A lurking great white didn't stop Darren Rogers trying to rescue dying surfer Tadashi Nakahara after he'd been attacked at a NSW beach.
When the shark tore the 41-year-old Japanese man's legs from his torso off the Ballina coast last year, Mr Rogers raced back into the water to hold his head as fellow surfers paddled him to shore.
Mr Nakahara died as Mr Rogers performed CPR.
Now, the 50-year-old will receive one of 26 bravery medals presented by NSW Governor David Hurley on behalf of the Royal Humane Society of NSW on Friday afternoon.
Mr Rogers will receive the award for the most outstanding act of bravery for the year, the Galleghan Award, in addition to a silver bravery medal.
"He was safe and he went back into the water knowing the shark was in there," the society's spokesman John Hoban told AAP.
"He's getting the Galleghan Award because out of all the cases considered, his stands out as a landmark, the bravest of the brave.
"He was just an ordinary man doing the extraordinary."
Mr Rogers declined to speak to media about the award.
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