The Awards honour and celebrate diverse human rights heroes and significant achievements in protecting and promoting human rights in Australia.

Focus Areas

• To be eligible for nomination, entrants must have made an outstanding contribution to the promotion and protection of human rights in Australia in at least one of the following areas:
  • taking action to overcome discrimination or infringements of human rights within Australia
  • encouraging greater harmony between people of different race, sex, sexuality, age or ethnic origin within Australia
  • enhancing the rights of Indigenous people
  • promoting equal opportunity for people with a disability in Australia, or increasing awareness of issues of injustice or inequality in Australia.

Categories

• Human Rights Medal
• Law Award
• Media & Creative Industries Award
• Community Award
• Young People’s Award (25 years and under)

Eligibility Criteria

• Nominees must be an Australian citizen or have resident status and be living in Australia or be an organisation or association that is registered in Australia.
• They accept self-nominations.
• Unsuccessful nominations may be re-nominated in subsequent years.
• Category criteria
  • People and organisations can be nominated in multiple categories.
  • Nominations for people aged 25 years or under (as of 31 August in the Awards year) will be considered for the Young People's Award
  • Eligibility is dependent on the award category and may be open to businesses, groups, organisations and/or individuals.

Ineligibility Criteria

• Nominees cannot be:
  • an employee of the Australian Human Rights Commission
  • an employee of a direct supplier of commercial products or services to the Australian Human Rights Commission
  • a member of the 2025 Australian Human Rights Awards judging panels
  • a partner organisation or an employee of a partner organisation of the 2025 Australian Human Rights Awards.

For more information, visit Australian Human Rights Commission.