ACT
CANBERRA - Canberra's Dr Patricia Easteal, a prominent campaigner to end domestic violence, is the ACT's nominee for Australian of the Year.
In her 20-year career, Professor Easteal has written 14 books, 150 journal articles, been an expert witness and sat on numerous committees in her crusade to put an end to domestic violence, sexual assault, discrimination and sexual harassment.
The University of Canberra academic has been a leader in the field of the prevention of domestic violence, and her writings have influenced law reform and policy making in the area. She has served on the Domestic Violence Prevention Council for eight years.
NSW
SYDNEY - Planet Ark co-founder Jon Dee is one of the nation's most influential environmentalists. Mr Dee, 45, from the Blue Mountains, is the NSW candidate for the 2010 Australian of the Year award for his work raising awareness of how people can protect the environment in practical ways.
He founded Planet Ark in 1991 with tennis great Pat Cash and successfully pushed for the three-year phase-out of incandescent light globes in Australia.
He is also behind countless other campaigns, including recycling programs and lobbying for a ban on plastic bags.
Northern Territory
DARWIN - Warwick Thornton is one of Australia's most promising contemporary filmmakers. Mr Thornton, 39, from Alice Springs, is the NT candidate for the 2010 Australian of the Year award for his work as a cinematographer, writer and director.
Starting his career at the Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association, which was established by his mother, Mr Thornton went on to graduate from the Australian Film, Television and Radio School in Sydney.
His debut feature, Samson and Delilah, is widely recognised as one of Australia's finest films and was selected for the 2009 Cannes Film Festival where it won the Camera d'or for best first feature.
Mr Thornton's passion is to document the stories of his community and to share them with the world.
Queensland
BRISBANE - Indigenous educator Chris Sarra grew up in Bundaberg, in southeast Queensland, and is leading an education revolution through his Stronger Smarter philosophy.He introduced the program to an indigenous school, Cherbourg State School, while principal between 1998 and 2005.
The program led to a dramatic decrease in absenteeism and improvements in literacy and numeracy levels.Students' enthusiasm also improved and community and elders were encouraged to have a say in the school's future.
Dr Sarra is now working at the Stronger Smarter Institute at Queensland's University of Technology in Caboolture. The Institute received $16 million from the federal government in September to roll out the program at schools across Australia.
South Australia
ADELAIDE, Jan 20 AAP - Julian Burton suffered life-threatening burns in the 2002 Bali bombings. The school teacher was a star player for Australian Rules football club Sturt, which was celebrating the SANFL premiership when caught in the Bali terror attacks.
Inspired by his carers, Burton quit his job and established the Julian Burton Burns Trust - Australia's first national charitable community organisation solely committed to prevention, care and research associated with burn injury.
Now aged 36, the married father of two was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in 2006 for his contribution to the community.
Tasmania
HOBART - British-born Bruce Englefield, 67, moved to Tasmania nine years ago, after the Tasmanian devil triggered his curiosity. An animal behaviour worker, he is determined to save the species from extinction by protecting them from the contagious Devil Facial Tumour Disease.
At age 65, he ran the London Marathon with a team of 10 Tasmanians to raise funds for Devil Island, the safe haven for disease-free devils he and his wife Maureen created, to help save the Tasmanian icon from extinction. Mr Englefield was the 2008 Tasmanian of the Year.
Victoria
MELBOURNE - Victorian candidate for Australian of the Year, Professor Patrick McGorry, 57, has worked as a youth psychologist for 27 years.He is executive director of Melbourne's Orygen Youth Health and Headspace, the National Youth Mental Health Foundation, both of which are at the forefront of researching and working with youth mental health issues.
At any one time Orygen is treating 900 young people in Melbourne's west for serious emerging mental health and substance abuse issues, while Headspace has 30 centres across Australia helping young people with mental health problems.
Western Australia
PERTH - Alzheimer's researcher Professor Ralph Martins is working desperately towards an early diagnostic blood test for Alzheimer's, a disease, he says, will quadruple in the Australian population in the future. Prof Martins, who was born in Bahrain and moved to Western Australia at the age of 16, is the state's candidate for the 2010 Australian of the Year award for his groundbreaking research into Alzheimer's.
His team made a significant discovery showing the beta amyloid protein that coats the brain is the foundation of Alzheimer's.
