HESTA has today announced the 24 finalists across the eight categories of the 2026 HESTA Excellence Awards.
The awards recognise outstanding achievements by individuals and teams working in the aged care, allied health, disability services and community services sectors right across the country.
The finalists include a West Australian community-led aged care service delivering for rural and regional areas, the clinical team of a perinatal mental health service in Sydney, and a disability support worker helping empower people living with disability to live with confidence and independence.
HESTA CEO Debby Blakey congratulated the finalists, who were chosen from more than 340 nominations.
“Our members do incredible work every day to care for their communities and it’s great to be able to showcase the critical industries they work in. Year after year these awards remind me just how much skill, creativity and compassion that work takes, and this year's finalists are an outstanding example,” Ms Blakey said.
“HESTA’s Excellence Awards exist to find champions of the health and community services sector, share their stories widely and deliver the recognition they deserve. Congratulations to all of this year’s finalists – we're proud to celebrate you and the difference you make for the people in your care.”
Each of the eight category winners will receive $7,500 to put towards personal or professional development, or to enhance services or processes in their workplace. The prizes are funded by AIA Australia.
"We're proud to support the HESTA Excellence Awards, which shine a well-deserved spotlight on people who consistently make a difference by putting care, compassion and excellence at the heart of what they do," AIA Australia Chief Executive Officer Damien Mu said.
"The award recipients personify the dedication of a workforce that is essential to our nation's health and wellbeing. We're delighted to stand alongside HESTA to recognise those who go above and beyond for their communities every day."
Winners will be announced at a ceremony on Thursday, 6 August 2026.
Introducing the 2026 HESTA Excellence Awards finalists
Disability Services – Individual Leadership
George Ayoub - Solution Ideas Ability Boutique, Penrith NSW
George Ayoub is recognised for his inclusive leadership in disability services, pioneering a Peer Navigator model that employs people with lived experience of disability to guide participants through employment and the NDIS, while also building confidence and strengthening self-advocacy.
Carol Jennings – WaterWombats, Bruce ACT
Carol Jennings is recognised for founding WaterWombats, an innovative allied health service that uses aquatic therapy as a gateway to broader therapeutic support. Combining occupational therapy, exercise physiology, drama therapy and counselling, the program helps autistic children and children with disability build water safety skills, recover from trauma, strengthen social connection and improve participation.
Kevin Lee - The Cram Foundation, Shellharbour City Centre NSW
Kevin Lee is recognised for his exceptional work to empower people living with disability in their daily life activities. His step-by-step approach has helped build confidence and independence in the people he supports, while his leadership and mentoring has strengthened consistent, person-centred practice across the team, improving quality of life.
Disability Services – Team Excellence
Early Intervention & Allied Health Team (Foundations of Growth) - Koorana Child & Family Services, Belmore NSW
Koorana is recognised for developing Foundations of Growth, providing transdisciplinary allied health support within public schools to support children with disability. The program has supported over 400 children, over 300 receiving early intervention for the first time, with approximately 95% achieving their goals.
Northcott Healthcare & Clinical Governance team - The Northcott Society, North Parramatta NSW
Northcott's Healthcare and Clinical Governance team is recognised for delivering free, disability-competent preventive dental care, in partnership with the University of Sydney School of Dentistry. The first student placement in disability-competent special needs dentistry in Australia, the hybrid model of in-person clinics and e-dentistry is reducing preventable hospitalisations and building workforce capability.
Safe Ride - Freedom Solutions Australia, Coburg North VIC
The Safe Ride team is recognised for addressing a critical road safety risk: passengers with disability unbuckling or escaping restraints in moving vehicles. The team co-designed assistive technology solutions, including active restraint innovations and sensory supports. Trials demonstrated safer journeys, with children expressing that designs met their needs.
Aged Care – Individual Leadership
Ricah Noorzaye - The Brotherhood of St. Laurence, Frankston VIC
Ricah Noorzaye is recognised for her work with Banksia Cottage Respite, a dementia service that is going above and beyond to care for those with complex cognitive impairment and high behavioural support needs.
Amy White – ACH Group, Mile End SA
Amy White is recognised for transforming the mealtime experience across ACH Group's six residential aged care homes, leading a team delivering 12,000+ meals weekly. Her innovations, including picture menus, kitchen tours and developing a chef training pathway, have lifted resident satisfaction, improved nutritional outcomes and built a high-performing workforce culture.
Glen Williams - OneCare Limited, Hobart TAS
Glen Williams is recognised for his leadership on clinical governance. His "Last 1000 Days" framework integrates frailty, reablement, palliative and end-of-life care, improving outcomes, dignity and choice for older Australians.
Aged Care – Team Excellence
Embedding Specialist Palliative Care Nursing in Aged Care Residential In-Reach Team - Monash Health, Clayton VIC
The healthcare team is recognised for embedding specialist palliative care expertise within hospital residential in-reach services, supporting aged care residents to get faster access to palliative and end-of-life care that has improved health outcomes.
Saying Goodbye Team - Bupa Aged Care Australia, Sydney NSW
Bupa Aged Care Australia's Saying Goodbye Team is recognised for embedding a consistent, person-centred approach to palliative, end-of-life and after-death care across Bupa’s 57 residential aged care homes. Through co-design, education and tools, the team enabled more dignified, culturally safe and compassionate experiences for residents, while strengthening support for families and team members.
Staying in Place Pingelly - Pingelly Community Resource Centre Inc, Pingelly WA
Staying in Place Pingelly is recognised for its community-led aged care model helping older people in regional, rural and remote communities remain independent in their own homes. Now operating in 60+ communities nationwide, the program supports over 700 people across Australia locally delivered care and services.
Allied Health – Individual Leadership
Elizabeth Bancroft - Bancroft Psychology, Hope Affirm Thrive, South Perth WA
Elizabeth Bancroft is recognised for building Australia's first neurodiversity-affirming IVF psychological support program, Hope Affirm Thrive, supporting the unique psychological needs of neurodivergent and neurotypical IVF patients. Elizabeth is a Clinical and Counselling Psychologist, founder of Bancroft Psychology, and a late-identified Autistic and ADHD psychologist with lived fertility experience.
Frances Bilbao - Mums Matter Psychology, Williamstown VIC
Frances Bilbao is recognised for her work as a clinical psychologist transforming access to perinatal mental health care, including establishing Mums Matter Psychology in 2015. Frances’ innovative model of care has expanded nationally, removing cost and geography barriers to accessing specialist care for women and families across Australia.
Sharon Hennessey - Not Just Bendy Hypermobility Services, Eight Mile Plains QLD
Sharon Hennessey is recognised for her leadership as a physiotherapist in transforming care for people with hypermobility. Founder of Not Just Bendy Hypermobility Services and The Hypermobility Project, Sharon has supported thousands of patients and healthcare professionals to improve diagnosis, management and clinical education.
Allied Health – Team Excellence
Clinical Operations Team - Gidget Foundation Australia, North Sydney NSW
The Clinical Operations Team at Gidget Foundation Australia is recognised for transforming perinatal mental health care nationally by building new care pathways, training clinicians through its Workforce Development Program, educating healthcare professionals through Gidget Training Institute, tackling geographic inequality and expanding equity of access to bulk-billed psychological support.
Family Safety Team - Royal Melbourne Hospital, Parkville VIC
The Family Safety Team at The Royal Melbourne Hospital is recognised as a leader in hospital-based family violence response. Through policy development, digital innovation, evidence-based education, specialist clinical support, and practice-informed research, the team has embedded family violence care across the health service. Their work has strengthened workforce capability, improved identification and response, and enhanced safety and outcomes for patients affected by family violence.
Motivate Kids - Broadview SA
The Motivate Kids team is recognised for transforming paediatric allied health by embedding occupational therapy into early learning services and primary schools. Through educator capability building, in-room coaching and evidence-informed practice, the team has supported more than 500 educators across metropolitan and regional South Australia, creating sustainable improvements in children’s developmental outcomes.
Community Services – Individual Leadership
Carolyn Gowers - Project Respect, Fitzroy VIC
Carolyn Gowers is recognised for her leadership of Project Respect, a unique Australian specialist organisation supporting people with experience in the sex industry and those affected by sexual exploitation, including trafficking. Under her leadership, Project Respect has introduced free, trauma-informed sexual violence counselling and championed groundbreaking survivor-led research on economic empowerment of modern slavery survivors as a catalyst for change.
Zehrina Hajdic - Mission Australia, Coffs Harbour NSW
Zehrina Hajdic is recognised for embedding trauma-informed, culturally responsive leadership across frontline housing services on the NSW Mid North Coast. As State Leader Housing Operations at Mission Australia, she has improved workforce wellbeing, reduced burnout and supported better housing outcomes for those who most need it.
Kylie Straube - Remote Territory Healthcare, Berry Springs NT
Kylie Straube is recognised for co-founding Remote Territory Health Care, which restored primary care to 7,500 rural Territorians after her local community’s only medical clinic closed its doors. A Nurse Practitioner with more than 20 years’ experience, her practice serves as a replicable model for delivering quality care to rural and remote communities. She is a strong advocate for health service equality, breakdown geographical barriers for vulnerable patients, families and communities.
Community Services – Team Excellence
CASS Care Ltd team - Campsie NSW
CASS Care is recognised for its innovative volunteer management model that empowers multicultural seniors across more than 55 activity groups to lead, mentor peers, and build social networks. Supporting over 8,500 families weekly, the model is a celebrated example of a scalable, community-led model for healthy ageing.
Pill Testing Australia Team - Harm Reduction Australia, Emu Plains NSW
The Pill Testing Australia Team at Harm Reduction Australia is recognised for pioneering evidence-based drug-checking services across Australia. Deploying mobile LC-UV-MS technology in 2025–26, the fully volunteer team delivered real-time qualitative and quantitative substance results in a national-first, while its services have helped deliver rapid national health alerts that protect the community.
Women's Homelessness Prevention Project - Justice Connect, Melbourne VIC
Justice Connect’s Women's Homelessness Prevention Project (WHPP) is recognised for delivering Victoria's only integrated legal and social work service keeping women and children safely housed. Since 2014, the team has helped over 1,600 women and children avoid homelessness and its advocacy has helped deliver the strongest residential tenancy protections in the country.
Ends.
About HESTA
HESTA is one of the largest superannuation funds dedicated to Australia’s health and community services sector. An industry fund that’s run only to benefit members, HESTA now has more than one million members (around 80% of whom are women) and currently manages approximately $105 billion* in assets invested around the world.
*Information is current as at the date of issue.
