A dogged athlete who re-learnt to walk on two separate occasions and who lost her partner to suicide has been recognised for spreading kindness and gratitude.
Kath Koschel, founder of not-for-profit organisation Kindness Factory, has been named NSW's 2025 Australian of the Year.
She received the award at a ceremony in Sydney on Thursday night.
Nominees in other categories included popular ABC presenter Karl Kruszelnicki, who won Senior Australian of the Year for NSW for his work bringing science to the masses.
Ms Koschel, a former cricket and ironman competitor, broke her back for the second time in five years when she was hit by a four-wheel drive.
After defying predictions she would not walk again, Ms Koschel turned her attention to spreading the love to others and started Kindness Factory, a curriculum taught at more than 3500 schools Australia-wide about the power of being nice.
With the initial goal of encouraging one million acts of kindness, her work has now spurred on a whopping 7.5 million acts in what has become a global movement.
Dr Kruszelnicki - better known as Dr Karl - has presented on the ABC since 1981 with his signature digestible style helping the average punter consume science content.
His weekly show Science with Dr Karl is regularly one of Australia's most downloaded podcasts.
Dr Kruszelnicki picked up his award nod for his commitment to the "mission to spread the good news about science and its benefits".
The United Nations awarded him the UNESCO Kalinga Prize in 2019 for popularisation of science.
Mental health advocate and researcher Maddison O’Gradey-Lee won Young Australian of the Year for NSW for her work on measuring mental health conditions among Indigenous communities.
The 27-year-old has facilitated massive youth consultation on mental health with her program reaching more than 21,000 people.
And co-founder of the Homicide Victims Support Group Martha Jabour won the NSW Local Hero award.
Ms Jabour started the group focused on supporting families and friends of murder victims in 1993, and it has now provided counselling to more than 42,000 members.
Other confirmed nominees for the 2025 Australian of the Year so far are child protection expert Leah Bromfield (SA), climate solutions innovator Sam Elsom (Tasmania), musician and cultural ambassador Grant Ngulmiya Nundhirribala (NT), motor neurone disease cure campaigner Neale Daniher (Victoria) and agriculture pioneers Dianne and Ian Haggerty (WA).
The winners of the national awards will be unveiled on January 25.
