LAKE Macquarie's 2014 Young Citizen of the Year is effervescent, generous and hard working. And she is only 17 years old.
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Belmont's Emily Ogden has already achieved a lot in her life.
Her main role in the community is a Warners Bay Girl Guide leader.
Emily has been involved with Girl Guides NSW for more than nine years.
She started at the Belmont North branch when she was seven. When she was nine she joined Charlestown Girl Guides, where she earned the highly coveted junior Baden-Powell Award.
She has now been at the Warners Bay branch for four years and a junior leader for the past 18 months.
On top of her duties as a senior guide, Emily helps develop and implement programs for the junior guides.
She particularly loves to help with craft and cooking activities.
She said guides had taught her about leadership, teamwork and communication skills.
"All of the skills I've learnt are transferable to every area of life so it's been an invaluable experience," she said.
These skills have helped Emily outside of guides.
She has also volunteered at Taronga Zoo through its youth program since 2011.
As part of the program, she travels to Sydney once a month during school terms and three to four times during school holidays to help out with the Roar & Snore overnight program, cleaning animal enclosures and manning information services.
Last year, the then year 11 St Francis Xavier's College student gave up one lesson a week to teach religion in local primary schools.
It was her responsibility to catch up on missed school work, but Emily said she was honoured to be part of the program.
Her attitude is reflected in her nomination for an Australia Day award.
Warners Bay Girl Guides' Michelle Smith nominated Emily and spoke highly of her.
"Emily is a quiet achiever and loves to lead by example," Ms Smith said.
"She is an inspiration to her fellow guides and a friend to all she meets."
Emily was awarded Young Citizen of the Year in the under 18 years category at a special ceremony at Lake Macquarie council chambers on Monday night.
2015 Lake Macquarie Australia Day Award winners
■ Citizen of the Year - Grace McLean founded NFP Connect, a networking group for Hunter not-for-profits to support each other and benefit from training tailored to address the industry's unique struggles. More than 184 people and 80 charity organisations have joined.
■ Young Citizen of the Year (under 18 years) - Emily Ogden, 17, is a senior guide and junior leader at Warners Bay Girl Guides. She also volunteers with Taronga Park Zoo and the Junior St Vincent de Paul program through her school, St Francis Xavier.
■ Young Citizen of the Year (18 to 30 years) - Kasey Brett, 21, inspired by her brother, who has special needs, has helped set up the Augmentative and Alternative Communication Chat Program, aimed at helping non-verbal clients use assistive technology.
■ Volunteer of the Year - Steve Dewar as a member of the Toronto Area Sustainable Neighbourhood Group and the Lake Macquarie Sustainable Neighbourhood Alliance, formed the Tossers Can Be Binners project, which turned the precinct into a clean area.
■ Joint Community Group of the Year winner - Toronto Area Sustainable Neighbourhood Group in the past year has established a fire retardant garden at Toronto Fire Station; helped implement the Tossers Can Be Binners campaign; and made submissions to Lake Macquarie City Council regarding master plans for the Toronto Town Centre.
■ Joint Community of The Year winner - Coal Point Landcare Group in the past 12 months has completed more than 1140 hours of volunteer work to plant, mulch and weed targeted sites within the Coal Point area. The group also held two National Tree Day events, where more than 120 people planted 550 native seedlings.
■ Community Event of the Year - Wangi Scarecrow Competition, hosted by Wangi Area Sustainable Neighbourhood Group, was developed to promote and encourage people to develop a community garden.
