Delta humbled by Hills Grammar’s original award

AWARD-winning Australian singer, actor and TV personality Deltra Goodrem said she was humbled after being presented with the 2017 Hills Grammar Original Alumni Award.

Australian singing star Delta Goodrem with Hills Grammar Year 8 students Melanie Dobson and Brayden Sim, who presented her with the award.

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AWARD-winning Australian singer, actor and TV personality Deltra Goodrem said she was humbled after being presented with the 2017 Hills Grammar Original Alumni Award.

With 19 No. 1 singles and 17 top 10 hits on the ARIA charts, Goodrem, 33, is easily one of the Kenthurst school’s most successful students.

The popular singer attended Hills Grammar from Year 1 to Year 11 and signed with Sony label when she was just 15.

Australian singing star Delta Goodrem and principal Michael Smith with students Brayden Sim and Melanie Dobson at the ceremony.

Previous winners of the prestigious award — which began in 2015 — are actor and filmmaker Joel Edgerton (Class of 1989) and Walkley Award winner Robert Ovadia (class of 1990).

The name of the winner is traditionally kept secret from the school until the ceremony.

“I’m a very proud Hills Grammar girl,” Goodrem told the assembly after receiving the award from Year 8’s Brayden Sim and Melanie Dobson last month.

“When I think of my time at Hills Grammar, I loved school so much. I loved the mix, surrounded by nature, being inspired in the arts and loving sport.

“I made wonderful friends who continue to be my very best friends today.

“I was given the space to find that light in me — to develop my passion while still being a part of the Hills community.”

Delta Goodrem won the 2017 Hills Grammar Original Alumni Award.

She was also an all-rounder in sports, excelling in track and field and netball.

Ms Goodrem’s first album Innocent Eyes was one of the highest-selling debut albums in Australian history, with a record-breaking 29 weeks at No. 1 in Australia.

It also topped the Australian albums charts.

Blacktown local Mr Edgerton, who many hits under his belt including Star Wars, The Secret Life of Us, Animal Kingdom and Loving, attended the Nepean Drama School at the University of Western Sydney.

Mr Ovadia won Walkley awards for his coverage of the Iguanagate political scandal involving then federal Labor MP Belinda Neal, and his expose into an Australian Defence Force sex scandal cover-up. He has anchored news bulletins from Seven’s Morning News, and The Morning Show to Today Tonight and the Nightly Seven News.