South Australia’s James ‘Jimmy’ Harrington wins People’s Choice Award at the 10th Pride of Australia national ceremony in Sydney
JAMES ‘Jimmy’ Harrington, 21, from Reynella, won the People’s Choice Award at the national Pride of Australia awards presentation ceremony in Sydney last night.
HE is the inspirational and selfless South Australian who walked 18,000km around Australia to honour the memory of a brave girl who lost her battle to cancer.
And now James ‘Jimmy’ Harrington’s odyssey to raise $250,000 for childhood cancer research has earned him the title of our Pride of Australia.
The 21-year-old from Reynella, whose amazing effort captured the nation’s heart, won the coveted People’s Choice award at the 10th NewsCorp Pride of Australia national awards held in Sydney last night.
He took home a bronze medal and a $20,000 prize which will be split between himself and his chosen charity the Brainchild Foundation based in Queensland, which helps children who are affected by brain and spinal cord tumours, and their families.
Mr Harrington, who was one of seven South Australian finalists at the ceremony, also took home the Young Leader award for his tireless work raising money and awareness for childhood cancer.
In May, 2013 Mr Harrington began a year long walk around Australia inspired by Emily Crook, a seven-year-old he met in 2010 while she was undergoing treatment for brain cancer.
“Cancer doesn’t take a day off so neither did I - I was so inspired by Emily,” Mr Harrington said when his win was announced.
“Every single person in the Pride of Australia Awards is so inspiring and it makes be so happy to be involved with them.
“You are never too old or too young to make a difference.
“This award will inspire me to keep making a difference in the future.”
She was a week away from her ninth birthday when she died from a rare brain cancer, known as primitive neuroectodermal embriogenic tumour, in August 2011.
Before accepting his award, Jimmy said the past year had been “life changing”.
“Before doing the walk I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and after spending 12 months walking around Australia and meeting new people opened up my eyes to a whole new world,” he said.
“I really didn’t know what I wanted to do until I met Emily ... once I met her I knew I wanted to help people.
“My walk started out as a walk around Adelaide and being the crazy kid I am it snowballed into the walk around Australia.
“You don’t do what you do for awards you do it for the community but it’s great that the Pride of Australia is there to inspire the rest of Australia.”
Mr Harrington was joined at last the awards by his mother Debbie, who he said had been an “incredible” support.
Australian actor Samuel Johnson, who crossed paths with Mr Harrington in WA last year while doing a charity unicycle, declared that Mr Harrington should be crowned Young Australian of the Year.
Mr Harrington is the second consecutive South Australian to be awarded the People’s Choice honour, which is voted on by thousands of Australians.
Last year Bill Ryan, 83, of Davoren Park took home the prize for helping strangers towards a better life while using his modest home to care for the elderly and disadvantaged.
SA punched above its weight at last the awards, recording the equal highest number of finalists with NSW.
The SA finalists who joined Mr Harrington in Sydney were Aidan Barry, 17, recognised for his work assisting young people living with a disability, Fiora Christou, 42, who opened SA’s first school for children with autism, koala-rescuer Rae Campbell, 70, firefighter and farmer Trevor Stevens, 57, and SA carers advocate Terry Smith, 75.
Among other winners on the night was Courage medal recipient Victorian Rosie Batty whose son Luke, 11, was murdered by his father in front of at cricket practice.
Ms Batty has been an advocate against family violence and risen above the loss of her son to speak out against domestic violence and in encouraging other women to do the same.