OLYMPIA Yarger is the ACT Australian of the Year. She was recognised for her ground-breaking work as an insect farmer and founder of agri-tech start-up Goterra.

Olympia is an insect farming pioneer and has developed an innovative waste management system that uses maggots to process food waste and reduce greenhouse gases. Her system has processed more than 35,000 tonnes of waste and saved more than 66,000 tonnes of carbon emissions.

Tom Calma is the ACT Senior Australian of the Year.  He is a Kungarakan Elder, who has worked for more than 45 years championing the rights, responsibilities, and welfare of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Currently chancellor of the University of Canberra, Calma is a passionate volunteer and the co-chair of the Indigenous Voice to Parliament co-design group.

Kofi Owusu-Ansah, an award-winning performer and songwriter has been named ACT Young Australian of the Year.

Performing under the stage name Genesis Owusu, Kofi’s 2021 album, “Smiling with No Teeth”, won four ARIA Awards. It explores the impact of two distinct but entwined “black dogs” – racism and depression.

And the ACT Local Hero is Dr Shamaruh Mirza for her work supporting culturally and linguistically diverse Canberrans.

A medical scientist, she is the co-founder of SiTara’s Story, a volunteer-run not-for-profit that provides a safe space for women to support and empower each other.

The four ACT winners will represent the Canberra community at the 2023 Australian of the Year Awards on January 25.

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