The Young Australian of the Year Awards commenced in 1979, and recognises those aged 16 to 30 who are considered exceptional young Australians. 1993 was the only year in which an award was not given.
Recipients
{| class=wikitable
! Year of<br>award
! Name
! Notes
|-
| 1979
| Julie Sochacki
|rowspan=34|
|-
| 1980
| Peter Hill
|-
| 1981
| Paul Radley
|-
| 1982
| Mark Ella
|-
| 1983
| Michael Waldock
|-
| 1984
| Jon Sieben
|-
| 1985
| Deahnne McIntyre
|-
| 1986
| Simone Young
|-
| 1987
| Bernadette Harvey
|-
| 1988
| Duncan Armstrong
|-
| 1989
| Brenden Borellini
|-
| 1990
| Cathy Freeman
|-
| 1991
| Simon Fairweather
|-
| 1992
| Kieren Perkins
|-
| 1993
| No award made: period of award changed from the previous year to the year ahead in 1994;<br/>i.e. Kieren Perkins was named Young Australian of the Year for 1992 in 1993 and<br/>Anna Bown was named Young Australian of the Year for 1994 in 1994
|-
| 1994
| Anna Bown
|-
| 1995
| Poppy King
|-
| 1996
| Rebecca Chambers
|-
| 1997
| Nova Peris-Kneebone
|-
| 1998
| Tan Le
|-
| 1999
| Bryan Gaensler
|-
| 2000
| Ian Thorpe
|-
| 2001
| James Fitzpatrick
|-
| 2002
| Scott Hocknull
|-
| 2003
| Lleyton Hewitt
|-
| 2004
| Hugh Evans
|-
| 2005
| Khoa Do
|-
| 2006
| Trisha Broadbridge
|-
| 2007
| Tania Major
|-
| 2008
| Casey Stoner
|-
| 2009
| Jonty Bush
|-
| 2010
| Mark Donaldson
|-
| 2011
| Jessica Watson
|-
| 2012
| Marita Cheng
|-
| 2013
| Akram Azimi
|
|-
| 2014
| Jacqueline Freney
|
|-
| 2015
| Drisana Levitzke-Gray
|
|-
| 2016
| Nic Marchesi <br>Lucas Patchett
|
|-
|2017
|Paul Vasileff
|
|-
|2018
|Samantha Kerr
|
|-
|2019
|Danzal Baker
|
|-
|2020
| Ashleigh Barty
|
|-
|2021
|Isobel Marshall
|
|-
|2022
|Dr Daniel Nour MD
|
|-
|2023
|Awer Mabil
|
|-
|2024
|Emma McKeon
|
|-
|2025
|Dr Katrina Wruck
|
|-
|2026
|Nedd Brockmann
|
|}
See also
- List of Australian of the Year Award recipients
- List of Senior Australian of the Year Award recipients
- List of Australian Local Hero Award recipients