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Vanessa Donald-Smith is the 2023 recipient of the Making a Feminist Difference in Mentoring award. Throughout her 30-year employment at DV West (formerly West Connect DV Services), Vanessa has supported thousands of women and children escaping and experiencing domestic and family violence.
Anne Junor is the 2023 recipient of the Making a Feminist Difference in Workforce award. Her work has made a feminist difference to women by contributing to improved practical outcomes for women working in areas where their skills are critical to effective performance of their jobs in providing care for others.
Ginger Gorman is the 2023 recipient of the Making a Feminist Difference in Media Communication award. She is a Canberra-based award-winning social justice and investigative journalist and author of the best-selling 2019 book ‘Troll Hunting: Inside the world of online hate and its human fallout.’
Deborah Cheetham Fraillon is the 2023 recipient of the Making a Feminist Difference in Arts award. Deborah has been a long-time feminist activist. During her very successful classical musical career, she has championed the cause of women, in particular Indigenous women.
Bree van Reyk is the recipient of the 2023 Making a Feminist Difference in Arts award. She is a percussionist, composer, sound artist, educator, and activist who passionately advocates for gender equity and social justice through extraordinary artistic projects that mobilise communities and inspire change.
Neelima Kadiyala is the 2023 recipient for Making a Feminist Difference in Workforce. Neelima takes an active role in promoting STEM careers, predominantly technology careers.
Professor Shirley Randell is the 2023 recipient for Making a Feminist Difference in Mentoring. She is an award-winning global mentor, educator, author, public speaker, change activist, and campaigner for human rights for the improvement of the status of women.
Kristine Hewett is the 2023 recipient for Making a Feminist Difference in Community Activism. She set up and runs Adamas Nexus post-crisis domestic violence support groups for women who have been subjected to violence, abuse or intimidation.
Chanel Contos is an Australian student and sexual consent activist. She became known globally in 2021, following the responses to her request for young Australian women to report on their sexual assault experiences.
Older Women’s Network NSW
8-10 Victoria Street,
Newtown NSW 2042, Australia.
+61 – 2 – 9519 8044
We acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we work and live, and we pay our respects to Elders past and present.
We acknowledge the sorrow of the Stolen Generations and the impacts of colonisation on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Edna Ryan Awards supports the Uluru Statement from the Heart, the call for a First Nation's Voice enshrined in the Australian Constitution and a Makarrata Commission to oversee agreement-making and truth-telling.
