Local heroes in the spotlight as councils call for 2026 award nominations

Three Illawarra innovators helping the region thrive in different ways will know next week whether they will represent NSW in the 2026 Australian of the Year awards. 

Jack Brown, co-founder of national organisation Talk2MeBro, which aims to boost mental health and reduce suicide rates, is among four nominees in the Young Australian of the Year category. 

Andrew and Lyndell Clark, who founded a robotics program deployed to 11,000 children in the region, form a joint nomination in the NSW Local Hero section. 

They will attend a ceremony on November 10 at Royal Botanic Garden in Sydney for the announcement of NSW nominees for the national award. 

Jack has been part of Talk2MeBro since it began in 2018, the year he lost a cousin to suicide – somehow he described as ''like a brother to me''. 

''From there, his amazing wife Kristy created the slogan 'Talk to me bro','' he told the Flame in March. 

Jack said the charity has built programs and workshops that function in schools and workplaces and have reached more than 85,000 people throughout Australia. 

Jack is in his third year studying psychology at UOW after serving in the army for 10 years. He works full time at Open Arms, providing support for veterans.

“I saw that there was a gap," Jack says of his Talk2MeBro advocacy. "I didn’t feel like there was much for guys… like a community where you can just come down and chat.

“We’re trying to empower and educate, which is going to help people in the future when they might come across someone who is struggling, or themselves. We try to be the prevention rather than the cure.''

Jack progress so far was honoured this year with Wollongong's 2025 Young Citizen of the Year award. 

Leaders in robotics

As founders of the Project Bucephalus robotics teams, Andrew and Lyndell Clark have been mentoring children from diverse educational, financial, and cultural backgrounds by teaching them the skills to compete in the FIRST Robotics programs.

The Clarks teach participants, around 70 per cent of whom have a disability, to be proud of who they are and have claimed honours on every competitive level, including the highest award in the global program.  They also founded the LEGO robotics programs in Wollongong, which reaches 11,000 local children and provides a platform for kids to experience competition, turning Wollongong into a robotics powerhouse.  

Andrew and Lyndell have pioneered STEM programs for kids who may be falling through the cracks. Their Unstoppable program uses robotics to divert at-risk youth from crime and has been highly successful, with not a single participant reoffending over the program’s four years.  

Nominate a local hero

Meanwhile, Wollongong and Shellharbour citizens have until November 30 to nominate people whose deeds have been inspirational in the past year for council awards. 

Wollongong Lord Mayor Tania Brown said the city was home to amazing people doing their part to create a better world. 

''These are people who charge forward, who use their time, passion and energy to inspire change and support others,'' she said.

The City of Wollongong Awards will be handed out in nine categories – diversity and inclusion, community group, innovation achievement, sport, arts and cultural, sustainability and environmental, young citizen, senior citizen and citizen of the year. 

Wollongong's 2025 citizen of the year award was given to Malika Elizabeth Reese. As an artist and advocate, she combined her creative passions and her community service to great effect, tirelessly campaigning for victim-survivors of violence and using her storytelling skills to educate and inspire compassion.

Shellharbour's citizen of the year was dentist Dr Mohit Tolani, who advocates for accessible dental care through initiatives such as Project Smile, which provides free treatment for patients in need.

"“I feel very honoured, and I see it as an encouragement to sustain what I do," he told the Flame after receiving his award in January.

Nominate your local heroes

To nominate a person, group or organisation for a City of Wollongong Award, click here. To nominate someone for the 2026 Shellharbour Community & Australia Day Awards, click here