Last week we hosted a fantastic crew of board members and finalists to give away no-strings-attached cash to good ideas in Newcastle. Read below to learn the details and also a reminder that November’s Awesome Newcastle will be open to the public, which means everyone is invited to come along to the Young Street Hotel on Wednesday November 5th at 6pm! Save the date!

Now, back to Awesome business. Last week we welcomed first time guest board member Belinda Wellings from the board of Got Your Back Sista. We welcomed Damien Linnane, previous Awesome Newcastle winner, who joined us this time as a board member and also to tell us about his upcoming Palestinian Prison Art Exhibition at the Creator Incubator, which is funded by Awesome Newcastle! We also welcomed back returning board member, stonemason Alex Brennan and also Tiana Jarvis of Maitland City Council.

This month’s finalists were Brianna Harvey from Talkback Magazine, Karen Livesey of the University of Newcastle and Kegan Daly from Merewether High school.
Brianna went first. She is the founder of Talk Back Magazine, a platform dedicated to feminism, women’s rights, and intersectionality. Each issue centres voices across race, gender, class, disability, and sexuality — offering unapologetic, inclusive media with a mission: donating 100% of profits directly to women’s safety charities. She would use the money to provide free copies of Talk Back to Indigenous communities and vulnerable groups in Newcastle, ensuring access to intersectional feminist media. It would also support them in setting up strong systems, covering distribution, accessibility, and contributor support, so they can continue sustainably. Karen went next. She’s a science communicator and entertainer who is leaving her Physics position at UON next year. In April of this year she took a group to see ghost fungus (glowing fungus!) at night along the trails of Glenrock State Recreation Area and realised more people would like to see it. She proposes running Ghost Fungus tours in Glenrock in April 2026. She would use the money to pay for the $570 Eco Pass fee that NSW National Parks and the remaining money will be used to buy personal liability insurance and torches.

Our final finalist was Kegan. He’s a high school teacher and he explained his “Turf Club” is a wellbeing initiative brings together healthy minds and healthy school grounds. While students work on landscaping and beautification projects, Turf Club Mentors take the opportunity to speak with students on how to manage time, stress, assessments, athletic pressure, artistic blocks, as well as, build teamwork, resilience, and a sense of purpose. He would use the money to purchase tools, seeds and plants to help students working on a range of small landscaping projects.