamstown base, the group was celebrated for becoming a trusted source of support for community members that have faced hardship and trauma.
LIVEfree Project runs programs that have helped kids get to and from school, access dental care, and provide more than 600 children with vital life skills.
"It's been an incredible privilege to be entrusted with the care of vulnerable people and to work to change their lives," Ms Jones said.
"To sit and be with children as they reach out for you as somebody who they trust and can share their life with and tell their hard stories ... it's a space that you sit that is so uncomfortable but so needed.
"Their stories are valuable and needed in the fabric of our city."
Ms Jones said the programs were giving people a place to make generational change happen.
"We see a lot of families and we sit with a lot of people, and there is one thing that they all have in common - they all have the hopes and the dreams that I have for my children," she said.
Ms Jones said the recognition was for the whole team.
"They are amazing people that have hearts that are incredible," she said.
She was just seven years old when she was handing out sandwiches to people in need on the streets of Newcastle, and said people were never too young to lend a hand.
