The NSW Youth Work Awards recognise and celebrate the outstanding work with young people across NSW. 

We celebrated this outstanding work held at a gala ceremony on Thursday 25 October 2018 at the Ovolo Hotel in Woolloomooloo.

The ceremony is a celebration of all the incredible work happening around NSW to improve the lives of young people. This year we presented awards across 10 categories, including one new category.

The 2018 NSW Youth Work Award nominees, highly commended (in italics), and recipients (in bold) were:

• Outstanding Use of Data (Sponsored by fams) 
  • Burn Bright
  • Fairfield City Council with Andrew Cummings Training and Consultancy
  • Mission Australia NSW Specialist Homelessness Youth Services
  • Singleton Youth Services and Singleton Council
  • Stepping Stone House

• Outstanding Work with Diverse Young People (Sponsored by ACON)
  • City of Sydney's International Student Leadership and Ambassador Program
  • Belmore Youth Resource Centre
  • Headspace – Camperdown
  • Holroyd Youth Services
  • Macquarie Undergraduate Research Internship Program
  • Multicultural Neighbourhood Centre Youth Project
  • Multicultural Youth Affairs Network
  • Nelio Sam
  • Planet X Youth Centre / North Sydney Council
  • RYSS Early Intervention Team
  • STARTTS – Sporting Linx
  • Tree of Life
  • YESgroup – Western Area Adolescent Team
  • YMCA NSW Youth Parliament
  • Youthblock Youth Health Service

• Outstanding Work with Aboriginal Young People (Sponsored by AbSec)
  • Gamarada DBT Skills Coaching
  • Bularri Muurlay Nyanggan
  • Clontarf Foundation
  • Leader in Development – Apollo House
  • Miyay Birray Youth Service
  • Street Smart Project
  • Wings Drop In Centre
  • Yaama Aboriginal Programs

• Outstanding Work with Regional Young People (Sponsored by the NSW Department of Industry)
  • WAGS the Dog Program
  • APM Youth Employment Program
  • Axis Youth Centre
  • Cowra Information & Neighbourhood Centre – Youth Connect
  • Miyay Birray Youth Service
  • Tocal College

• Outstanding Partnership (Sponsored by FaCS)
  • STARTTS Swimming Program
  • Building a Bridge to High School Project
  • Drop Zone
  • Miyay Birray Youth Service
  • Multicultural LGBTQIA+ Support Directory
  • RYDON
  • Street Smart Project
  • Telopea Youth Connections
  • The Common Misfits – LGBTIQA+ group
  • Young Humanitarians Project
  • Youth Insearch / Joblink Plus
  • Youth Voice

• NSW Youth Work Volunteer of the Year (Sponsored by the Centre for Volunteering)
  • Graeme Moore
  • George Najarian
  • Kane Alkoraghooli
  • Joshua Gavellas
  • Patrick Gleeson
  • Jennifer Goodyer
  • Thanh Luong
  • Lauren McKenzie
  • Saba Nabi
  • Syed Haris Omar
  • Emily Paul
  • Jessica Szakacs

• Outstanding Youth Participation (Sponsored by the NSW Advocate for Children and Young People)
  • 2018 Youth Week Co-Design Process in Parramatta
  • 2Connect Youth & Community
  • Burn Bright
  • Camden Youth Council’s Paws for a Second Initiative
  • City of Canterbury Bankstown – Community Engagement
  • Cumberland Council
  • Fairfield City Council
  • Humans of Blacktown – Blacktown Youth Advisory Committee
  • Ku-ring-gai Youth Services – Refugee Week Event
  • Refugee Youth Peer Mentoring Program
  • Sydney Pacifica – Pacific Youth Leadership Program
  • Sydney Youth Music
  • Youth Insearch Foundation
  • Youth Off the Streets – Cultural Support Team

• NSW Youth Service of the Year
  • BackTrack Youth Works
  • 2Connect Youth & Community
  • APM Youth Employment
  • Blacktown Youth Services Association
  • Business Education Network (the BEN)
  • Caretakers Cottage Youth Crisis Refuge
  • Emerton Youth Centre
  • Engadine District Youth Services
  • Fighters Against Child Abuse Australia
  • Inner West Youth Homelessness Service
  • Marist 180
  • Miyay Birray Youth Service
  • Mosman Youth Services
  • Mountains Youth Services Team
  • Oasis Youth Support Network – Salvation Army
  • Regional Youth Support Services
  • Shopfront Arts Co-Op
  • Singleton Youth Services
  • Skillsroad
  • Stepping Stone House
  • Sydney Drug Education & Counselling Centre.

• NSW Youth Worker of the Year (Sponsored by Hesta)
  • Tarissa Staker
  • Laura Eason
  • Salmeen Al Haider
  • Loren Arnott
  • Debbie Clifford
  • Glen Crump
  • Richard De Martin
  • Fernando Drogo
  • Fatina Elabd
  • Maddy Forwood
  • Etienne Gilbert
  • Nadia Graham
  • Angela Hahn
  • Brooklyn Hawkins
  • Matt Hooey
  • Phillip James
  • Dotty Lamaro
  • Paul Longobardi
  • Christopher Manoski
  • Bede Ohuoha
  • Leonard Perelini
  • Leighton Pollard
  • Marcus Potter
  • Jemma Richards
  • Tracey Russell
  • Kylie Sharp
  • Viliami Sika
  • Keira Taggart
  • Blake Tatafu
  • Jesica Varela
  • Michelle Williams
  • Eliza Zanuso

• Lifetime Achievement Award
  • Shane Brown
  • Charlie Coorey
  • Lakin Agnew
  • Justin Burke
  • Kim Bush
  • Natalie Chiappazzo
  • Glen Crump
  • Kim Janssen
  • Samantha King
  • Kim Lenard
  • Tanya Merrick Powell
  • Jim Wood

The sponsors for this year's Youth Work Awards were: